Guide
Can you dispose of asbestos yourself? What to check first
Updated
This is the question the search results answer worst, usually by quoting a rule from another country or another council. Here is what is actually true, and the two phone calls that settle it for you.
Start here: what have you got?
If it is sprayed coating, pipe lagging, loose fill insulation, millboard or insulating board, stop. HSE's guidance is that most higher-risk work with asbestos, including these materials, must only be done by a licensed contractor (HSE). This is not a job to take on, and it is not a judgement to make from a photograph. If you do not know what the material is, have a sample analysed before you touch it.
The materials householders most often have are bonded: asbestos cement garage and shed roofs, corrugated sheets, gutters and downpipes, water tanks, and older floor tiles. Bonded material in good condition holds its fibres, which is precisely why breaking it up is the thing that turns a manageable situation into a serious one.
The council question, honestly answered
Some councils accept small quantities of bonded asbestos from householders at a household waste site, usually by prior appointment, with conditions on quantity, wrapping and the type of material. Others do not accept it at all and direct residents to a licensed contractor or a commercial waste site. Charges also differ. There is no single national rule we can quote you, so we are not going to invent one.
- Find your council and its household waste recycling centre policy for asbestos (gov.uk, find your local council).
- Ask three specific questions: do you accept this material, is there a quantity limit, and do I need an appointment.
- Ask how it must be wrapped and labelled before you arrive, and whether they will refuse it if it is broken.
- Ask what it costs, because a charge is common and it varies.
- If the answer is no, or the material is not bonded, get quotes from asbestos disposal contractors instead.
Council policies change. Check with your own council directly rather than relying on a forum post, a national summary, or advice written for a different country. This page will not tell you your council's rule, because we cannot know it.
Things not to do, whatever your council says
- Do not break it up to make it fit. Breaking bonded material releases fibres and can push the work into a category with legal duties attached.
- Do not use power tools on it. Sanding, drilling, cutting and grinding are the classic fibre-release activities.
- Do not put it in your household bin, a skip or a builder's waste load. Asbestos is hazardous waste and must go to a site permitted to take it (gov.uk).
- Do not fly-tip it. Beyond the obvious, the material is traceable and the offence is serious.
- Do not assume a general builder can take it away. Ask whether they are a registered waste carrier and where it is going.
When paying a contractor is the cheaper decision
- The material is friable, damaged, or you cannot identify it.
- It is at height, on a roof, or above a space you cannot clear.
- There is more of it than fits in a car boot, which is most garage roofs.
- Your council will not take it, or the round trip and the gate charge get close to a contractor's minimum anyway.
- You are a landlord, a business or a contractor, in which case the hazardous waste duty of care and the consignment note apply to you regardless. See the paperwork.