Asbestos collection and disposal
Asbestos collection is for material that is already down, bagged or stacked, a different, cheaper job than removal. We collect it, take it to a licensed facility, and send you the paperwork that proves where it went.
Before you book that with us, though, it is worth knowing what your own council will and will not do, because in Essex there is a request-based route you can try first.
- Over 12 years in asbestos removal
- Qualified & insured
- HSE Compliant
- Most jobs completed within a day
Already down is a different job from taking it down
- Cement sheets, gutters or tiles someone has already taken down and stacked.
- Bagged material from a small job, double-bagged and sealed as guidance recommends.
- A water tank, flue or similar item removed and left ready to go.
- Pipe or boiler lagging, sprayed coating or insulating board, already bagged. Tell us that when you call so we can arrange the right way to move it.
Still attached to the building? That is removal, not collection. Start at asbestos removal instead and we will tell you which job you actually have.
Essex and Thurrock do not offer the same thing
Neither council accepts asbestos at a recycling centre or in a kerbside bin. Past that point their two policies are not the same, and treating them as one rule would leave one set of readers worse off. We would rather point you at the council's own option, which competes with us, than let you assume it does not exist.
Essex County Council
Essex will not take asbestos at any recycling centre or in your kerbside collection. What it does instead is let residents request a collection of asbestos from their own household. Essex calls it "a subsidised collection", available "for each household in Essex, every financial year", so it is reduced rather than free and the council does not publish the figure. If it fits what you have and when you need it, use it. Book through Essex's own request form, or search for "Essex asbestos collection" on the council's own site. Essex has not published a bag limit or a charge figure, so ask them directly what a booking covers before you rely on it. Source: Love Essex, asbestos awareness and Love Essex, how to dispose of hazardous waste (the subsidised collection, every financial year), checked 13 Sep 2026.
Thurrock Council
Thurrock is stricter, not the same. Asbestos cannot go to the Linford household waste site, and unlike Essex, Thurrock runs no collection service of its own at all. Its own guidance is direct: you must find a privately-operated site that will accept it and phone ahead to check they will take it and what they will charge. That is precisely the gap a private collection closes, we do the finding, the carrying and the paperwork for you, rather than leaving it as homework. Source: Thurrock Council, asbestos, checked 13 Sep 2026.
A private collection is the right call when
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01
It is not your own household’s
Essex’s request route is for asbestos from your own home. A landlord clearing a let property, a business, or a shed you are clearing for someone else does not qualify.
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02
You need it gone now
Essex runs a subsidised household collection once every financial year and Thurrock runs none at all. Essex does not publish its lead time, so ask them. If you cannot wait for a council slot, a private collection can usually be arranged sooner.
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03
It is more than a household load
Neither council publishes a quantity limit. A household scheme is likely sized for a bagged household job rather than a stripped roof or several tanks, but that is our reading and not their published rule. If in doubt, ask us and ask the council, and compare.
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04
You are in Thurrock, Kent or London
Outside Essex there is no council collection scheme to point you at in the first place, so a private collection is the practical option from the start.
What a consignment note actually is
Ordinary household hazardous waste does not need one. Asbestos is specifically carved out of that exemption, so it applies whether the job is a single bag or a full roof.
- Covers
- Anyone moving asbestos waste from a property, including a private house.
- Made of
- Five parts, A to E, covering where it came from, what it is, who carried it, and who accepted it.
- Consignee’s duty
- The receiving site must check it and reject the load if the note is missing, wrong or incomplete.
- You get
- A copy naming the site that took it, proof it left your property legally and arrived somewhere permitted to have it.
How a job like this usually goes
These describe how jobs of this shape usually run. They are not write-ups of any one customer's job.
