Landfill essentially works by digging a big hole, lining it with a plastic material, dumping waste into it, compacting everything, and covering it with soil. The idea is that the rubbish put in landfills will break down and decompose over time. It’s the second-most used waste treatment in the UK.

As landfill has been in use for many years, in lots of cases the waste is put on top of existing rubbish that’s decomposed or is still breaking down or in new cells. Every landfill site operates slightly differently but the Environment Agency (EA) regulates each one to ensure they run safely and legally.

A greater focus on recycling and recovering waste, as well as a finite amount of space, means the number of landfill sites in the UK is falling. However, lots of our rubbish still ends up in them. Understand how landfill works and the problems with it as a waste treatment option in this blog post.

Landfill site designs vary but most follow a similar approach. Modern landfill sites are designed to separate the waste from the ground to reduce the risk of polluting the ground and nearby water. This is how a landfill works from start to end:

• Excavation – a big hole is dug using industrial machinery on the landfill site to create a designated area for waste disposal. These specific areas within the landfill site are known as cells. They’re prepared, filled, completed, and restored over time.
• Liners – clay or strong plastic are used to line the cell. This is to prevent waste and liquid (leachate) from escaping from the cell and landfill to pollute the surrounding soil and water.
• Waste disposal – the waste is tipped at a designated ‘working face’ on the cell and into the hole. It’s spread out, layered, and then crushed down with a compactor. When all the waste is dumped for the day it’s covered with a layer of soil or inert material and left to break down.
• Leachate collection – rainwater onto landfill and moisture within a cell can run through and create leachate – a polluting liquid waste. To prevent this polluting surrounding soil and water there’s a leachate collection system in place. Holes are drilled into the waste, lined with pipes, and a pump is fitted. This pumps excess leachate into a storage tank that’s taken off-site for safe disposal when full.

Fly-tipping is illegal rubbish dumping. Disposing of household, industrial, commercial or controlled waste on unlicensed land is fly-tipping. It’s a wide-ranging offence that includes everything from discarding an old mattress in a public park to dropping off tonnes of industrial waste at an unlicensed private site.

Dumping rubbish on public land or private property (even your own land) is fly-tipping if it doesn’t have a licence to accept it. This is different from littering, which is simply discarding small materials associated with eating, drinking, and smoking in the wrong place. Fly-tipping covers household and commercial waste.

Fly-tipping damages the environment and local ecosystems and is unsightly. Every year the UK government deals with more than one million incidents of fly-tipping that cost millions for councils (and therefore council taxpayers) to clear up. Discover all you need to know about fly-tipping so we can all work to eliminate it.

Fly-tipping is an irresponsible way to manage any type and volume of waste. It’s harmful to the environment as the rubbish isn’t treated properly, recycled, or recovered. Depending on the materials, the waste may break down slowly and release hazardous and toxic elements that enter nearby soil and water.

Wildlife and domestic pets may encounter the dumped waste and try to eat it, which can cause choking, health issues, and death. If hazardous, clinical, infectious, and other dangerous waste types are discarded then it may also impact human health (especially children). Fly-tipping is a danger to anyone who comes across it.

Illegally dumping waste also ruins local areas as it’s unsightly, starts to smell, and may encourage others to fly-tip in the same spot. Cleaning up fly-tipping is also expensive and time-consuming for councils and local authorities. This is paid for by the taxpayers and the funds could be better used on other public services.

Fly-tipping is a criminal offence in the UK. Criminal convictions for fly-tipping carry potential penalties including a fine and a possible jail sentence. Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 is the legislation that covers fly-tipping. It states that a waste offence occurs when:

“Depositing, knowingly causing or knowingly permitting the deposit of controlled waste or extractive waste on land without, or other than in accordance with, an environmental permit.”

Prevent fly-tipping from your business by arranging commercial waste collection with licensed waste carriers – such as Divert. This ensures your business waste is removed and disposed of safely, legally, and responsibly. Check the credentials of those who remove your rubbish and that you receive a duty of care certificate that confirms the disposal method.

