sa***@************co.uk | 0161 848 0976 | 3rd Ave, Trafford Park, Manchester, M17 1BW
Industrial Waste Types
Bitumen and Roofing Felt Waste Disposal
Most roofing felt stripped off a commercial flat roof is not hazardous waste. The hazard turns on one thing: coal tar. Bitumen is a refinery residue, while coal tar comes from heating coal without air and carries far more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of them carcinogenic. Answer that one question and bitumen disposal becomes routine.
Packaging Reuse collects bituminous waste from roofing contractors, membrane manufacturers and industrial sites across the UK, and classifies it before it moves. Tell us what is coming off the roof or the line, and we will confirm the code and the route before anyone books a skip. Call 0161 848 0976 or get in touch.
What bituminous waste do we collect?
Bituminous waste is any waste whose binder is bitumen or coal tar, which covers more than old roof coverings:
- Felt strip-off: stripped roofing felt, often still on its fixings, from commercial flat roofs.
- Membrane offcuts and roll ends: reinforced membrane trim from manufacturing and installation.
- Waterproofing and tanking waste: bitumen-bound waste from tanking and waterproofing works.
- Bitumen drums and kettles: emptied bitumen drums, kettle residues and hardened product.
- Tar-contaminated arisings: material held from historic works where coal tar is suspected.
Tar-bound road planings and tar-contaminated asphalt (AWCCT) belong to a road surfacing chain with its own treatment, and we will say so when a stream needs a route we do not run. Send us a photo and the age of the roof, and we will tell you what each stream is.
How we handle your bituminous waste
We classify the material before it moves, because on this stream the code decides everything downstream. Our environmental chemist tests a suspect load for coal tar, and a stream that tests hazardous moves through our own hazardous waste arrangements. We match the container to how the material sheds: roll-on roll-off for fast strip-off, and a covered skip on rotation for steady production offcuts. We keep your streams apart, because one barrow of tar-bearing material tipped into a container of modern felt reclassifies the lot. Non-hazardous loads move on a transfer note and hazardous loads on a consignment note, and anything needing treatment comes into our Environment Agency permitted site at Trafford Park. We collect across the UK from our Manchester base, with our own local teams lifting and one contact holding the classification and the route, and we have held ISO 9001 since 2015.
Call 0161 848 0976 and ask for the waste team.
Bitumen and roofing felt waste questions
Is roofing felt hazardous waste?
Roofing felt made with straight bitumen is not hazardous waste. It falls under 17 03 02, a non-hazardous List of Waste entry, and turns hazardous only where coal tar is present, which moves it to 17 03 01*. The two form a mirror pair, so composition decides, not the name on the container. Applying the household version of that answer to a trade load means paying a hazardous rate you do not owe.
How do you tell if bituminous waste contains coal tar?
Coal tar in bituminous waste is flagged first by age and confirmed by testing. Coal tar was displaced by refined bitumen through the UK in the 1980s, so material from roofs laid before then is what to suspect. Age only points to a suspect load, so a PAH marker spray flags it and laboratory analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is definitive, with around 50 mg/kg of benzo(a)pyrene marking the hazardous threshold. Our chemist tests the material before a route is chosen, and older felts can also hold asbestos, which becomes a licensed removal question.
Can roofing felt be recycled?
Clean factory offcuts can be recycled, and some manufacturers reprocess their own membrane trim back into new product in place of virgin bitumen. A mixed strip-off load cannot, because nobody separates the bitumen from fixings, board and mineral finish economically, so it goes to energy recovery. We report that as recovery, so the figure in your sustainability reporting holds up.
Where does bituminous waste go?
Bituminous waste goes to the route its cleanliness allows. Clean membrane offcuts are the most recoverable fraction and can go back into product, which is the only genuine bitumen recycling in this stream. Mixed felt strip-off is burnt as fuel at a permitted plant with the heat recovered. Landfill stays legal for non-hazardous bituminous mixtures, but it is the last option, because the waste hierarchy puts reuse and recovery first and landfill tax is charged by weight.
Can we book regular collections or a one-off clearance?
Packaging Reuse runs both scheduled bituminous waste collections and one-off clearances. A one-off roll-on roll-off suits a strip-off job that comes off fast, while a covered skip on rotation suits steady production offcuts. Either way the correct note travels with the load, and any tar-bearing stream moves separately on a consignment note.
Get your bituminous waste classified before it moves
Send us the age of the roof, a rough tonnage and a photo of what is coming off, and we will come back with the likely code, the route and the basis of the cost. The classification you are quoted on is the one that ends up on the paperwork. Call 0161 848 0976 or get in touch with Packaging Reuse.