Our service focuses on providing a dedicated container for disposing of asbestos materials. Businesses operating or owning buildings that may contain asbestos need to adhere to asbestos waste removal protocols. Asbestos was outlawed in the UK in 1999, meaning buildings erected before this year may contain the substance. It is prudent for companies occupying these older buildings to carry out an asbestos survey upon occupancy to determine its presence.

Under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, commercial property owners or managers are legally obliged to manage asbestos responsibly. This includes creating and implementing a management plan if asbestos is discovered within your premises.

Virtually any business, regardless of the sector—including retail, industrial, construction, and both public and private sectors—might require asbestos waste removal services. Facilities frequently in need of asbestos disposal services encompass schools, office buildings, manufacturing plants, dining establishments, and hotels. Our solution is to supply a specific skip for your business to safely dispose of asbestos, ensuring compliance with legal requirements and safeguarding public health.

Our service exclusively provides a designated container for you to safely dispose of asbestos-containing materials. Asbestos waste encompasses a variety of products or materials that contain asbestos and are no longer in use, ready to be discarded. This includes, but is not limited to, building materials as well as equipment that may have been contaminated with asbestos, such as protective clothing, cleaning cloths, and safety gear. Due to its hazardous nature, disposing of asbestos waste necessitates specialised handling.

Asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral, is composed of durable fibres that are resistant to heat, electricity, and corrosion, making it a popular choice in construction materials until its use largely ceased around 1980. This decision came after the discovery of its harmful health implications, including severe and often fatal conditions like asbestosis and mesothelioma, leading to strict regulations on the disposal of asbestos waste.

Types of asbestos waste commonly encountered include:

• Coatings on ceilings and within cavities
• Tiles and cavities on floors
• Insulation boards
• Pipe insulation (lagging)
• Roofing materials
• Coatings on walls, beams, and columns

Our specialised container is designed for the safe disposal of these and other asbestos-containing materials, ensuring compliance with health and safety standards.

Discovering asbestos within your business premises necessitates prompt action to engage expert removal services. This critical step ensures that trained professionals, equipped with the necessary protective gear and expertise, undertake the removal process, thereby minimising the risk of exposure to others.

Once the asbestos is removed, or if you relocate to a premises where asbestos has already been disposed of, it’s essential to adhere to safe storage practices. According to guidelines from the Environment Agency, proper handling procedures must be followed. Given that asbestos is classified as hazardous waste, it requires containment either by double-bagging or secure wrapping in cases where it does not fit into standard asbestos waste bags.

These precautions extend to the storage of asbestos waste, which should be kept in secure, lockable containers, commonly referred to as asbestos skips, to prevent unauthorised access. For smaller quantities of asbestos waste, specialised collection services such as Business Waste offer professional disposal options.

Transportation of asbestos waste is carried out with utmost care, using skips to prevent cross-contamination, and is directed to authorised landfill sites equipped to handle asbestos. Presently, landfill disposal remains the only lawful method in the UK for disposing of asbestos, though ongoing research aims to develop more environmentally friendly techniques for its elimination.

Asbestos exposure has no recognized safe threshold; however, a control limit of 0.1 asbestos fibres per cubic centimetre of air is established for identifying asbestos waste. Materials exceeding this concentration are deemed hazardous waste. It’s estimated that asbestos fibres are present in over 3,000 different products.

Tragically, asbestos-related diseases claim approximately 5,000 lives annually in the UK, often resulting from exposure that occurred years prior.

Despite the UK’s ban on asbestos since 1999, an estimated 1.5 million buildings are believed to still house around six million tonnes of asbestos. Notably, a significant number of public buildings contain asbestos, including:

• 94% of hospitals,
• 80% of schools, and
• 74% of universities.

This widespread presence underscores the importance of ongoing vigilance and management to protect public health.