Dispose of all domestic waste in your household bins, take it to your nearest household waste recycling centre (HWRC), or book a man and van removal. These options should ensure your waste is disposed of, recycled, and recovered through the proper channels and not dumped illegally.

Reporting fly-tipping can help prevent it in your area. Other people and businesses dumping waste on your premises illegally can be infuriating too. These are a few ways to stop fly-tipping on your property:

• Secure the boundary – high fences and walls make it harder for people and vehicles to access your property to dump waste.
• Install CCTV – capturing footage of any fly-tipping can help lead to a prosecution, which should reduce the risk of it reoccurring.
• Display clear signs – putting up CCTV warning signs may make criminals think twice about fly-tipping if they think there’s a risk of being caught.

As the days start to get slightly longer and a little warmer, many of us emerge from winter hibernation reinvigorated. About now you might look around your home and think about sprucing it up as the dark days won’t hide the dust that’s built up over the past few months. It’s time for some spring cleaning.

An effective spring cleaning session can create bags and boxes of waste – from old clothes, to broken electricals and general junk you’ve been meaning to throw away for ages. Some of this is unavoidable but there are ways to reduce it and what you do with any rubbish your spring clean creates is important.

Use these spring cleaning tips to refresh your home and minimise the amount of waste you create – or at least divert it away from landfill – in the process.

A spring clean is a thorough clear up and cleanse of a house usually at the start of springtime. These often happen in households in locations that experience cold winters (like the UK). One reason for this is that as warmer weather arrives it’s good for opening doors and windows when cleaning.

There are various theories behind why spring cleaning exists, but it’s generally a good time for dusting as high winds can carry dust out of the house. Plus, it’s not yet warm enough for insects entering homes to be an issue. Sometimes a spring clean is simply used to refer to a deep or thorough clean even if it’s not in springtime.

Spring cleaning can apply to the entire home or just one or two rooms. And it’s not just houses – you can spring clean a bungalow, flat, or even the garden shed.

A great way to reduce waste when spring cleaning is with some homemade cleaning products. These are natural alternatives that help reduce any chemical and hazardous waste you’d otherwise produce. Here are some effective and almost effortless ideas to create cleaning products at home:

• Repurpose old clothes as cloths for dusting, wiping, and even mopping down surfaces. You can always wash them out and reuse too.
• Use lemon halves to naturally deodorise and clean microwave interiors, leaving behind a citrus aroma.
• Clean glass surfaces with a solution of equal parts water and vinegar for a streak-free shine. Pour it into an empty spray bottle for that professional feel.
• Sprinkle baking soda on carpets before vacuuming to remove odours.
• Save an old toothbrush and scrub with it to clean hard-to-reach areas like tile grout and around faucets.

Hopefully, you’ll vacuum carpets and rugs throughout the year to keep your home fresh. For a big spring clean you may want to go that bit further with a deep clean of any carpets and rugs. This helps get rid of the dirt and bacteria beyond the surface and any serious stains.

Start by clearing the room and vacuuming the carpet. Mix 1/4 cup of salt, 1/4 cup of baking soda, and 1⁄4 cup of vinegar in a bowl or jug for a DIY carpet stain remover and apply to any stains. Then fill an empty spray bottle with water and a little bit of soap.

It’s not just inside your home that needs refreshing, outdoor spring cleaning is important too. Now is the perfect time to tidy up your garden and spring clean your garage and shed. Treat your garage and shed like the rooms in your home by making a checklist of tasks.

Remove any unwanted items, sweep and vacuum the floor, wash the windows, wipe the walls, dust and clean any surfaces. Taking out stuff from your shed or garage creates a good opportunity to improve its organisation so things are easier to access. Re-organise your system for easier cleaning next year.

Spring cleaning your garden will depend on its size and the plants in it. Mowing the lawn, cutting hedges, trimming branches, pruning perennials, raking leaves, and wiping down garden furniture are common jobs. Add any green waste this creates to your compost pile – if you don’t have one book garden waste removal.

