Hampshire residents see a change to their upholstered seating disposal

Effective from January 1, residents wanting to dispose of upholstered seating at their local household waste recycling centre (HWRC) will see a change due to the national requirement for all waste upholstered domestic seating to be separated from other waste and safely disposed of by incineration, in line with Environment Agency guidance.  

Of Hampshire’s 24 HWRCs, 21 will now provide separate containers in which waste upholstered seating will be collected. 

Cllr Nick Adams-King, county council cabinet member, said: “Most residents will see little change other than their upholstered seating waste placed into a separate container at the household waste recycling centre."

Cllr Adams-King explained that because items such as dining chairs and sofas are likely to contain pollutants, which do not break down, the council are required by law to ensure these items are diverted from landfill and instead disposed of carefully to be incinerated to generate electricity. 

He added: “Of course, we would encourage residents to first consider offering suitable items of upholstered seating furniture for reuse by donating to charity, privately selling on or reusing wherever possible.”

The range of upholstered seating items which now need to be segregated for specialist disposal includes sofas; sofa beds; armchairs; kitchen and dining room chairs; stools and foot stools that are upholstered; home office chairs; futons; bean bags; floor and sofa cushions.

Many borough, city and district councils offer, for a fee, a bulky waste collection service which residents can use as an alternative to taking items themselves to a household waste recycling centre.

For more information and advice go to hants.gov.uk.