Asbestos Removal in Hertfordshire

This page lists every firm the HSE currently licenses in Hertfordshire for asbestos removal. Hertfordshire County Council will take one bag of bonded white asbestos a year, by booking only. Ware recycling centre on Mondays. Welwyn Garden City on Fridays. No booking, no drop-off.

The bag has to be UN-approved packaging: a red inner bag with the asbestos warnings and a clear outer bag, taped. Black bin bags are refused. They only accept bonded white (chrysotile). Anything else, more than 20kg, trade waste, or a second visit in twelve months, is refused. Late and they can refuse you. Current rules sit on Hertfordshire’s asbestos disposal page. Slots are 30 minutes. Report to the weighbridge.

One 20kg bag a year is not a garage roof. For that, use the table.

12 of the 14 hold a standard licence, which is the one that covers removal.

How to read the licensed contractor list for Hertfordshire

• Watch the expiry dates. None of the Hertfordshire firms hold a licence expiring in the next 6 weeks.
• Watch the type. Two firms here hold a scaffolding licence, not a removal one: Connect Scaffolding Limited in Bishops Stortford and MBM Scaffolding Limited in Hitchin. A scaffolding licence covers putting up and taking down scaffold around asbestos work, not removing anything, so those are not who you ring about a garage roof.

The county’s own page also points people at ARCA members. ARCA is a trade body. This table is the HSE licence list. They are not the same list. Ask for the HSE number and match it here.

One bag a year is the whole household tip

Ware on a Monday, Welwyn Garden City on a Friday, one bag, 20kg, once in twelve months, UN packaging, booked. That is the entire household route in Hertfordshire. If you miss the slot, the next one is another week. If you already used the drop this year, there is no second visit.

A garage roof, a run of soffits, or insulating board will not fit that rule. Do not break sheets to make 20kg. Do not put them in a black bag. Do not turn up on a Tuesday.

Where asbestos turns up in Hertfordshire houses

New-town housing in Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead and Welwyn Garden City, older stock in St Albans and Hitchin, and a lot of 1960s and 70s garages. Cement garage roofs and soffits are the usual domestic call. Insulating board around boilers and in cupboards is licensed work more often than those sheets are.

London firms sometimes quote into the south of the county. Ask whether the price still holds for a Hitchin garage, and whether they are the licence holder or a builder using someone else’s number.

Not every job needs a licensed firm

A single bag of bonded white sheets, taken off whole, packed as the county asks, can be a householder drop. Everything else on this page is a contractor. If the work is licensed, ring a firm on the table.

The East of England is well above the national rate

That is one of the highest regional figures in Britain, behind only the North East. It surprises people, because this is not thought of as heavy industry country. The rate is driven partly by the old shipbuilding and port towns on the east coast and partly by decades of construction work.

Who is at risk has changed. The HSE says the people most at risk today are those who worked in the building trades while asbestos was still in use. In commuter Hertfordshire that means the risk sits in the housing stock, not in a factory.

Figures from the HSE’s mesothelioma statistics for Great Britain.

What asbestos removal costs in Hertfordshire

Essex, Kent and London lists are next door: Essex, Kent, London. Those firms travel. Ask how far.

Questions about asbestos removal in Hertfordshire

Can I take a garage roof to Ware?

One bag, 20kg, once a year. A roof is usually more. Read the county page and book. If they will not take it, use the table.

I turned up without a booking.

They will not take it. Book a 30-minute slot and arrive on time. Report to the weighbridge.

Is brown or blue asbestos accepted?

The county page says bonded white (chrysotile) only. Anything else is a contractor job.

Commuter stock and London quotes

South Hertfordshire is full of people who will be quoted by a London firm. That can be fine. The licence still has to be current, and the waste still has to go to a licensed facility, not in the back of a van to Ware on a Monday. If a London quote is cheaper, ask whether disposal is included and whether they are the licence holder.

St Albans, Harpenden and the older cathedral-city housing is a different job from a Stevenage new-town garage. Pre-1930 houses throw up tiles and old board in cupboards. 1960s new-town houses throw up garage roofs and soffits. Say which one you have.

District councils in Hertfordshire do not all collect the same bins. The asbestos drop-off is a county service. East Herts’ own page sends you back to the county Waste Aware page. That is the right place. Do not email the district hoping they will collect it.

UN-approved bags are not supermarket rubble sacks. If you are determined to use the one-bag route, buy the right packaging before you book the slot. Torn packaging is refused. A second household in the same building does not get a second bag if the county counts it as one household. Read their rules, not a forum post.

East Herts will not collect it

District councils in Hertfordshire do not run the asbestos drop-off. East Herts’ own page sends you to the county Waste Aware page. That is the right place. Emailing the district will not get you a slot at Ware on a Monday.

The one-bag rule is bonded white chrysotile only, UN packaging, 20kg, once in twelve months. If you already used the drop this year, or the material is not white bonded cement, the county will not take it. That is when the table is the job, not a Friday at Welwyn Garden City.

Getting a quote from a Hertfordshire contractor

Ring anyone in the table. Those numbers come straight from the HSE register.

If you would rather describe the job and let licensed local firms come back to you, use the form. We pass it on. Say whether it is one bag for Ware or a roof they will have to take away.

Book Ware only if you already have the UN bag, the material is bonded white, and you have not used the drop this year. If any of those is a no, skip the tip and use the table. A wasted Monday morning with a black bag in the boot is how people then look for a general skip. Do not.

Stevenage firms on this list and London firms on the London page will both quote a Hitchin garage. Put both quotes next to each other with the licence number visible. The cheaper one is only cheaper if disposal is in the figure and the licence is current.

Landlords in Hertfordshire still need a refurbishment survey before kitchen and bathroom strip-outs in pre-2000 stock. The one-bag tip is not a survey. A managing agent who wants “the garage gone this week” still has to know whether the sheets are cement-bonded and whether this household already used the annual drop. If they cannot answer that, they are not ready to book Ware or a contractor.

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