Let’s face it – spring cleaning isn’t the most enjoyable activity. It can take hours and even days if you live in a big or messy home. The best way to make the time fly is to all pitch in and tackle the jobs together. It can be a fun family bonding activity.

Make a playlist so you can sing and dance along while you work. Turn cleaning into a friendly competition between kids but focus on cleanliness rather than speed to ensure the job still gets done well – such as who can make the best mop out of old clothes.

It’s important to recycle computers at the end of their life. Computers, laptops, PCs, and tablets are all waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). Responsible computer disposal avoids them ending up in landfill whether you’re upgrading and replacing old models in the office or disposing of a broken laptop you use at home.

Getting rid of old computers isn’t like throwing away a crisp packet – you can’t just chuck them in your bin at home. You need to do a bit of preparation and then decide the best way to get rid of your old machine from your home or business. Learn how to recycle a computer in this guide.

Divert can help if your business needs to get rid of any computers or you’ve got a few ready to recycle at home. Call 0333 444 0117 or contact us online for a free quote and arrange removal of your old computers today.

Recycling an old PC or laptop from home is possible at a few places in the UK. These are all free and should ensure the computer and/or its parts are recovered. There are other options for getting rid of computers but for a choice that recycled your machine these are three good choices:

• Electrical shops – many electrical retailers offer a take back service that ensures your old PC or laptop is recycled. You don’t need to have originally bought the machine from the exact electrical shop either. If you’re buying something new they might even provide store credit or knock it off your purchase (though this varies between retailers).
• Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) – most HWRCs will have an area or containers where you can recycle old computers and other electricals from your home. These must be domestic computers. There’s no charge although there may be limits to how many you can get rid of at once or in a year.
• Computer recycling scheme – some other places run free computer recycling schemes, such as a WEEE Charity. They collect domestic computers and equipment for free, will wipe its data, and then refurbish and gives them to those in need or recycles them.

After disposing of an old computer and sending it for recycling you might wonder what happens to it. If they can’t be reused then they’ll likely go to a specialist recycling centre where they’re processed, parts are recovered, and materials are separated and recycled. The main stages of computer recycling include:

• First the old computers are sorted by their type – then they’re tested and any that work may be sent for refurbishing.
• Key parts are removed from the computer including any speakers, the circuit board, and graphics cards.
• It’s then disassembled, and parts separated by materials – such as any plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and hazardous materials.
• The hard drive is shredded and sometimes recycled into aluminium ingots that are used by the auto industry.
• Everything remaining is separated by material and usually shredded and used to form new materials. Plastic, glass, and metals are sent to specialist recycling plants that deal with those materials and turn them into new ones.

Computers are essential to every business but eventually they need upgrading or replacing. However, you can’t just take them to an HWRC or back to the retailer, as they class as commercial waste. Getting rid of old computers from an office or any other kind of business requires commercial waste collection.

Book removal of your computers, laptops, and any other electrical equipment with licensed waste carriers. This ensures they’re collected and recycled safely, legally, and responsibly. If any computers still work then they may be refurbished and donated, but those that are past it will be recycled properly at professional facilities.

Closed loop recycling is the process of using an item then recycling it and turning it into a new product of the same or a similar type. It’s a circular process where no additional materials are added to create the recycled product, and nothing goes to landfill.

For closed loop recycling all the materials in manufactured goods are recycled with nothing going to waste. Often the manufacturing process for such items is designed with closed loop recycling in mind. Careful consideration of materials used to avoid creating waste or quality degrading when recycled is important.

There are many examples of closed loop recycling in our daily lives and it’s good for homes and businesses to do their bit for the environment. Find out more about what closed loop recycling is, how it works, and the differences between open and closed loop recycling.

A closed loop recycling system is when products are used, the waste materials are collected and transported to a recycling facility. They’re then recycled and converted into new items of the same or similar goods that they started life as. No raw materials are required or added into the system to create new recycled products.

