Can I Take Soil and Rubble to the Tip in Bradford?
Yes, once a week, and then you can pay. Bradford allows one visit per week with either two 50 litre rubble bags or one item up to 2m by 0.75m. Above that it is chargeable at the weighbridge, £10.50 minimum for brick, rubble and soil, and only at Bowling Back Lane or Keighley. Rubble left by a tradesperson at your home is commercial waste and is refused. Kruze collects soil, rubble and hardcore across Bradford and West Yorkshire from £45, priced by weight, under Waste Carrier Licence CBDU597687. Call or WhatsApp 07436 120271.
You can pay to go over, and only here
Bradford is the only council in our area that will let you simply pay to tip more rubble than the free allowance, and it publishes the rate. Knowing that is worth a wasted trip.
Why every council caps it, and none of them can stop capping it
Since January 2024 councils in England have not been allowed to charge householders for small amounts of DIY waste at a household waste recycling centre. Leeds City Council dates the change to 8 January 2024 on its own charges page.
What the law did not do is make the amount unlimited. Every council in our area sets a cap on how much and how often, and those caps are where the real differences are. Soil, rubble and hardcore is also the heaviest thing a household ever throws away, so a limit that sounds generous in litres is usually small in kilos.
What Bradford Council allows
Bradford gives you one visit per week per household, and on that visit you can bring either two 50 litre rubble bags or buckets, or one large item up to 2m by 0.75m. That is the whole free allowance.
Above it, Bradford is the only council in our area that lets you simply pay and carry on, and it publishes the rate. Brick, rubble and soil has a £10.50 minimum charge at the weighbridge, and the weighbridge only exists at Bowling Back Lane and Keighley. The other sites cannot take payment at all.
| Free allowance | One visit a week, 2 x 50 litre bags or one item up to 2m by 0.75m |
| Above the allowance | Chargeable, £10.50 minimum for brick, rubble and soil |
| Where you can pay | Bowling Back Lane and Keighley only, the two waste transfer stations |
| Trade waste | Refused. Named explicitly, see below |
Source: Bradford Council.
Bradford names the tradespeople
Most councils say “no trade waste” and leave you to work out whether that includes you. Bradford writes the list: leftover waste or material from electricians, joiners, builders, gardeners and plumbers making improvements to your home will not be accepted.
Read that carefully, because it catches the householder, not the tradesman. If you paid a builder to take your chimney breast out and he left the rubble in your garden, that rubble is commercial waste even though it is sitting at your house and you paid for the work. Taking it to a household site is not allowed. Bradford also says DIY waste above the weekly volume counts as commercial waste, which is a second way into the same rule.
The trade waste line, and it bites hardest here
Household waste recycling centres take household waste from residents. Soil and rubble is the waste stream where that line is drawn hardest, because it is the stream most likely to have come out of paid work.
The part people get wrong: it is about who did the work, not about whose house it is. If you paid a builder, a plumber, a joiner or a landscaper, the debris from that job is commercial waste even though it is sitting in your garden. Leeds and Bradford both name those trades explicitly. North Yorkshire makes you sign a declaration about it. Landlords clearing a rental are in the same position.
That is not a technicality we are using to sell you something. It is the reason a lot of Bradford rubble ends up with us: the person who made it should have taken it, and did not.
The worked comparison
Half a tonne of brick and mortar from a knocked-through wall, in Bradford.
| Route | What it takes |
|---|---|
| Bradford Council tip | At 2 bags a week you are looking at months of Saturdays, or the weighbridge at Bowling Back Lane with a £10.50 minimum plus whatever it weighs in at |
| Skip hire | A skip’s weight limit binds long before its volume does. Fill one with rubble and it is usually refused as overloaded while it still looks half empty |
| Kruze | One collection, priced by weight, loaded by two people from wherever it is sitting |
Bradford is the most workable council route in the area for a genuinely large amount, because you can pay to exceed the allowance rather than being turned away. What it costs you is the loading, the driving, the weighing and the fact that only two sites can do it.
What it costs with Kruze
Soil, rubble and hardcore is priced by weight, not by the load, because that is how it is charged to us at the disposal site. Guessing by volume is how people end up with a bill they did not expect.
| Weight | Price |
|---|---|
| 50kg | £45 |
| 100kg | £68 |
| 200kg | £136 |
| 500kg | £340 |
| 1000kg | £680 |
The price includes labour and disposal, and it is fixed before we start. We are a licensed waste carrier, registration CBDU597687, and every job produces a waste transfer note, which is what covers your duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
What we take that the council route will not: mixed loads. Plaster still on the brick, timber and fixings still in it, tiles still stuck to the board, soil with turf and roots through it. Sorting that by hand is the job the council rules hand back to you.
Frequently asked questions
Is rubble left by my builder household waste?
No. Bradford states that leftover material from electricians, joiners, builders, gardeners and plumbers improving your home will not be accepted at household sites. It is commercial waste even though it is at your house and you paid for the work. Your builder should be removing it, or you need a licensed carrier.
Which Bradford sites can take payment for extra rubble?
Only Bowling Back Lane and Keighley. Those are the two waste transfer stations with weighbridges. The other household waste recycling centres cannot take money at all.
Can I put rubble in a skip instead?
Yes, but watch the weight. Skips have a weight limit long before they have a volume limit, and a builder’s skip filled with mortar rubble will usually be refused for overloading well before it looks full.
Do I need a permit to bring rubble in a van?
Yes. Bradford runs a van permit scheme at its household waste recycling centres and several vehicle types are refused regardless. A car boot needs nothing.
Book a soil or rubble collection in Bradford
Send a photo on WhatsApp and you get a fixed price back, usually within minutes. A photo with something in it for scale, a spade or a wheelie bin, gets you a much more accurate weight estimate than a description does.
Call or WhatsApp 07436 120271.
Written by Sandeep KV, Founder of Kruze. Kruze is a licensed waste carrier based in Leeds, Waste Carrier Licence CBDU597687, serving Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Harrogate and Barnsley. Call or WhatsApp 07436 120271.
Soil and rubble rules in the other areas we cover
The free allowance is roughly two bags almost everywhere. What changes is how it is measured, whether you can pay to go over, and what the load has to be clean of.
More on tipping in Bradford
- Plasterboard at the Bradford tip
- Mattresses at the Bradford tip
- Van and trailer permits for the Bradford tip
- Asbestos at the Bradford tip
- Fridges and freezers at the Bradford tip
- Bulky waste collection in Bradford
If the clear-out included the old wheels, they are capped separately again. See tyres at the Bradford tip.
We collect from the room it is in across Bradford, Shipley, Keighley and Bingley. What a Bradford collection costs.