Local Council
Cambridgeshire bans sofas, chairs and bean bags from recycling centres
All nine household recycling centres run by Cambridgeshire County will refuse to accept upholstered domestic seating waste from January 1.
It means such things as sofas, cushions, chairs, or beanbags can no longer be dropped off at any the centres.
A county council spokesperson said today: “Direction by the Environment Agency – confirmed last week – means we can no longer accept upholstered domestic seating waste, such as sofas, cushions, chairs, or beanbags at any Cambridgeshire Household Recycling Centres from 1 January.
“We apologise for the short notice of this change.
“We are urgently working with our partners to resolve this. Please retain these items until we can provide a further update.”
This is disappointing. I spend a large amount of my life discussing and deciding on the technical details of waste management as a County and District Councillor and this has never once been mentioned or even hinted at.
— Stephen Ferguson (@borofergie) December 29, 2022
Former South Cambs councillor Steve Hunt said: “This should not be sudden news because the Environment Agency decreed this change in the summer.
“All upholstered furniture must be incinerated and not sent to landfill or mixed up with other waste types.
“The question is why has CCC waited until 2 days before the assessment deadline to tell people, and why is there no handling system in place in time.”
These are the nine centres in Cambridgeshire where the ban applies.
Alconbury Recycling Centre
Bluntisham Recycling Centre
March Recycling Centre
Milton Recycling Centre
St Neots Recycling Centre
Thriplow Recycling Centre
Whittlesey Recycling Centre
Wisbech Recycling Centre
Witchford Recycling Centre
A statement on the Government website says landfill operators must not accept any waste upholstered domestic seating containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This includes:
- segregated items of waste upholstered domestic seating
- mixed waste containing items of waste upholstered domestic seating
- shredded or broken up waste from treating waste containing waste upholstered domestic seating, including refuse derived fuel (RDF) and solid recovered fuel (SRF)
- trommel fines from treating waste containing waste upholstered domestic seating, including the dust from air filtration systems
The statement adds: “Your waste acceptance procedures must screen out waste upholstered domestic seating.
“You must quarantine this waste type and send it to an appropriately authorised incinerator for destruction.
“You can only landfill items of waste upholstered domestic seating where you have confirmation that it does not contain POPs.
“This confirmation must come from a site that has documented procedures in place for correctly identifying and separating items of seating containing POPs.”
The county council says it “apologises for the short notice of this change. We are urgently working with our partners to resolve this.
“Please use reuse schemes and retailer take back schemes where available or retain these items until we can provide a further update”.