For example, an empty glass wine bottle can be collected and taken to a recycling facility. Here it’s washed, crushed with other glass waste, and turned into new recycled glass bottles. Then it’s sent to winemakers to be filled up with the finest red, white, or rose and used as a wine bottle again.

Open loop recycling (or downcycling) is when waste items are recycled but turned into something different from their original purpose. The process may require the input of other virgin or raw materials. It can also create waste if some materials or parts of the product can’t be recycled into these new items.

Products of a similar material are usually processed, and the properties changed through heat, chemical reactions, or physical crushing to form new items. The material being recycled may also degrade in quality so it can’t be recycled again at the end of its life.

An example of open loop recycling is plastic milk bottles made from HDPE being collected and recycled but used to create new plastic pipes. With closed recycling, they would be recycled into more plastic milk bottles. Open loop recycling here means types of similar virgin plastic derived from fossil fuels may be added to create the products.

• Recycles waste into new items and keeps them away from landfill
• Requires fewer natural resources to create new products
• Some materials lose quality and can only be recycled once or a few times
• Raw materials may need adding into some open loop recycling processes

Step into any high street coffee shop or fast-food chain for a takeaway hot beverage and you’ll likely be handed it in a disposable cup. Every year 500 billion disposable coffee cups are used around the world. What happens to these cups after drinking your brew has a big impact on the environment.

You can recycle coffee cups but it’s not always as simple as throwing them away in a recycling bin. This is because most disposable coffee cups are made from a mixture of materials including a plastic or wax lining. However, you should never chuck out your used coffee cup with general waste.

Discover everything you need to know about coffee cup recycling whether you’ve just finished a hot drink on the go, run a high street café, or want to provide a recycling service in your coffee shop.

To recycle disposable coffee cups you should first pour out any remaining liquid and make sure it’s empty. Then find a dedicated coffee cup bin and throw it away. Most high-street coffee chains should have well-signed coffee cup recycling bins in place, as will some shops and cafes.

After disposing of your used coffee cup it should then be recycled. The process of coffee cup recycling follows these steps:

• Bags from inside each coffee cup recycling bin are removed and collected by a waste collection company.
• They’re transported to a specialist recycling facility where the coffee cups are assessed, sorted, and baled.
• Next, these bales of coffee cups go to a recycling plant with the infrastructure to recycle them.
• The plastic lining is stripped from the paper cup, separated, and sent to be recycled and reprocessed into new plastic products.
• All the remaining paper fibres then follow the same paper recycling process and are turned into new paper and card products.

Reducing coffee cup waste is important to help protect the environment. There are a few ways coffee drinkers and businesses can work to reduce coffee cup waste:

• Switch to reusable cups – carry a reusable cup or flask with you and ask baristas to pour your brew into that to avoid using a disposable coffee cup and creating waste.
• Make your own coffee – simply make your own coffee at home and take it to work, on a walk, or anywhere else. You won’t be tempted to buy one on the go and use a disposable cup while saving money too.
• Use coffee cup recycling bins – if your business sells hot drinks in disposable cups you should have at least one coffee cup recycling bin in place. This helps customers responsibly dispose of their used cups and reduces waste going to landfill.
• Charge extra for disposable cups – businesses can also add an extra charge for anyone using disposable cups or offer a discount for reusable cup users. This should help reduce disposable cup usage and waste.

Upcycling and recycling are two ways to reuse materials that reduce waste and carbon emissions. Sometimes the terms are incorrectly used interchangeably as they’re both sustainable practices, but the processes are different. Recycling is well established while upcycling is growing in popularity.

Both recycling and upcycling have many environmental benefits and are sustainable compared to disposing of rubbish. However, recycling is better for certain items and upcycling is more suitable for others, as the ways the materials are reused differ.

Understand the differences between upcycling and recycling and decide which action is best for your waste as we explain the two processes.

