The order we work to
Waste policy in the UK uses a hierarchy: prevent, reuse, recycle, recover, dispose. A house clearance sits in the middle of that list. We cannot prevent the contents existing, but we can avoid sending sound furniture and household goods straight to disposal.
We do not claim “zero waste”. We do not publish a recycling percentage. Those figures are only honest when they are measured. What we can say is the order of decisions.
Reuse first
Where condition and demand allow, another useful life is preferable to breaking an item into materials. That can include:
- furniture
- household goods
- books
- tools
- kitchenware
- appliances that are safe and complete
- decorative items
- collectables that are not required for the estate
Reuse is not automatic. Damp, damaged, incomplete or unsafe goods should not be passed on. Families and executors also decide what must be kept or valued first — see identifying items that may have resale value.
Recycling
When an item cannot reasonably be reused, some of it may still be a material. Streams commonly separated, depending on the facilities being used, include:
- metal
- wood
- electrical equipment
- cardboard
- textiles
- glass
- appropriate plastics
What can be recycled on a given day depends on the receiving site, contamination and current rules. We will not list outlets we do not actually use.
Disposal
Material that cannot reasonably be reused or recycled must go through appropriate authorised waste routes. That is a legal duty for anyone in the waste chain, not a marketing line. Householders should take reasonable steps to ensure waste is transferred to an authorised person. The public waste carrier register is the place to check a registration. How to do that is explained in how to check a waste carrier.
Cornwall’s recycling centres are not a trade shortcut
Cornwall Council operates a network of household waste and recycling centres. They are useful for householders disposing of their own waste, subject to booking rules, accepted streams and charges that change. They are not a default destination for commercial clearance waste.
Whether material is household or commercial/trade waste depends on who produces it and in what context. A holiday-let refurbishment or a landlord clearance is not automatically the same as a householder clearing their own home. Official pages:
A householder-facing summary, with a checked date, is on our Cornwall recycling centres guide.