Wood recycling can be one of the greyer areas when it comes to the world of recycling.
Whilst it’s important to recycle wood whenever you can – as this reduces the number of trees that have to be felled each year, helping not only to reduce the amount of waste in landfill but offsetting some of the world’s carbon emissions too – the question of who can recycle wood is another question altogether.
Can you put wood in the recycling bin?
So, unfortunately, most councils don’t have the equipment needed for wood recycling, meaning that, if you try to recycle wood using the standard, council-provided recycling bin, there’s a decent chance your wooden items will be sent to landfill.
However…
Can you recycle wood?
You absolutely can recycle wood! Most of our household recycling centres will accept wood waste – however, we also recognise it can be a pain trying to get to us, especially if you have a lot of wood to recycle and only so much space in your boot. This is why at RTS, to complement our wood recycling service, we also offer a wood collection service – coming to you to pick up your wooden items, including your scrap wood – fully recycling them – and ensuring that none of your wood waste goes to landfill.
We are equipped to manage all sorts of wood collection, using vehicles like our large Roll On Roll Off skip lorries for large amounts of bulky waste or our Grab Hire lorries for wood waste that is trickier to reach. We have 20, 30 and 40 yard Roll On Roll Off skip lorries – capable of carrying up to 15 tonnes of wood waste – available for hire, as well as a wide range of skips – ranging from 6 to 12 yards – available for you too.
Experts when it comes to wood recycling, London and Kent are the two regions we currently provide a wood collection service for so if you think you would like to hire our services, please contact us today by calling us on 020 7232 1711 or by filling out the contact form on the page.
Our ethical approach to wood recycling
- At RTS, the way we recycle wood waste is that we first separate it out before then sending it over to the appropriate wood recycling plant for processing.
- Your wood will then be loaded into a powerful wood shredder that’ll break the pieces down through a variety of processes.
- The larger pieces of wood will then be recirculated, used in things like furniture. The finer material from the wood will be used for animal bedding and the smaller pieces will be used in broad mills. Essentially, we will ensure that there is no waste.
At RTS, we have our very own Material Recovery Facility which is where all the wood recycling takes place after we collect it from you.
If you have any wood, scrap wood or otherwise, that needs collecting and recycling, please feel free to contact a member of our friendly team on 020 7232 1711.
However, you can’t recycle every type of wood. Here’s how to dispose of potentially hazardous wood that’s already been treated
According to the Environment Agency, the following types of wood should be classified as being hazardous:
- Barge Boards
- External Fascia
- Soffit Boards
- External Joinery
- External Doors
- Roof Timber
- Tiling Cladding
- Tiling Battens
- Timber Frames
- Timber Joists
Unfortunately, we can’t recycle these types of wood.
However, it’s worth noting that burning this kind of wood is against the law too. The burning of controlled waste is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act of 1990, with the only exception being the burning of diseased wood on site.
If you do have hazardous wood waste that you need to get rid of, please contact a member of our team on 020 7232 1711 who’ll be happy to help.
We offer our wood collection service to both commercial businesses and private residences.
