General waste

General waste collections in Westminster

If your business is looking to have general waste collected, which is the waste that cannot or should not be recycled, then Commercial Waste Services can help. We can collect whatever general waste your business produces and dispose of it safely, without the use of landfill or exporting it abroad. Waste deposited in landfill sites never fully degrades but does start to produce methane, which is an extremely powerful greenhouse gas. Landfills also produce leachate, which is contaminated water that leaks from the waste, that can contaminate groundwater. Some waste collectors simply send their waste abroad and last year 1.7 million tonnes of London’s business waste was exported rather than put to good use closer to home. Westminster City Council Commercial Waste Services does not take waste from businesses to landfill or send it abroad. We can help you dispose of all of your waste in the most environmentally friendly way possible, locally. You can read more information below about how we collect and process general waste. 

Request a Call Back

Enquire About Collections

Order Waste Bags

What are your options for general waste collections?

Using General Waste Bins

If you have off-street storage space, we strongly recommend you use one of our waste bins.  

They are by far the best way to have your waste collected.

They come in big and small sizes depending on how much rubbish you produce. Just contact us to set up a collection agreement.

Download our bin range

Using Waste Bags

If you can’t store a waste bin within your premises, then please use the red bags for general waste.

They are sold on a pre-paid basis, so you only have to pay for what you actually use. The price of each red bag pays to have it collected by the truck and for it to be treated safely to high standards that don’t harm the environment.

No contract is required. Just order the bags online or by phone, fill them with rubbish and leave them out for collection at the scheduled time.

Order general waste bags

We offer Recycling

Many Westminster businesses have discovered the advantages of recycling.

We collect more than just general waste and also have a number of recycling services available, all designed around the way your business works.

For recycling, please see here.

Our recycling service

How do Commercial Waste Services dispose of general waste?

The general waste that we collect is sent a short ride from Westminster to SELCHP (South East London Combined Heat and Power), an energy recovery facility in Deptford. Here the waste is used as a fuel to generate enough electricity and district heating for 50,000 London homes. This district heating scheme eliminates the need for homes to have individual gas boilers for heating and helps tackles fuel poverty for vulnerable residents. 

The energy contents equivalent of just one bag of general waste is enough to run seven hot showers or watch almost 24 hours of TV. Once the waste has been combusted for energy generation the remaining ash (called ‘bottom ash’) is recycled into an aggregate used in road building and construction. The metals that remain in the bottom ash are segregated for recycling. In recent years recycled bottom ash has been used in major civil engineering projects such as the widening of the M25 and the construction of the London Olympic Park. If you want to see where all of the different waste types that we collect go, download our infographic on this.

Many businesses have taken up our offer to see the facilities Westminster City Council uses to process waste. Please contact us if you would like to see this yourself. You will be pleasantly surprised to find out how these facilities work and of the care given to responsible and hygienic waste management.

Not everything belongs in your general waste

There are some materials that require special treatment and therefore, do not belong in your general waste. Hazardous waste, such as fluorescent tubes, electronic appliances, acids, chemicals, oil, oil filters and liquid paint must not be put in your general waste and have to be collected and disposed of separately. We can help you with getting hazardous waste collected. Clinical waste and syringes require specialist clinical waste collections.  Please be very careful with how you dispose of sharp items in order to avoid injuries. Any recyclable waste that you produce should always be segregated and put out for our recycling collections.

8 quick tips to reduce waste

This useful guide presents 8 tips that will not only help you to reduce the amount of general waste you’re creating, but it will help you to save money, time and the environment.

The guide includes:

• Stopping potential waste from being generated in the first place
• Finding someone who can reuse things you no longer need
• Reducing food, plastic and paper waste
• Avoiding fines
• Recycling your waste and sending nothing to landfill

You can get your copy by clicking on the image of the guide.

What waste goes where?

There are different types of waste and recycling bins in Westminster and we want to make it easy for you knowing what waste goes where. This useful infographic shows you in which bin each material belongs.

This will help eliminate any contamination between general waste and recycling and it will also help you to recycle more.

The infographic also provides useful links to provide you with extra knowledge and good practise around waste management.

You can get your copy by clicking on the image of the guide.

Our waste and recycling posters

We have a range of posters that you can download and place around your workplace or on your bins to remind people what waste belongs where. They are the perfect way to ensure that your recycling is not being contaminated and your general waste levels are kept to a minimum.

Our posters include:

• General waste
• Mixed recycling
• Glass 
• Paper/cardboard
• Food

Get your copy by clicking the image of the posters.

What areas do we collect general waste from?

We collect general waste in the whole of Westminster, please see our list of areas below, including maps highlighting our boundaries. Please note that we can also help you if you are based elsewhere

Westminster Areas

Mayfair – W1J / W1S

Soho – W1D / W1F

Fitzrovia – W1T

Pimlico – SW1V

St James – WC2

Knightsbridge -SW7/SW1

Belgravia – SW7 / SW1

Marylebone – NW1 / W1H

Bayswater – W2

Victoria – SW1

Covent Garden – WC2