Paint, Chemicals And Asbestos Sheet In The Shed

What's happening?

Every shed and garage clearance reaches the shelf nobody wants to deal with. Paint, solvents, thinners, weedkiller, engine oil, brake fluid, aerosols, batteries, fluorescent tubes and old fuel are hazardous household waste, and hazardous waste must not be mixed with non-hazardous waste: that is a specific requirement, not a preference, and it is why these items cannot simply go in a skip. Gas bottles and cylinders are refused by most sites entirely and usually go back to the supplier. Then there is the sheet material: corrugated roofing on a pre-2000 garage or shed, old soffits, textured coating and pipe lagging are all places asbestos-containing materials turn up in ordinary domestic buildings, and that is HSE territory, not clearance.

What usually causes it?

• Decades of part-used paint tins kept for touching up and never used
• Weedkiller, pesticide and fertiliser left by a previous owner, sometimes long withdrawn from sale
• Engine oil, antifreeze, brake fluid and old petrol in cans from car maintenance
• Butane, propane or patio-heater cylinders, full, part-full or unknown
• A corrugated cement garage or shed roof being replaced or taken down
• Old fluorescent tubes, car batteries and rechargeable batteries stored loose
• Inheriting a property whose outbuildings have never been emptied

Is it dangerous?

Yes, in several different ways at once. Solvents and old fuel are flammable and give off vapour in a closed shed. Aerosols and cylinders explode in a fire or when crushed, which is exactly what happens if they go into a skip lorry. Old pesticides may be products withdrawn from sale, and containers corrode and leak. Lithium and lead-acid batteries can ignite when damaged. Asbestos is the one to be most careful with: undisturbed sheet is generally stable, but breaking, drilling, cutting or dry-sweeping it releases fibres, and HSE puts asbestos deaths at around 5,000 workers a year, more than are killed on the roads. Do not smash a garage roof to make it fit in a van.

Can I fix it myself?

You can sort and identify without disturbing anything. Keep containers upright and labelled, keep them in the original packaging, do not decant chemicals into other bottles, and do not mix products together. Take household hazardous waste to your council's designated facility: most run a hazardous or chemical waste service and the tip will tell you what it accepts. Return gas cylinders to the supplier or a stockist. Latex and water-based paint can often be dried out solid, which changes how it is handled, but check what your own council accepts. Leave suspected asbestos alone and get it identified.

When should you call a rubbish and waste clearance specialist?

Call a clearance firm for the general contents of the shed or garage, and be explicit about what is on the shelves: hazardous items must be segregated and consigned properly, and a firm needs to know before it arrives. Asbestos is a separate call: HSE guidance sets out which work is licensable and which is not, and asbestos cement sheeting is removed by a contractor competent for that work, then disposed of as hazardous waste. No clearance firm should be loading broken sheet into an open van.

What will the rubbish and waste clearance specialist actually do?

• Identify and set aside hazardous items before loading anything, rather than sorting at the tip
• Keep hazardous waste segregated from the general load, as the mixing rules require
• Route paint, solvents, oils, aerosols, batteries and tubes to a facility permitted to take them
• Direct cylinders back to the supplier or a site that accepts them, rather than skipping them
• Stop on suspected asbestos and refer it for identification and specialist removal
• Clear the general shed and garage contents, and provide a transfer note for the load

What a skip or a van will not take

Most disputes on the day come from an assumption that a paid-for container takes anything. It does not, and the refusals are consistent across operators because they follow the same rules.

• Liquid paint, solvents, thinners, oils, fuels and antifreeze: hazardous, must stay segregated
• Aerosols and gas cylinders: explosion risk when crushed or in a fire; cylinders go back to the supplier
• Batteries, including car batteries and rechargeable cells, and fluorescent tubes and lamps
• Fridges, freezers and air conditioners: degassing required at a permitted facility
• Upholstered seating: must be segregated and incinerated as POPs waste
• Asbestos in any form: specialist removal and hazardous waste disposal, never a general load
• Tyres, clinical waste and sharps: each has its own route

Questions people ask

Sources & References

1. GOV.UK: Dispose of hazardous waste
2. Environment Agency, Hazardous waste: segregation and mixing
3. HSE: Why is asbestos dangerous?
4. GOV.UK, Regulations: Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)