With a splash of creativity, almost any old item or material can be upcycled. There are examples of upcycling everywhere you look, from refurbished sofas to patched-up denim jackets. Find inspiration with some of these common upcycling examples:

• Upcycled furniture – putting a new cover on an old sofa, painting a chest of drawers, or using empty crates to create a coffee table are all examples of upcycling furniture.
• Glass bottle lamps – clean and dry an empty wine, spirit, or other tall glass bottle and add a battery-powered light string inside to make an effective table lamp.
• Wooden pallet planters – flip a wooden pallet on its side and attach it to a wall or fence, then add a base to form a planter for herbs or other small plants.
• Cutlery hooks – unwanted spoons and forks can be bent and attached to a block to craft DIY coat hooks. Ensure all prongs are covered to stay safe.

Many materials are recyclable when they reach the end of their life, including anything you can put in your household recycling bin. Examples of recycling range from empty glass beer bottles and jam jars from your home to the huge volumes of cardboard food packaging that shops get through. Some common recycling examples include:

• Glass recycling – empty glass bottles and jars are infinitely recyclable as glass can be broken down and repurposed to form fresh products without losing quality.
• Paper recycling – most paper types are recyclable including newspapers, magazines, brochures, envelopes, and leaflets. They can be turned into pulp that’s used to create new paper products.
• Cardboard recycling – lots of cardboard is recyclable, such as delivery boxes, greeting cards, and corrugated cardboard. The process is similar to recycling paper with recycled cardboard often used to make new boxes.

January is all about making decisions to do something new (or stop old bad behaviours) in the coming 12 months. Often these involve cutting out chocolate and investing in a gym membership. But New Year resolutions don’t just apply to our private lives, businesses can make them too.

The start of a new year is the perfect time for your organisation to set fresh goals to improve its recycling and waste management practices. It’s even more timely as Defra’s simpler recycling plans for 2025 are on the horizon and the UK’s 65% recycling rate target for 2030 edges ever closer.

We’re all about diverting waste away from landfill and recycling is one of the best ways to do this. Find inspiration to improve your company’s waste management practices in the new year with these eight recycling resolutions.

Single-use plastic products aren’t recyclable and many end up in landfill. Some single-use plastics were banned in the UK from the start of October 2023, including cutlery, plates, bowls, trays, and balloon sticks. However, many businesses still provide plastic bags and use disposable containers. Make a resolution to remove all single-use plastic from your operations and replace it with recyclable materials.

Having a defined aim helps your business focus on ways to improve its recycling, track progress, and identify any opportunities. Set goals such as improving your overall recycling efforts by 50%, recycling all paper waste, or ensuring no recyclable rubbish ends up in general waste. Tailor the goals based on your organisation at the start of the year and make time to review them every few months.

Packaging waste is a big problem for many businesses, from cardboard delivery boxes to plastic wrap. Having a policy to only work with suppliers that use recyclable packaging ensures as much of this waste type as possible can be recycled. Review your supply chain and try to move away from any suppliers that don’t align with your sustainability aims.

Don’t throw away equipment and other big items when they break or are upgraded. Donating electrical equipment such as old computers, laptops, and printers is a sustainable form of recycling. Many charities will take them in any condition to use, sell, or repair. Do the same with any furniture or kitchen equipment if you’re having an office refurbishment t prevent them going to landfill.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year… for waste. There are hundreds of stats out there about how much food, toys, and packaging we chuck out every Christmas. Rather than being a Grinch and focusing on why waste over winter is terrible, let’s focus on the positive steps businesses and homes can take to dispose of seasonal rubbish responsibly.

There are many ways to reduce waste this Christmas – from using leftover turkey in a curry to giving presents in reusable gift bags rather than wrapping paper. However hard you try to have a zero-waste Christmas, it’s likely you’ll still generate some level of rubbish. Disposing of it responsibly is the next best action.

Preparing to recycle, reuse, and recover waste before and after the big day can help ensure as much waste as possible avoids landfill. These are some of the best ways to responsibly get rid of all sorts of waste your household or business will produce over the festive season.