A stack of cement sheet, already taken down
- Material
- Corrugated asbestos cement sheet, already removed
- Where it sits
- Stacked on a driveway, a lawn, or against a wall, waiting to go
- On site
- Usually a shorter visit than a removal, loading is most of the job
- What moves it
- How many sheets, how they are stacked, whether a van can get close
- What you are left with
- The stack gone and the consignment note for the load
Sheets that are already down and stacked are the most common thing we collect. If they came off whole and are stacked flat rather than piled loose, loading is usually straightforward, and most of the job is getting the van close enough that nothing has to be carried far.
A stack left out in the weather for a while is still fine to collect. What matters is whether it has been walked on or broken since it came down, because broken sheet is slower to handle than whole sheet, whichever job it started as.
A few bags from a smaller strip-out
- Material
- Textured coating, floor tile or small pieces of cement sheet, bagged
- Where it sits
- In sealed bags, usually from a bathroom, kitchen or single-room strip
- On site
- Often the shortest kind of collection, sometimes only the loading
- What moves it
- How many bags there are, whether they are already sealed and labelled, where they are kept
- What you are left with
- The bags gone and the consignment note for the load
Small strip-outs, a bathroom floor or a stripped ceiling, usually end up as a handful of sealed bags rather than one big load. Collecting bagged material like this tends to be the quickest job we do, provided the bags are sound and have not been left somewhere they could be disturbed.
If you are not sure whether what is in the bags counts as asbestos at all, that is a normal starting point. Send a photograph before you book anything and we will tell you plainly what we think you have.
Bagged lagging or loose fill still gets collected properly
Note
Some bagged material needs more care in how it moves
Loose fill, lagging, sprayed coating and insulating board are more delicate than cement or tiles. Tell us on the phone what is in the bags and we will tell you plainly what is involved in moving it safely, rather than guess.
If it needs somebody with a licence to move it, we will tell you that too, and what to look for when you are choosing one.
Note
Not sure what is in the bags
That is a genuinely common answer and a fine one to give us. Send a photo before you book anything and we will tell you plainly what we think you have.
What actually changes the price
A collection is usually cheaper than a removal, because there is no dismantling involved, but we are not going to print a figure we cannot stand behind.
- How much there is, a single bag is a different job from a stacked roof’s worth of sheeting.
- Whether it is already bagged and sealed, or just piled up loose.
- How we reach it, a driveway is cheaper than a garden with a locked gate.
- How far it has to travel to a site permitted to take it.
What people ask us
How much does it cost to have asbestos collected?
It depends on quantity, whether it is bagged already, and how it is reached, more than on any fixed rate. Send a photo and a postcode and you will get a real number, not a range.
How to dispose of asbestos for free?
Not free, but cheaper is possible. Essex County Council runs what it calls a subsidised household collection, available every financial year. Subsidised means reduced, not free, and the council does not publish the figure, so ask Essex directly. Thurrock offers no equivalent at all, and outside a council route there is no free disposal option we know of.
Can I dispose of asbestos myself?
There is no blanket ban on a householder transporting their own bagged asbestos, but neither Essex nor Thurrock will accept it at a recycling centre, and once it is waste it has to reach a site permitted to take it. Thurrock’s own guidance is to phone a private site in advance to check they will take it.
Can you put asbestos in a skip?
No. It is hazardous waste and cannot be mixed with ordinary skip waste, whatever the skip firm’s own terms say about it.
Can I take asbestos to the local tip?
Not in Essex or Thurrock. Both explicitly refuse it at their household waste recycling centres, which is exactly why a council collection, where one exists, or a private one, is the route.
Can you get fined for removing asbestos?
The real exposure for most household jobs is around waste handling rather than the removal itself: using an unregistered waste carrier, or disposing of it incorrectly, is where councils and industry guidance warn of penalties. Keeping the consignment note is what protects you.
Collection across the south east
Based in Grays, covering Essex, Kent and east and south-east London.
Further out than that? Ask anyway.
Tell us what needs collecting
A photo, a postcode and roughly how much there is gets you a real price. If Essex’s own scheme fits you better, we would rather you knew that first.