Businesses produce commercial waste, which is unable to be dealt with in the same way as household waste. There are a number of facilities across York and North Yorkshire for dealing with commercial waste.

What is Commercial Waste?

Commercial waste is waste that is produced by businesses, trade and commercial premises. Commercial waste is regulated by waste laws.

Examples of commercial waste include (but is not limited to):

• waste paper
• empty printer cartridges
• boxes and packaging
• scrap metal
• grass cuttings from grounds maintenance.

Your Duty of Care

If you produce, store, transport and dispose of commercial waste you have a legal duty to ensure you do so without harming the environment. This is called your duty of care. You must ensure that anyone who handles your waste complies with waste legislation; they also have a duty of care for any waste they handle.  Find out more about duty of care responsibilities.

What we can do to help

To help you deal with your business waste, commercial waste can be collected from the premises or delivered to certain household waste disposal sites within York and North Yorkshire.

Commercial waste collections

Collections of commercial waste can be arranged with the council in your area. Please contact the council for details of items that can be collected, collection times and costs.

Craven district council

Hambleton district council

Harrogate borough council

Richmondshire district council

Ryedale district council

Scarborough borough council

Selby district council

City of York council

Household waste recycling centres

Commercial waste can be delivered to some household waste recycling centres at a charge. Please contact the relevant council for full details on delivering commercial waste.

North Yorkshire County Council

City of York Council

Alternatives for Commercial Waste

People who can collect your waste include:

• waste contractors
• scrap metal merchants
• recycling businesses  
• your local district or borough council
• skip hire businesses.

Or you could transport your own waste to a disposal or recycling centre.  You can pass it on to:

• waste transfer stations
• waste treatment and disposal sites. 

For information on recycling and disposal sites in your area please use the Environment Agency's Waste Directory http://www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/links/98247.aspx

Further information on commercial waste can be found on the Environment Agency website http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/waste/ or on Net Regs. http://www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/

CO2 Sense

CO2 Sense was established to help organisations in the Yorkshire and Humber region become more resource efficient and help them to save money and reduce carbon emissions. CO2 Sense can offer funding, technical advice and support to help organisations meet the challenge of climate change. They can also help you find a recycler near you http://www.co2sense.org.uk/find-recycler

Business Waste Handbook

To help with reducing, reusing and recycling business waste, the business waste handbook has been produced to provide specific information and tips for offices and businesses involved in catering, construction, retail, leisure and tourism, printing and manufacturing.

The handbook gives advice on reducing the amount of waste created, reusing materials and recycling as much as possible, as well as waste audits and a guide to legislation. There is also a list of organisations which can provide further information, guidance and funding to help businesses make changes. The business waste handbooks for York and North Yorkshire are available at the bottom of this page.

The Greener Business website

This website is designed for businesses in Yorkshire and the Humber so you can find out what business support is available in your local and regional area along with events, case studies and funding information. Links to the greener business website for York and North Yorkshire are available at the bottom of this page.

Useful downloads North Yorkshire Business Waste handbook [4Mb] [pdf] North Yorkshire Business Waste handbook York Business Waste handbook [9Mb] [pdf] York Business Waste handbook   Weblinks Please note: All external websites open in a new browser window and NYCC is not responsible for the content of external websites. North Yorkshire Greener Business website Information on how businesses can save money and increase profits through resource efficiency. York Greener Business website Information on how businesses can save money and increase profits through resource efficiency.