The shelf at the back of the garage: hazardous waste on the Isle of Wight

Why the bin is the wrong place

"Hazardous" sounds like something from a factory. In law, it's broader and more ordinary than that. GOV.UK describes waste as generally hazardous if it, or something in it, is harmful to people or the environment, and its examples read like the contents of a garage: chemicals such as brake fluid, batteries, solvents, pesticides, oils (except cooking oils), fridges containing ozone-depleting gases, and the containers those things came in.

The danger isn't usually to you, at the moment you throw it away. It's to the people and machinery further down the line. On the Isle of Wight, general waste is sorted at Forest Park in Newport and then burnt in the energy-from-waste plant there. A bin bag doesn't go to a hole in the ground; it goes through a compacting lorry, a sorting line and a furnace, with people working at every stage. A pressurised can, a lithium battery or a bottle of solvent behaves very differently in each of those places from a bag of crisp packets.

Pouring liquids away isn't an answer either. And burning them is ruled out by the plainest line on GOV.UK's bonfire page: you can't get rid of household waste "if it will cause pollution or harm people's health. This includes burning it."

Room by room: what you'll find and where it goes

Most homes keep their hazardous waste in the same handful of places. Here they are in one house, garage and garden, with where each item goes; the sections below explain each one.

Under the kitchen sink

Oven cleaner, drain unblocker, bleach, descaler, furniture polish, the half-bottle of something that came with the previous tenant. Most of these are designed to be used up and the empty container rinsed and recycled. The trouble is the part-full ones you no longer want.

Where it goes: the household recycling centre, in the original container with the lid on. Both Island sites list "household and hazardous chemicals" among the things they accept. Never decant into a drinks bottle, and never combine two products: some common cleaners give off dangerous gases when mixed.

Used cooking oil goes to the tip too. Don't pour it down the sink, where it sets in the pipes.

The garage shelf

This is where most hazardous household waste lives: paint, varnish, white spirit, wood preservative, car batteries, engine oil, antifreeze and screen wash.

Where it goes: the tips accept paint, engine oil and car batteries. The council's guidance on other dangerous substances asks for paints, oils and chemicals to arrive in their original containers. Before you take paint, ask yourself whether someone else could use it: a tin of good emulsion is worth offering to a neighbour, a community group or a local selling page before it becomes waste.

Engine oil deserves extra care. It should never go down a drain, onto the ground or into a soakaway. Put it in a sealed container and take it to the tip.

The shed and the greenhouse

Weedkillers, slug pellets, insecticides, lawn feed, creosote, a petrol can, and very often a gas bottle from a patio heater or barbecue.

Where it goes: garden chemicals go to the tip in their original packaging, labels intact if possible. If a label has gone, tell the staff what you think it is.

Gas bottles get their own rule. The council says they "must never be placed in general waste or a skip" because they can explode. Return empty bottles to the retailer or your original supplier, or take them to a recycling centre, where they are collected by Calor or Flogas and refilled. Small camping gas canisters are different: the council says they can't be recycled, so take them to a recycling centre and ask staff where they should go.

The bathroom cabinet

Old prescriptions, out-of-date painkillers, inhalers, creams and, in some homes, needles and sharps.

Where it goes: medicines go back to a pharmacy, not in the bin or down the toilet. Any community pharmacy can take them, wherever they were dispensed, as NHS trusts such as Wirral University Teaching Hospital advise, and inhalers can go back the same way. For sharps, ask your GP surgery or pharmacy about the current arrangements for sharps boxes. Never put loose needles in a bin bag.

The kitchen drawer

Every house has one: dead AA batteries, a phone that stopped charging in 2019, a used vape or two, a box of old fluorescent tubes or low-energy bulbs.

Where it goes: loose household batteries can go out on collection day in a small clear bag on top of your general waste bin; the council collects them separately because batteries are a fire risk if crushed. Fluorescent tubes and low-energy bulbs go to the tip.

Vapes are the exception to the battery bag. The Isle of Wight Council asks residents not to put them in the kerbside battery collection: take them to the electricals skips at a recycling centre, or back to a shop that sells vapes, which has to accept them for recycling. Don't try to take one apart. Phones, laptops and anything else with a built-in battery are electrical waste; our e-waste guide covers those in detail.

The battery figure is national, and it comes from Material Focus, the not-for-profit that runs the Recycle Your Electricals campaign. Every one of those fires started with something small thrown in the wrong bin.

The roof of the old shed

The one item on this list that can't go in the car on a whim. Corrugated cement sheets on garages, sheds and outbuildings put up before 2000 may contain asbestos. So can old floor tiles, textured ceiling coatings and some boarding.

What to do: don't break, drill, sand or jet-wash anything you suspect. The Health and Safety Executive says asbestos insulating board, lagging and sprayed coatings must be removed only by an HSE-licensed contractor, and it strongly encourages using trained professionals for any removal.

For small amounts of bonded (cement) asbestos from a home, the council runs a permit scheme at Lynnbottom. The sheets must be unbroken, double-bagged or wrapped in heavy-duty plastic and taped shut, and you need an online permit with a reference number. Up to 60 kg is free per household in any six-month period. Afton Marsh in Freshwater can't take asbestos at all because of its Environment Agency permit, so West Wight households have to make the drive to Newport.

Where to take it: the Island at a glance

Before you drive to the tip

The Island has two household recycling centres. Lynnbottom, on Briddlesford Road outside Newport, opens every day except Christmas Day from 10am to 6pm. Afton Marsh in Freshwater opens on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays only, at the same times. Our guide to the Island's tips covers booking, permits and the new DIY waste charges in full.

• Book first. Every visit needs a booking: 15-minute slots, at least two hours ahead for the same day, one visit per household per day. The phone line is 01983 823777.
• Unload yourself. Staff can't help unload, except for disabled visitors who ask.
• Check your vehicle. Vans, pick-ups and most car-derived vans need a vehicle permit.
• Pack it upright. Lids tight, containers wedged in a box so nothing tips over on the road. Keep chemicals in the boot, not the passenger footwell.
• Tell the staff. Say what you have when you arrive. If something is unlabelled, say so.
• Ask about odd items. For anything explosive or unstable (old flares, ammunition, crystallised chemicals), the council asks you to contact the supplier first, or its waste team on 01983 823777 or waste.contract@iow.gov.uk.

What we take, and what we hand back to you

We're a rubbish removal firm, not a hazardous waste contractor, and we'd rather be straight about it. Our rubbish removal and house clearance services don't take asbestos, gas bottles, paint, solvents or garden chemicals, or clinical waste and sharps. Those need the routes described above, and in most cases the householder can use them free.

What we can do is everything around them. In a typical garage, shed or loft, the hazardous items fill one or two boxes and the rest is furniture, timber, bags, old bikes and broken appliances. Set those boxes aside and we'll clear the rest. That usually leaves you with a single, short, booked trip to the tip in the car rather than a weekend of trailer runs.

If you're clearing a garage, a shed or a whole property, tell us when you ask for a quote what's on the shelves. We'll tell you what we can take and what needs to go elsewhere before anything is booked.

The short version

Keep it in its original container. Don't mix it, pour it, burn it or bin it. Book the tip, take it in one trip, and tell the staff what you've brought. For batteries, use the clear bag on bin day; for medicines, the pharmacy; for gas bottles, the supplier; for asbestos, the permit and Lynnbottom. It's less effort than it sounds, and it keeps a lot of people at the other end of the bin lorry safe.

Written by

Michael Shaw

Michael looks after marketing at Isle of Wight Rubbish Removal and has worked in rubbish removal full-time in the past.

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