Receiving gifts at Christmas is great but unfortunately, we have no control over how they’re presented. You can use recyclable wrapping paper, reusable bags, or old newspaper when giving out gifts but can’t determine what others will use to wrap your presents. Some wrapping paper is recyclable but any with glitter or a metallic shine normally isn’t.

Any pure paper wrapping paper that’s recyclable should go in your household recycling bin. Use this easy wrapping paper test to check whether it’s recyclable:

• Scrunch the wrapping paper together into a tight ball in one hand
• Open your palm flat and see if the wrapping paper stays compact or opens up
• If the wrapping paper stays scrunched you can recycle it with other paper – if not it should be reused or disposed of with general waste

Much like advent calendars, Christmas crackers contain different materials and should be separated into their individual parts for disposal. Any bits coated in foil or glitter can’t be recycled and should be disposed of in your general waste bin. Responsibly dispose of the rest of your Christmas crackers as such:

• Cracker – check the material but most Christmas crackers are made from cardboard so can be recycled alongside other paper and cardboard waste in your recycling bin.
• Party hat and joke – the colourful party hat that’s always too small and a terrible joke or trivia question are usually just paper, which is easily recyclable.
• Plastic toys or games – the little prize inside varies but many are made from plastic that’s tricky to recycle. See if there’s a recycling number and symbol on it and whether your local authority accepts this plastic type in domestic recycling bins. If not it might have to go in general waste.

The best thing to do with most Christmas decorations is to store them safely and reuse them next year as most aren’t recyclable. Broken baubles made of glass or plastic are often not recyclable due to containing other materials. Wrap any up and throw them away with your general waste.

Tinsel is also not recyclable, so should be kept or thrown away with your general waste as a last resort. Replace any dead bulbs in your fairy lights to prolong their life. If your string of fairy lights no longer works then these can be recycled with other WEEE waste at most HWRCs or electrical waste banks.

Artificial Christmas trees should be put away and stored for next year as they can’t be recycled. Any real Christmas trees with their root ball could be replanted and used again next year if you have room in your garden. Most don’t so it’s best to arrange Christmas tree collection by a waste management company, such as Divert.

You could also cut off the branches for firewood or use some to make a wreath. Other options include cutting up an old Christmas tree and composting or adding to mulch. Some places will take old Christmas trees and chip them to add to mulch or paths in parks.

For help getting rid of Christmas trees or any other waste over the festive period you’re your home or business get in touch with Divert. Call 0333 444 0117 or contact us online for a free quote to arrange all sorts of waste collection over Christmas.

There are various options when you’re clearing a house, garden, or office, or just getting rid of lots of rubbish at once. The first is to try and fit as much as possible in your household bins for the council to collect for free. However, it’s likely you’ll quickly fill these bins and need a fresh solution.

Taking rubbish to the tip is another idea but you’ll need a big vehicle and have to make multiple trips. For an easier and more efficient method, the main choices are often between hiring a skip or using a man and van service. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and suit certain situations better.

To make things simple here we explain how each service works, the pros and cons of each, and the costs involved to help you decide which option is right for your project. Work out whether hiring a skip or using a man with a van is best to get rid of your waste.

Advantages of hiring a skip:

• Great for long-term projects when waste is produced gradually over days or weeks
• Convenient to keep adding waste when you need
• All rubbish is removed in one go when the skip is removed
• Large for storing bulky waste as well as rubble, soil, and construction waste
• Choice of skip sizes to suit different uses

Advantages of using a man with a van:

• Quick and convenient waste removal with everything taken away in one go on an agreed day
• Permits aren’t required and the extra time and costs that can involve
• No need for special access or space on your property to place a skip, waste can be removed from inside your home, office, garage, or elsewhere
• Labour included so you don’t have to move and lift any bulky waste or awkward items
• Reduced fuel usage is better for the environment – as vans only make one trip out, rather than delivering and removing a skip
• Flexible service to remove as much or as little waste as you need with a price tailored to your specific requirements
• A wide range of waste types can be removed together in one van