POPs waste: New rules for throwing away soft seating

SunSkips clients recently received an email regarding the collection of upholstered furniture waste in the skip hire firm’s containers.

The Environment Agency (EA) has deemed the chemicals used in the production of sofas, padded chairs and other soft seating too hazardous to be recycled or disposed of in landfill, officially designating all furniture of this type as POPs waste.

This has raised questions for residents of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire who hire skips for domestic and office clear-outs which involve the removal of items that fall into this category.

So what are the new rules regarding upholstered furniture waste? And if you can’t put soft seating in a skip, how do you get rid of it?

What is POPs waste?

POPs stands for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The term describes chemicals that persist in the environment and are hazardous to human health.

Legislation for the disposal of POPs has been in place for over a decade (the Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulations 2007), which states that the waste type must be destroyed by incineration. It was drawn up to comply with the Stockholm Convention, a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from POPs.

The textiles and foam contained in upholstered seating is classed as POPs waste due to the chemicals used to make leather flexible or for flame retardants.

Hazardous chemicals found in upholstered furniture include:

• Decabromodiphenyl Ether (DecaBDE)
• Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD)
• Pentabromodiphenyl Ether (PentaBDE)
• Tetrabromodiphenyl Ether (TetraBDE)

Also discovered in the study were:

• Antimony Trioxide (a carcinogenic)
• Medium Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (MCCP)
• Other flame retardants and hazardous components of PVC

These chemicals can accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, as well as negatively impact the environment.

MORE: Skip hire safety: Tips for avoiding danger when hiring a skip

What’s happening with upholstered furniture waste in 2023?

Following a study in 2020 that revealed POPs in upholstered furniture, the EA reached out to local authorities and private waste management businesses to inform them these items were no longer suitable for landfill or recycling.

Everyday items now classed as POPs waste when thrown away include sofas, sofa beds, armchairs, kitchen and dining room chairs, stools and foot stools, home office chairs, futons, beanbags, and cushions. Deckchairs, mattresses, curtains, blinds, beds and wooden or plastic seats without upholstery are still OK to put in skips.

A lot of furniture manufacturers in the UK stopped using POPs in their products in 2011, but unless it can be proven otherwise, all upholstered furniture waste must be assumed to contain POPs.

Waste relating to the manufacture, treatment and repair of upholstered furniture that contains POPs is also unsuitable for disposal via any method other than incineration, according to the new EA legislation.

Landfills will now have to inspect incoming waste to make sure it doesn’t include any upholstered furniture, whether it’s separated or mixed with other waste.

SunSkips announced in late 2022 that it will no longer be accepting upholstered seating in any skips following the EA announcement, but can arrange a special collection so POPs waste isn’t mixed with other waste types.

MORE: What can’t you put in a skip?: A UK skip hire guide

Many waste management businesses and local authorities are struggling to comply with the new legislation.

Sam Horne, chair of the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO), said he was pleased to see the guidance to help divert POPs from landfill, but that it comes at a cost.

He said, “There remain some real challenges for local authorities as they look to enter into the necessary arrangements, in particular the significant additional cost that they will face in managing this new waste stream.

“We will continue to work with the Environment Agency to resolve issues that arise, as well as Defra to consider the associated financial implications.”

What should you do with upholstered waste now?

Upholstered furniture should be taken to a Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) so the local authority can send it for incineration.

However, when the new legislation took effect, some councils stopped accepting upholstered furniture in its recycling centres due to not having a solution for incineration in place in time.

East Cambridgeshire District Council was one such local authority that asked residents to hold onto upholstered furniture while a waste management supplier was sourced

Steve Cox, Cambridgeshire’s executive director of place and sustainability, said, “Changes to the way we are allowed to safely dispose of these items meant we were given an extremely short time frame to deal with waste that could no longer be put into landfill, which had to be stored separately from any other waste before being incinerated.”

The local authority has since started accepting upholstered furniture waste again after finding a temporary solution to safely store it while an incineration provider can be found.

East Cambridgeshire wasn’t the only local authority to have stopped accepting upholstered furniture waste in 2023, prompting the EA to release a clarifying statement saying it would be focusing on inspecting businesses for compliance and helping them to make the appropriate changes.

“Our initial approach to compliance has been to provide advice and guidance,” the agency said. “We will be focusing on those councils or businesses which are still working towards compliance.”

With proper authorisation from the EA, wood, metal and other non-POPs materials can be separated from POPs waste and recycled as long as it hasn’t been contaminated (the cover of the seating hasn’t been damaged, for example). If contamination has occurred, the whole piece of furniture must be treated as POPs waste.

X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) may also be used to scan upholstered furniture waste for bromine, but only a reading of less than 0.1% would satisfy the EA that no POPs waste is present.

Upholstered seating can be designated for reuse as long as its future owner uses it for the same purpose it was originally designed for and no large repair work is required.

Where does POPs waste end up?

Upholstered furniture is separated from other waste types that are suitable for burning and sent to an authorised municipal/hazardous waste incinerator or cement kiln.

POPs waste must be prepared for incineration inside a building to prevent particles blowing away.

Upholstered furniture waste can also be exported as RDF (refuse derived fuel) and SRF (solid recovered fuel), providing it follows the requirements of the Stockholm Convention.

MORE: SRF vs RDF: What’s the difference between the alternative fuels?

SunSkips still accepts non-upholstered seating in our containers. If you’d like to arrange a special collection for your upholstered seating waste, get in touch with our friendly team.