Waste Carrier Licence details: The Braintree House Clearances website is part of the Essex House Clearances group of websites.

In accordance with UK Environmental Agency legislation we are fully licenced, with an Upper-Tier waste carrier licence. An Upper-Tier waste carrier licence is a legal requirement for any organisation or individual who offers any form of waste or property clearance service for a third party. A ‘lower tier’ licence is only legally acceptable if the organisation clearing your property is a registered charity / voluntary group.

Why does a waste licence matter?

We all know that areas of Essex have long been favourite dumping grounds for fly-tippers, typically unethical individuals (and sometimes firms) offering dirt-cheap clearance services, taking your money and then dumping your belongings in the countryside.

Waste carrier licences are issued by the UK Environmental Agency, add traceability and require holders to dispose of unwanted items at registered recycling stations (where the licence must be shown and the transfer recorded).

Any individual or firm which collects any type of waste from you requires an upper-tier waste licence by law, which costs only £150 for 3 years.  A (free) lower-tier licence is also available, but these are for firms who dispose of their own waste – NOT yours – or for registered charities / voluntary organisations.

Putting the licence fee into perspective, you might wonder what the chances are that someone willing to break the law to save £150 for a licence won’t also avoid paying to dispose of your house contents legally (typically £190-200 per ton or a full 3.5 ton transit van load). If you’d rather that the contents of your property don’t get dumped in a quiet country lane, (if contacted by the council or police you’ll need to prove it wasn’t you who dumped it there) you should only deal with properly licenced companies. The risk is that if you don’t, your dirt-cheap waste removal costs could turn into a very expensive criminal conviction for fly-tipping!

Licences for all registered UK clearance companies can be checked here: https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers or you can go straight to our licence by clicking the Gov.uk link below.

Does your charity need used furniture?

If you run a local registered charity and are happy to accept donations, please get in touch and tell us what you need, what you accept and where. We cannot guarantee to satisfy everybody’s needs but we’ll help where we can. In addition to furniture we can also be asked to take away clothing and other household effects. To discuss your needs, use our quote request form to outline your needs and we’ll get in touch as soon as we can.