A strange twist in sofa disposal

Well, the new year certainly brought a huge shock with new regulations regarding the disposal of sofas and soft furnishing. I was taking a chair from a family friend’s house in Bognor Regis to her mother’s new home in Chichester. I have got to know some of the staff at the Westhampnett recycling centre very well over the years, so I decided to stop off and wish them a happy new year. Speaking with them I was informed that as from January 1st all sofas, SLR chairs, three-piece suites, office chairs and other soft furnishing are banned from landfill. This is because of new legislation for the disposal of upholstered furniture. It claims that the foam filling has a poison – (POP) Persistent Organic Pollutants resulting in the ban from landfill.

All the waste facilities (public and commercial) have been caught with no information about how these banned items should be disposed of. I use T G Waste in Ford near Arundel and they are waiting for instructions. I think the local recycling centres in Chichester, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton are still accepting at the moment. In other parts of the country public recycling centres have stopped taking sofas and soft furnishings. Something needs to be done urgently to prevent a complete flood of flytipping. These are big items of furniture so imagine the lovely quiet roads around Petworth and Arundel – they will be flooded with dumped sofas.  

My contact in the Chichester re cycling centre believes a charge will be introduced which really is not fair to the public. It’s huge new legislation and I have no idea how they are going to dispose of such a large part of waste generated by our lifestyle. Another contact who I have in Emsworth makes sofa beds – he was aware of this new legislation and has a huge toll on the roll off skip outside his factory in West Chiltington just in case. The trouble is the skip companies will refuse to take the skips away if they can’t dispose of the sofas. It’s all a bit of a mess.

I hope this gets sorted soon as it will really affect how we quote for clearances.

With all this rain, the back roads to Selsey and West Wittering have been flooded and both routes had complete road closures. All traffic to Chichester needed to travel from Bognor Regis on the B259 and the traffic report last week gave a queue time of over an hour. I was travelling to a property in Bosham so was completely at the mercy of the traffic – it took me an hour and forty minutes to get to the client. I think the flooding has just destroyed some of the back roads which are all used as busy rat runs in the morning. I think one of the back roads is now open but if you’re travelling in that area watch the hidden potholes – some of them are huge.

After apologising to my client, she informed me her husband had moved into a care home in Midhurst near her son and she was in the process of selling the large family home. It was a first visit so I informed her how we could help. I told her all she needed to do was identify everything that was going to her new, much smaller new home. With regards to the cupboards and loft and with the help of her children I told her just to take and pack what she was keeping and leave the rest exactly where it is. It’s always easier for us to clear and recycle as we go – if things have been put in bin liners, we have to rip them open and go through them. Her daughter arrived and they were so relieved that what they thought would be a huge difficult procedure could be dealt with by us.

Going potty over garden pots

It will be a large clearance at the end of March so plenty of time. The daughter had a Volvo estate and was taking some large garden pots from the rear garden to her home in Storrington. I offered to help thinking it would be an easy lift into the car. However, these pots were huge, and I had to find an old dustbin and shovel the dirt out – even then I had to leave a pile of dirt in the flower bed. I could just get them on my porter’s trolley, but the two wheels sunk into the small grass verge because of all the rain. It was a case of carefully rolling the pots back and forth to the drive, through a narrow gate and onto an old blanket in the back of the car. With the daughter helping direct them in we managed to lift them both safely without any breakage – it took me about an hour to move the pots, but she was so pleased. The garden had some other lovely stone and terracotta pots as well as a few good stone statues. I asked if these would be travelling to Storrington with her. Thankfully she said no and that they may include them in the sale of the property. I quickly said I would be happy to take them all and make a generous allowance against my quote. I was so pleased as I wanted the four terracotta pots for my garden and the rest I have a contact in Arundel who I know will be interested. So, a good turn was very beneficial to me. I was soaked through and very dirty when I left the property in Bosham but looking forward to helping the family later in the year.

If you have a property to clear or need advice, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time. I will attend and provide a non-obligatory quote. We are very aware it’s such a difficult emotional task. The week ahead is not too difficult for Howell House Clearance – we have a retirement flat in Bognor Regis to complete, a garage in Pagham to look at and quote. The main job is a property in Lavant near Chichester where we have to clear the loft, garage and sheds before the main clearance next month. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.