Can I Take Soil and Rubble to the Tip in Harrogate?
Yes, and this is the best council allowance in our whole service area. North Yorkshire gives you four free visits in any four weeks, up to 100 litres or one item up to 2000 x 750 x 700mm, accepts tarmac when Leeds refuses it, and charges a published £3.80 per standard bag above the allowance. You must register before you visit and sign a declaration at the site. Kruze collects soil, rubble and hardcore across Harrogate and Yorkshire from £45, priced by weight, under Waste Carrier Licence CBDU597687. Call or WhatsApp 07436 120271.
The best allowance, with conditions
North Yorkshire has the most generous rubble allowance in our service area and the most paperwork attached to it. Two of the requirements happen before you leave the house.
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 North Yorkshire Council allows
North Yorkshire has the most precisely written DIY waste policy in our area, and the most generous. Once a week you can bring either a single article no larger than 2000mm by 750mm by 700mm, or under 100 litres, meaning what fits in two 50 litre bags. You may visit four times free within any four week period.
Note the third dimension. Leeds, Bradford and Calderdale all give a length and a width. North Yorkshire is the only council here that also gives a depth, so a thick lintel or a chunk of concrete that would pass a 2m by 0.75m test elsewhere is measured on all three faces here.
Above the allowance you can pay by card, and North Yorkshire is the only council in our area publishing a per-bag rate: £3.80 per standard hardcore and rubble bag. A sample bag is kept at the sites so there is no argument about size.
| Free allowance | Once a week, one item up to 2000 x 750 x 700mm, or under 100 litres |
| Visits | 4 free visits in any 4 week period |
| Above the allowance | £3.80 per standard hardcore and rubble bag, card only |
| Tarmac | Accepted. Leeds refuses it outright |
| Before you go | Registration is compulsory. No registration, no entry |
| At the gate | You sign a form declaring the waste is from your own unpaid work |
Source: North Yorkshire Council.
Two things to do before you leave the house
Register first. North Yorkshire will not let you onto the site at all if you have not registered to use the household waste recycling centres. This is not the same as a van permit, it applies to everyone, and it is the single most common reason a first visit fails.
Then expect to sign something. For DIY waste specifically you must complete a form at the site declaring that the waste was produced by your own work and not from any work for which a payment has been made or is to be made. In practice that is a written declaration that you did not pay a builder. It is worth knowing before you are standing at a desk with a full car.
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 Harrogate 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 Harrogate.
| Route | What it takes |
|---|---|
| North Yorkshire Council tip | Four free visits in four weeks gets you perhaps 400 litres, then £3.80 a bag for the rest, on top of the driving |
| 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 |
North Yorkshire is genuinely the best council route in our whole service area for soil and rubble. The allowance is the largest, the overflow rate is published and cheap, and tarmac is accepted when Leeds refuses it. The catch is that it is still a car boot at a time, and Harrogate sits in a county-wide system that covers a lot of ground.
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
Do I have to register before visiting a North Yorkshire tip?
Yes, and it is enforced. North Yorkshire states you will not be allowed to enter the site if you are not registered. It applies to everyone, not only to vans, and it is separate from any permit.
What is the form I have to sign?
For DIY waste you complete a declaration at the site confirming the waste came from your own work and not from any work for which payment has been or will be made. In plain terms, a written statement that you did not pay a builder.
Does North Yorkshire take tarmac?
Yes. Tarmac is on the accepted list alongside hardcore, bricks and rubble. Leeds refuses tarmac and asphalt outright, so this is a genuine difference between the two.
What does it cost above the free allowance?
£3.80 per standard hardcore and rubble bag, paid by credit or debit card. A sample of the standard bag is kept at the sites so the size is not a matter of opinion.
Book a soil or rubble collection in Harrogate
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 Harrogate
- Plasterboard at the Harrogate tip
- Mattresses at the Harrogate tip
- Van and trailer permits for the Harrogate tip
- Asbestos at the Harrogate tip
- Fridges and freezers at the Harrogate tip
- Bulky waste collection in Harrogate
If the clear-out included the old wheels, they are capped separately again. See tyres at the Harrogate tip.
We collect from the room it is in across Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon and Wetherby. What a Harrogate collection costs.