Commercial waste Swindon
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Swindon Borough Council does not offer businesses commercial waste collection services. Instead, local companies must arrange and pay for commercial waste collection from local waste firms.
In this guide, we’ll summarise the most popular commercial waste collection services in Swindon:
Swindon’s companies use general business waste collections to dispose of non-recyclable items such as single-use plastics, kitchen roll, and crisp packets. General business waste in Swindon is transported to an incinerator on the South Marston Industrial Estate, where it is used to generate renewable energy.
Commercial mixed recycling collections are Swindon’s most popular recycling service. Mixed recycling offers one convenient collection of paper, cardboard, glass, and plastic bottles. This service is perfect for small businesses that generate small volumes of recyclable waste.
The South Marston Industrial Estate in Swindon has an anaerobic digester that converts organic waste into renewable biogas and biofertilisers. Commercial food waste collections used by Swindon’s cafes and pubs are transported to the facility to feed the anaerobic digester.
Businesses in Swindon that generate large volumes of glass bottles and jars can arrange to have a separate glass bin and have this regularly collected. Glass waste is a valuable commodity, making commercial glass recycling the cheapest commercial recycling option in Swindon.
Swindon is a logistics hub with large warehouses adjacent to the M4 motorway. Logistics firms use vast quantities of cardboard to protect goods in transit. Local firms partner with commercial cardboard recycling services to manage, collect, and dispose of cardboard waste.
Wiltshire is home to New College Swindon, along with smaller colleges and local schools, making Swindon an education hub. Local educational institutions must carefully manage student and staff records on paper or electronic devices by partnering with a confidential waste management service.
Swindon is an attractive location for businesses, thanks to its strategic position along the M4 corridor, offering excellent connectivity to major cities such as London, Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea.
In this dynamic business environment, local businesses require various commercial recycling services. Below, we summarise the services available for specific sectors in Swindon.
Swindon is home to multinational companies, including Intel, Zurich Insurance, and BMW, which have large corporate offices there.
Local waste providers offer these large corporations confidential waste collection, mixed recycling, and general waste services as part of their office waste management services.
Swindon boasts a diverse dining scene that embraces its railway heritage. The Platform One Café at Swindon Railway Station offers a unique dining experience within a restored railway carriage. Our waste experts can assist Swindon’s restaurants in finding cost-effective and reliable commercial food waste collection services.
The Brunel Shopping Centre is at the heart of Swindon’s retail district, offering over 60 shops with a mix of big-name shops, supermarkets, and independent retailers.
Swindon’s waste providers offer retail waste collection services that help these shops manage and recycle large quantities of packaging waste.
The Swindon Borough Council is currently addressing issues with its domestic waste collection and does not provide commercial waste services to local businesses.
Instead, companies in Swindon must choose from one of these trusted commercial waste collection providers:
Printwaste was established in 1983 as a recycling provider for the printing industry. Although the printing industry has significantly declined, Printwaste has thrived and expanded its services to include collecting 18 different types of waste from various businesses. Headquartered in Cheltenham, Printwaste offers regular waste collection services to businesses in Swindon.
Grundon is the UK’s largest family-owned waste and environmental services provider. It operates regular commercial waste collection routes across Swindon, with depots in nearby Beenham and Bristol. Grundon offers total waste management services, handling a wide variety of hazardous and non-hazardous business waste.
Biffa is a nationwide commercial waste provider that offers extensive waste collection services. In Swindon, Biffa operates a waste depot at the Greenbridge Retail & Leisure Park. This facility serves as a base for Biffa’s waste collection vehicles, enabling the company to offer comprehensive business waste and recycling services throughout the town.
Hills Waste offers regular commercial recycling collections throughout the West of England, including Swindon and the surrounding Wiltshire towns. Its reliable collection teams provide a hassle-free and consistent service, boasting a 97% service reliability rate.
Grist Environmental is a local waste management provider based in Devizes, just a few miles south of Swindon. Grist operates under a ‘zero to landfill’ policy, and most of the waste collected is processed at their licensed materials processing facility in Wiltshire.
Veolia is a global company that supports its customers with decarbonisation and resource regeneration. In Wiltshire, Veolia assists local businesses by responsibly recycling their waste through regular commercial recycling collections.
Thamesdown offers a Complete Recycling Service. The company operates its own recycling centre in Cricklade, just a few miles north of Swindon. The site includes specialised facilities for disposing of paper and digital media as confidential waste.
Swindon Borough Council does not offer commercial waste services and strictly prohibits the inclusion of commercial waste in household waste bins.
The council defines commercial waste as anything produced by business activities, including:
Source: Swindon Borough Council – Managing your commercial waste
Here’s a summary of the best commercial waste disposal options for businesses in Swindon with a waste carrier licence to transport their own waste.
Swindon Borough Council operates a public recycling centre on the Cheney Manor Industrial Estate. However, commercial waste disposal is strictly prohibited at this site.
💡 Check out our article on what is classified as commercial waste to determine if you can use this public recycling centre.
Without commercial recycling centres, we recommend using a local waste transfer station.
Our business waste experts have summarised a list of waste transfer stations in Wiltshire:
The waste transfer stations listed above will provide you with a waste transfer note for any business waste you bring, allowing your company to demonstrate its compliance with commercial waste regulations.
In November 2023, Swindon Borough Council rolled out an ambitious plan to improve recycling rates in the city.
Although businesses are strictly prohibited from using the free domestic waste services in Swindon, the council’s plans illustrate ways to enhance recycling outcomes and highlight the risks involved when changing waste management processes.
According to the Local Government Association, in the 22/23 fiscal year, only 33% of Swindon’s waste was recycled, making it one of the worst-performing areas in the country.
In response, the council introduced a new recycling scheme in November 2023, which required residents of Swindon to segregate their waste into the following categories:
Segregating waste in this manner addresses the serious issue of cross-contamination found in previous dry-mixed recycling collections.
Determining which types of supermarket packaging are recyclable can be confusing, and non-recyclable items frequently end up in the recycling bin.
For example, a pizza box soaked in grease and cheese is not recyclable and can contaminate other items.
By implementing the new scheme, Swindon Borough Council aims to reduce the contamination and sorting required before their recycling processes.
Unfortunately, the rollout of the new scheme encountered significant problems due to inadequate project planning, resulting in uncollected bin bags piling up and some areas not receiving collections at all.
The experience of Swindon’s residents underscores the importance of having a reliable waste collection provider.
Unlike Swindon’s residents, companies in Swindon can rely on a number of trusted commercial waste collection providers that we’ve highlighted in the guide above.
Our waste experts work diligently to help companies find the best business waste collection services. Collect quotes for your business today by entering your postcode above.