The Highland Council can provide a chargable Commercial Buisness collection and disposal service across the Highland Council area. Details of the services offered are outlined below.
Click on the Commercial Recycling and Refuse service guide on the left for information on how to use the system effectively. The guide also contains advice on dealing with some of the waste issues that might affect your business.
The Highland Council endeavours, throughout the Highlands to provide both collection and disposal services which meet the needs of most businesses for the same charges in all three Highland Council Areas.
The Council also seeks to promote waste avoidance, minimisation and recycling, but only where this is both financially viable and environmentally sustainable.
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Under part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 the Council can only collect Commercial, and certain types of Household waste if a REQUEST for the Service has been made and reasonable cost recovery charges are paid. A Service Request form, which also incorporates the Duty of Care waste transfer note, must be completed by all customers requesting a collection service.
The Council may also permit businesses to dispose of waste at its waste transfer stations / landfill sites subject to payment of a reasonable cost recovery charge.
The waste producer (i.e. the customer) has a responsibility to fully comply with the Duty of Care Regulations which involves
- Taking care with waste handling and containment
- Describing and quantifying the waste
- Passing this waste only to a registered waste carrier
- or taking the waste directly to a suitably licenced transfer or disposal site
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The Highland Council promotes waste avoidance, minimisation and recycling as part of the Zero Waste Scotland initiative. Zero Waste means that everyone in Scotland – business, householders and the public and voluntary sectors – needs to reflect on how to reduce the amount of waste that is produced; how we can reduce unnecessary consumption and how we can improve our recycling rates.
Recycling Permit - Free Recycling Permit
The Council’s commercial customers can apply for a free Recycling Permit using the formal request form which also incorporates the Duty of Care waste transfer note. This permit enables the Council’s customers to use Recycling Centres and Recycling Points to recycle an amount of material equivalent to the volume of waste collected through the commercial collection contract free of charge. This assists them to reduce the amount of residual waste that they produce and to access the Council’s Recycling Centres and Recycling Points free of charge. A wide range of recyclable materials can be recycled and diverted from landfill using this permit – i.e. glass, cardboard, paper, green waste, food tins, drink cans, wood, textiles and plastic bottles.
Full details of the Council’s Recycling Point network, Recycling Centres and range of materials available at each location is available by following this link.
Kerbside Recycling Collections
From April 2011 all commercial customers in The Highland Council area will be entitled to a separate Recycling collection enabling them to recycle paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, food tins and drink cans. Refuse bins will not be uplifted if they contain the materials specified above. Customers have the opportunity to use the Recycling Permit detailed above to recycle these materials rather than have a recycling collection.
The planned time scale for recycling collections to be rolled out in Highland are as follows:
- April 2011 – Caithness and Lochaber
- July 2011 – Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
- October 2011 – Ross and Cromarty and parts of West Ross
- April 2012 – Inverness
- April 2012 – The remainder of West Ross, North, East
- July 2012 - Sutherland
Until the Recycling Collection service is available in your area please make use of the Free Recycling Permit detailed above.
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Normal service days are Monday - Friday inclusive.
Businesses requesting the Council’s service will be provided with all necessary paperwork to ensure, wherever possible:-
- A flexible and seasonally responsive service
- Exceptional circumstances are dealt with
- Plus compliance with 'Duty of Care'
Owner’s and certain staff accommodation, which is listed on the Council Tax Register, will be provided with a free household collection service in line with our household collection service in your area.
Refuse collections will take place as per the customers current contract. All bins set out for collection must have the current self adhesive bin permit attached. No permit sticker, no collection.
All waste must be contained within the customers contracted bins. Excess side waste will not be collected and bin lids must be closed.
From April 2011 all commercial collection services must also include recycling by using either the kerbside recycling collection or recycling permit system outlined above. If any refuse bin contains any cardboard, paper, plastic bottles, food tins and drink cans it will not be collected. The time-scale for this starting in each area is outlined under Kerbside Recylcing Collections above.
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The 2012/13 collection charges are outlined below. Please note the recycling charges will only apply to an area when the scheduled change takes place. These dates are outlined in the Kerbside Recycling Collections section.
Recycling and refuse collection charges 2012/13
- 140 litre wheeled bin -
- COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift - £3.74
- COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift - £2.52
- HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) - £2.51
- HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift - £1.29
- 240 litre wheeled bin -
- COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift - £5.81
- COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift - £3.76
- HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) - £3.76
- HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift - £1.72
- 360 litre wheeled bin -
- COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift - £8.19
- COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift - £5.12
- HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) - £5.11
- HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift - £2.04
- 660 litre wheeled bin -
- COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift - £13.81
- COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift - £8.18
- HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) - £8.15
- HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift - £2.52
- 1100 litre wheeled bin -
- COMMERCIAL REFUSE Per uplift - £22.23
- COMMERCIAL RECYCLING Per uplift - £12.82
- HOUSEHOLD REFUSE Per uplift (See Note A) - £12.79
- HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Per uplift - £3.38
Certain container sizes may be unavailable in some areas.
Note A - The Environmental Protection Act 1990 defines 'Household Waste' for which a charge can be made, including that from the undernoted premises, as:-
- Residential hostels and homes
- Waste from self-catering holiday businesses (e.g. chalets, caravans, campsites)
- Waste from charity occupied premises wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. The disposal charge element cannot be applied to waste from these premises.
Payment
The Highland Council strongly advises any commercial customers to make payments by direct debit as you will be paying on a monthly basis.
For further information on payment options or to request a direct debit mandate please call 01349 886603.
Bin Permit
Once the collection request has been processed and the Duty of Care waste transfer note has been completed, the customer will be sent self adhesive permits for displaying on the bins. It is the customer’s responsibility to ensure that these permits are attached to the bins at all times. A service will not be provided without the permits and waste transfer note being in place. Bins which do not have the current permit attached will NOT be collected.
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Request for Recycling & Refuse collection service forms
Click on the links to download the following forms -
Existing account holders are entitled to dispose of waste at Seater, Granish and Portree landfill sites and transfer stations.
Most usual types of waste can be accepted for disposal, but particular arrangements and charges will apply to difficult wastes.
Charges
From 1st of April 2011 the following charges will apply:
- £61.15 per tonne plus £56 Landfill Tax for all wastes other than difficult wastes
- £122.30 per tonne plus £56 Landfill Tax for difficult wastes.
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The Highland Council has a team of staff on hand to offer advice on dealing with waste.
We can produce materials to help your establishment deal with your waste more effectively and we can also provide staff training where required.
If your company would like a visit from a member of staff to help reduce, reuse and recycle your waste please contact us on 01349 886603 or e-mail recycle@highland.gov.uk
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