Residents have been protesting about the costs of recycling DIY waste in Berkshire since charges are made for dumping more than a bathtub-full.
Up to 100 litres of rubble, soil, plasterboard or asbestos or one bulky sanitary ware item no larger than 2000mm x 750mm x700mm in size can be disposed of by residents at household waste recycling points in Reading and Bracknell.
More than a bathtub full of DIY waste brought in during a single visit incurs charges.
Visitors can currently bring rubble on up to three occasions in four weeks, and on the fourth occasion, there is also a charge.
Trade waste is not accepted and DIY waste must be produced at a domestic property by its occupiers who are carrying out their own construction works; and is not from construction for which payment has been or is to be made.
276 residents signed an ePetition which was focused on Bracknell, although the same rules are in place across Bracknell, Reading and Wokingham.
The petition read:
“A small free allowance has recently been introduced, the limits are extremely restrictive and many normal household renovation materials still fall outside the allowance and are chargeable.
“This results in residents being charged twice for essential household waste disposal.”
According to the petitioners, the definition of DIY waste does not cover many normal household renovation items, such as kitchen carcasses, shelving, timber panels, MDF and other materials commonly produced through basic home maintenance.
They wrote: “We ask the council to review and remove these charges, or expand the free allowance to include a practical amount of typical household DIY waste.”
The current limits are in operation since January 1, 2024.
Back in 2023, when the current regime was approved, representatives of the Refuse board for Wokingham and Bracknell said:
“While we understand that these government changes will be welcomed by residents, the partial removal of fees will inevitably increase waste disposal costs,” they said.
“Disposal of DIY waste, such as soil, rubble, plasterboard or asbestos requires specialist processing and the fees we have been charging only recovered the cost of these expenses in the past.
“To effectively manage this change, Re3 has made essential updates to the Recycling Centres booking process, enabling monitoring of the frequency of visits when DIY waste is being deposited.
“These changes should assist our Recycling Centres’ ‘meet-and-greet’ staff to ensure that new rules benefit residents only, deterring commercial traders who are excluded from this free allowance.”
The petition closed on January 14, 2026 and it is now up to Bracknell Forest council to reply.
