How to get rid of a sofa in Medway and Kent

Upholstered seating manufactured before 2019 was routinely treated with brominated flame retardants, which are now classified as persistent organic pollutants. Since the 2023 Environment Agency guidance came into force, POPs-containing furniture cannot be mixed with other waste, cannot be recycled and cannot be landfilled. It has to be kept separate and incinerated.

That single rule is why a legitimate carrier charges more for a sofa than for a wardrobe of the same size, why some tips route upholstery to a separate container, and why a £25 cash collection advertised on social media almost certainly ends in a lay-by rather than a permitted facility.

The simplest route is a two-person crew who carry it out and handle the paperwork. Our fixed prices across Medway and Kent are £70 for an armchair, £120 for a two-seater, £160 for a three-seater and £180 for an L-shaped corner sofa, including POPs-compliant disposal and a waste transfer note within 24 hours.

If the sofa is coming out alongside other items, it is usually cheaper to book a load instead: a quarter load is £140 and a half load £210, with the sofa absorbed into that price.

Kent County Council sites accept household upholstered furniture free of charge, and Medway runs its own centres for Medway residents. The catch is transport: a sofa does not fit in a car, and arriving in a van, pickup or with a trailer requires a permit booked with the council in advance.

You will also be loading, carrying and lifting it yourself, twice. For most people the cost of hiring a van plus the permit process is close to the cost of a collection.

Every Kent district and Medway Council runs a chargeable bulky collection. Charges are typically per item and the wait is usually one to three weeks, occasionally longer in summer. Some districts cap the number of items per booking and a few refuse upholstery outright because of the POPs handling requirement.

It is a reasonable option if you are not in a hurry and the sofa can sit somewhere out of the way. It is not an option if you are moving, completing a tenancy or selling a property to a deadline.

A sofa in genuinely good condition with its original fire safety label still attached can be donated, and several Kent reuse charities will collect. No label means no resale, because retailers and charities cannot legally sell upholstered furniture without proof it meets the fire regulations.

Check for the label before you spend a week arranging a donation that will be refused at the door.

Do not put a sofa on the pavement outside your house to wait for collection. Once it is on public land it is fly-tipping, and the fixed penalty in Kent can reach £600 even where you had a collection booked for the following morning.

Do not pay cash to an unregistered collector. If your sofa is later found dumped, enforcement officers trace it back to the address it came from, and the householder duty of care means the fine lands with you rather than the driver.