Business rates and waste disposal

Agencies and other headaches, keys and cleaners, running costs and contracts...in short, all the things we spend so much of our time doing behind the scenes.<br>
Giraffe
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Business rates and waste disposal

Post by Giraffe »

I have recently changed to business rates and have been seeking a waste disposal operator to take away the weekly household waste as Cornwall Council will no longer do this for me. Spent half of yesterday talking to different licenced operators. Eventually found one who is flexible on collections, ie I don't want to pay when the house has no visitors.

One point came I up that I would like to share. I was informed that Cornwall Council have a campaign to check out that holiday lets on business rates have a licenced waste disposal operator to take their waste away. Someone on LMH mentioned that a fine can be imposed if owners do not abide by this legal requirement on waste disposal.
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russellt
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Re: Business rates and waste disposal

Post by russellt »

Giraffe wrote:Eventually found one who is flexible on collections
Would you mind giving an indication of how much you will pay per collection?

I'm using the local authority weekly service, which is ~£240pa(whether used each week or not), reduced to ~£200 if you are on Small Business Rate Relief.
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Giraffe
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Post by Giraffe »

russelit, you are really lucky to have a council who will continue your waste collection at such a low cost. Apparently there is some legislation where some local authorities are not permitted to do this - it depends on their LA status. Cornwall is one of these. When we had a devolved council at Kerrier the situation was different.

For a large wheelie bin plus a glass bin the price per collection is £19 plus VAT, all up around £23. I am arranging a collection schedule with the contractor which can be updated at short notice. I have about 20 weeks booked each year so this will total around £460. Would be expensive for all year bookings, but still much cheaper than my council tax which was £2100 per year.

Waste collection via the Council was a nightmare. My house is in the countryside, and collections were regularly missed. We had to leave everything in black sacks by the roadside (no recycling here) so you can imagine the mess when sacks were left for several nights. Not a pretty sight for my visitors.

My contractor promises a much better service. Bins will be collected from and returned to an agreed place in the garden, and I have a named person on a direct line with whom I can manage the service. If I get last minute bookings I can ask for additional collections at short notice.

I would say that waste collection has been my worst problem over many years of holiday letting my house here in Cornwall. I'm hoping for less problem chasing!
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russellt
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Post by russellt »

Giraffe wrote:We had to leave everything in black sacks by the roadside
Same here, and alternate weeks for recycling and non. A nightmare.
Giraffe wrote:
I have a named person on a direct line with whom I can manage the service.
That flexibility sounds good. Price? Hmmmmmm. :?
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Giraffe
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Post by Giraffe »

russellt. I forgot to mention. I'm having a large wheelie bin as my house is big - sleeps 7. The smaller one would be slightly cheaper. I could go without the glass container (£7 + VAT) but that would not contribute to planet earth.

Had a sneaky peek at your website. What a lovely cottage you have.
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russellt
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Post by russellt »

Giraffe wrote:What a lovely cottage you have.
Haha. Thanks. We love it.
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akwe-xavante
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Post by akwe-xavante »

Try and find out were your nearest Business waste recycling centre is, they usually are the same place all the domestic waste goes!!!!

Buy your own Waste Carriers licence at £154 for higher tier carrier and its free for a lower tier licence. This allows you to take away and carry your own waste yourself. Then all you need is somewhere to take it.

It looked at and considered this option to discover that I could do this myself, OK a little extra paperwork each week and it was cheaper too, but for me it worked out only slightly cheaper.

The saving wasn't worth the additional effort and paperwork.
Giraffe
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Post by Giraffe »

Thanks akwe-xavante. That's useful to know. Alas, no good currently for me as I am an offsite owner and the cleaners will not deal with rubbish.
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Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

Giraffe would you mind letting me know which waste operator you went with in the end and how it has panned out so far? I am also trying to sort something out in Cornwall as my neighbour has said he doesn't want to put out our bins anymore.
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Post by Jenster »

Well I have just been in touch with Biffa who will do our waste collection (small 2 bedroom flat) for around £25/week, including general waste and general mixed recycling. For us that would work out about £600 for the season which seems a lot but is much cheaper than paying council tax.

My husband works in waste and to re-iterate Giraffe's comments, yes Cornwall Council are cracking down on holiday lets who use the council collection. They are however also looking into the possibility of providing a commercial waste collection service, although this might take a while.
Giraffe
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Post by Giraffe »

Jenster, I use H&A Recycling Ltd based at Redruth.
Tel 01209 219993
elise@harecycling.co.uk

Trade waste bin (large one) is £14.50 per collection
Glass bin is £8.40 per collection

I'm now ditching the glass bin as it is as big as the waste bin and visitors have been putting their general rubbish in it :roll:

Yes, much better than the council service. Great customer support from them.
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Giraffe
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Post by Giraffe »

Forgot to say, my council tax would have been around £2400 this year. I only need bin collections for betwen 20-25 weeks per year. It's a no brainer.

If my visitors wish to be "green" on holiday I direct them to some public recycling bins in the next village, not far way
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Giraffe
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Post by Giraffe »

Jenster, PPS. With H&A you don't have to worry about your visitors putting the bin(s) out. You agree a place in the garden for the bins and the men collect from there and return to same place.
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Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

Thanks Giraffe, I have emailed H&A but no reply so far. Will have to give them a ring. They are just up the road from my place so may be the best option.

We also have a recycling station in the village which I direct guests too. But I suspect we are not supposed to do this either. Do H&A do 'general mixed recycling' at all?
Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

Thanks Giraffe, I have emailed H&A but no reply so far. Will have to give them a ring. They are just up the road from my place so may be the best option.

We also have a recycling station in the village which I direct guests too. But I suspect we are not supposed to do this either. I see on their website H&A also do a dry mixed recycling collection which may be useful.

Edited to add this useful link - it seems we are obliged to separate and arrange disposal of recycling too...

https://www.gov.uk/managing-your-waste- ... sibilities
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