How to Dispose of Bricks and Rubble

If you are looking for how to dispose of bricks and rubble in the most convenient and cost-effective way, you’ll probably be considering a number of different options. Let’s face it, it’s not the most fun or exciting part of a project, is it? But it definitely needs to be thought about when planning how to get the job done. You don’t want to be left with a pile of unsightly construction waste from a demolition or rubble next to your nice new building, or taking up space in a revamped garden!

What Is Classed As Rubble?

Rubble refers to broken pieces of construction waste, often including things like bricks, cement, concrete, paving slabs, stone, sand, tiles, ceramics, and lots of other inert materials. Often generated in vast quantities on demolition sites, disposing of rubble is an important consideration when planning any construction project.

It’s not just huge commercial demolition projects that produce rubble, domestic building projects and refurbishments can also generate volumes of construction waste that need to be dealt with properly.

Disposing Of Bricks And Rubble Myself

There are some ways to take rubble disposal yourself, including making use of local specialist facilities. There are also some potential issues, costs and charges you need to be aware of when disposing of bricks and rubble yourself.

Taking rubble to my local tip

When you search the internet for something like ‘disposing of bricks and rubble near me’, you’ll often find details of your local Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC). Most sites will have a dedicated area for rubble disposal, this usually carries a fixed charge related to the weight or size of the waste you need to get rid of.

Landfill tax

A charge applies to disposing of rubble, brickwork and soil from commercial projects, this is called ‘landfill tax’. A landfill tax is charged per tonne of commercial waste, and is intended to discourage businesses from sending large amounts of construction waste to landfill.

Fly-tipping

There has been a dramatic increase in incidents of fly-tipping, particularly since the introduction of landfill tax on commercial waste. Not only is disposing of rubble and bricks by fly-tipping extremely harmful to the environment, it can also lead to fines, penalties and even a prison sentence if you are caught.

Multiple trips / fuel costs / damage to your vehicle

Disposing of building waste yourself can involve multiple trips to your local HWRC. You’ll have to load heavy bags or sacks into your vehicle, travel to the HWRC then unload them and carry them to the correct area for disposing of bricks and rubble.

It’s not just heavy work for you, but it’ll take its toll on your vehicle too. Multiple trips with heavy loads can result in significant fuel costs and wear and tear on your car, not to mention the mess! Using a domestic car for a specialist waste removal job can often cost more money than it saves in the long run.

Inclement weather

What’s heavier than a huge sack of bricks and rubble? A huge sack of soaking wet bricks and rubble! The great British weather can sometimes cause additional problems when considering how to dispose of bricks and rubble. When construction waste materials get wet, they are even more difficult to transport, so it’s advisable to wait for dry weather before disposing of bricks and rubble.

Options for disposing of bricks and rubble

Let’s look at some options for disposing of bricks and rubble and some of the questions you might be looking for answers to:

Can bricks and rubble be recycled?

Recycling bricks and rubble helps to avoid sending unnecessary waste to landfill, which in turn helps protect the environment, and can also save you money. However, bricks and rubble cannot be recycled via your regular household recycling service, they must be dealt with by a specialist, or directly recycled and reused in projects around your home and garden.

Can bricks and rubble be reused?

If you have carefully removed good quality bricks during a demolition project, you can often reuse them to make other things. Firepits, pizza ovens and barbeques can be constructed from old bricks, making an interesting and useful feature in your garden. You could also consider using hardcore rubble in landscaping projects where you need to increase the height of an area, or to create a solid, compacted base for a garden building or patio.

If you can’t reuse bricks and rubble for your own projects, you might want to try listing it on a local selling or freecycling page. People will often come and collect hardcore rubble and bricks from their neighbours, helping to reuse materials they no longer need.

Can bricks and rubble be sold?

Bricks from particularly old buildings are often quite sought after for repairing buildings of a similar age, or creating aesthetically pleasing structures from reclaimed bricks. Hardcore rubble can also be useful for building projects, when processed correctly at a specialist site construction waste is often able to be sold for use in commercial construction.

Skip hire

If you have a moderate amount of construction waste to dispose of, skip hire is usually the most convenient and cost-effective solution. Not only will it mean you are able to keep your site tidy by containing all the waste within a skip, it’s also a much quicker process to get everything removed at the end of your project or when the skip is full. Always be sure to speak to your supplier for more information on restricted waste and prohibited items.

What size skip is best?

Disposing of bricks and rubble in a skip is ideal for both domestic and commercial building projects. There are a huge range of skip sizes available on the market, including smaller sizes suitable for sites with narrow entrances and access issues.

Grab hire

For commercial projects, grab hire is the ideal solution for disposing of building waste in larger volumes. Our lorries have a greater capacity than a skip and can load up to 15 tonnes of waste directly from your site.

You might also decide to use grab hire if you don’t have the space available to store a skip, or if there are obstacles that would prevent a skip from being delivered to a convenient place. You’ll still need the space to create a pile of waste for the grab hire lorry to collect, but the long reach arms of these specialist vehicles mean they can navigate over hedges and fences to remove waste quickly, without the need for a permit.

Disposing of bricks and rubble

Whatever size of the project you are working on, disposing of bricks and rubble is a vital part of the process. Both domestic and commercial skip hire and grab hire is available across the whole of the UK just ensure your supplier is accredited.