Clear out with care this spring

A clear out is a great opportunity to refresh your home and with a little care, you can help protect the environment as well.

From unwanted clothes and electrical items to bulky furniture and mattresses, there are plenty of easy and responsible ways for Wandsworth residents to dispose of items while minimising waste this spring and beyond.

Recycle electricals, vapes and batteries responsibly

Try and avoid disposing of electrical items that are in good or working condition, instead you can sell them on or give them away via platforms such as Freegle.

If your electricals are no longer working, they can be recycled at a range of different locations throughout Wandsworth.

If you think your item might be able to be repaired, why not take it along to a local repair cafe or community repair network.

Vapes should also be recycled, rather than thrown into household waste as they contain batteries which can cause fires if disposed of incorrectly.

You can:

• return used vapes to retailers, they are legally obliged to accept and recycle them
• recycle batteries at your local library, leisure centre or your local supermarket

Clear your closet with TRAID

If you have clothes, you no longer wear, don’t throw them away. All clean dry textiles can be recycled (excl. stuffed items or carpets) - take a look at our list of public recycling banks to see where you can recycle textiles.

Good quality items should be repaired, re-sold or donated to charity.

You can join Traid’s Clear Your Closet challenge to help keep clothes in use for longer. All you need to do is sort through your clothes and separate out anything you no longer wear or want. Then you can:

• Drop them at one of Traid's local clothing banks
• Book a free collection slot online or by calling 020 8733 2595. A TRAID-branded van will then collect your donations at the agreed time

Getting rid of your garden waste

If you’re planning to spruce up your garden this spring, find out how to set up home composting. Alternatively, you can have up to five bags of garden waste collected each week along with your other dustbin waste. 

Any more than that will need to book a special collection (two free per household every year) or an appointment at the Household Waste and Recycling Centre in Smugglers Way. 

You can look at our garden waste page for more information on disposing of garden waste responsibly. 

Free bulky waste collections and Mega Skips

If you’re looking to get rid of large items such as sofas, beds or wardrobes, all Wandsworth residents get two free bulky waste collections a year. Each collection can contain up to four items.

Alternatively, you can head to one of our Mega Skip days, helping you to dispose of bulky items close to home. They happen every two weeks across the borough and you can bring up to six items to dispose of, find out when the next Mega Skip day near you is.

Collect 4 Reuse attend some of the skips to take away reusable items and refurbish them, giving these items back to the community. Around 50% of everything taken away in the skips is recycled after going through a sorting process

For more inspiration and ideas on how to spring clean responsibly look at where else you can donate, sell, share or repair items.

Recycle more items from 31 March

Alongside recycling or disposing of larger items, you can now recycle even more items in your household recycling.

In addition to the items you can already recycle, you can now also put the following items in your recycling sack or communal mixed recycling bin:

• Aluminium foil and food trays (clean and free from food)
• Empty squeezy metal tubes - such as tomato puree packaging
• Empty squeezy plastic tubes - such as toothpaste packaging
• Empty aerosol cans

Only put items in your sacks or banks that are in the please recycle lists for each material.

• Rinse any food remains off containers before recycling
• Never include anything that could cause risk during the collection or sorting process, such as hypodermic needles