Edinburgh's kerbside collection covers household waste and some mixed recycling, but bulky items, construction debris and renovation spoils typically fall outside the standard schedule. Check with the council if you're unsure where the line sits for your specific load. The waste stream here runs heavy — kitchen refits, bathroom tiles, old joinery and bagged rubble — and every load is sorted before disposal, separating metal, wood and inert material from what ends up in landfill.
single items, small piles
garage corner, garden pile
house clearance territory
Typical researched ranges — confirmed on sight before loading.
Edinburgh's mix of historic closes, tenement rear courtyards and narrow one-way streets often makes skip placement impractical without a permit, soLoad & Go collects rubbish directly from doorsteps, bin stores or the nearest safe kerbside point. No hire period or waiting.
The minimum load covers approximately 1 cubic metre and includes all labour, loading and disposal at the licensed facility; heavier waste—such as soil, rubble, plasterboard and timber—fills the truck more quickly and so requires a slightly larger minimum. Mattresses, tyres and refrigerant appliances each carry a named surcharge; access factors like stairs or two-person items are noted during the free photo quote, and the figure approved on-site is the figure paid, with no weekend premium.
Asbestos, liquids, chemicals and gas bottles require a licensed specialist, and we'll point you to the proper channel; everything else—household furniture, appliances, garden waste, timber offcuts, metal, mattresses, electronics and general rubbish—loads straight onto the truck. In Edinburgh, construction sites cover about 1.5 per cent of the local land area, so renovation debris and building materials feature regularly in skip loads, while the roughly 3.6 per cent woodland and park cover means seasonal green waste and timber prunings also appear.
Dense stone tenement districts and Georgian terraces generate steady volumes of house-clearance furniture, old carpets and white goods, particularly during moves and estate wind-ups, and access constraints in the Old Town often dictate smaller vehicles and tighter collection windows.
Highlighted items derive from this locality's land-use and dwelling profile.
Edinburgh's kerbside service typically accepts bagged household waste and segregated recycling, though bulkier items—furniture, appliances, construction rubble—usually fall outside collection criteria and are worth checking with the council before booking private removal.
from green-cover land data (OSM)
from multi-storey dwelling data (Census)
from construction land-use data (OSM)
from forest wood share data (registry)
Sources: locality land-use and dwelling data (Census + OpenStreetMap) — never invented popularity claims.
Bands from land-use and dwelling proxies — patterns, not measurements.
One truck, we do the lifting — labour, loading, transport and licensed disposal are included. Priced by the fraction of the truck you fill, confirmed on sight before loading. Heavy or special-disposal material (soil, rubble, mattresses) is noted separately from the volume.
Send photos of the pile for a ballpark, book a two-hour window, and the crew usually calls ahead. On arrival they confirm the load price; on your approval they load, sweep the area, and provide a receipt, with disposal details available on request.
Loads are sorted before disposal where practical: metals and e-waste to recyclers, usable furniture to donation partners where condition allows, and the remainder to licensed transfer stations. We don't publish recycling percentages we can't verify per load — what we commit to is sorting loads before disposal.
Crews carry public-liability insurance for the work we do, and disposal runs through licensed facilities with records kept per job. Insurance certificates and lift paperwork are available on request.
Certain materials – typically refrigerators, mattresses, tyres and asbestos-containing waste – often attract disposal surcharges because council waste facilities and licensed transfer stations levy gate fees when they arrive. The final price is usually confirmed once the crew inspects the load on-site and identifies any such items. Photographs sent beforehand help produce a closer estimate, but the definitive total reflects what is actually loaded. Always ask for an itemised receipt showing any surcharge separately.
Many operators offer same-day or next-day collection if you book in the morning, though availability depends on crew schedules and the volume of existing jobs. You will be given a time window – often two to four hours – rather than a precise arrival slot, because traffic and earlier pick-ups influence the route. Tight-access properties in Edinburgh's high-density areas may need the crew to phone ahead to arrange vehicle positioning or parking-bay clearance.
Load-based collection charges you only for the volume of rubbish removed, whereas skip hire imposes a fixed fee regardless of whether you fill the container. In central Edinburgh, skips also require a permit if placed on-street – adding cost and a waiting period – and narrow lanes or multi-storey car parks often block safe skip delivery altogether. Load-based pickup suits ad-hoc clearances and tight-access sites, while skips remain economical for prolonged building projects generating predictable waste volumes.
The receipt should name the licensed waste transfer station or processing facility – for example Pollock Halls or Portsburgh Court – where your rubbish was delivered, together with the operator's waste carrier licence number. That documentation demonstrates compliance with Scottish environmental regulations and protects you if fly-tipping allegations arise later. If the receipt omits a facility name or licence details, ask the operator to amend it before they leave your property.
We cover In Edinburgh and the near suburbs — availability depends on route load and access.