This information is for business customers. For household wood waste, please see our domestic recycling page.

100% of the waste wood we collect is re-used or recycled
– nothing goes to landfill

How our waste wood collection service works

It’s simple. Once you are set up on our system, put all your wood to one side. When you have around 12 cubic yards, give us a call and we’ll arrange a collection.

For a free, no obligation quote contact our collections team

Simple and convenient

Our service couldn’t be easier to use. Once you are set up on our system:

Registered contacts will be instantly emailed a copy of the Waste Transfer Note, and invoices with associated WTNs, reports, and statements will be sent at the end of each month. We’re always on hand to answer queries, by phone or email.

20-30%

cheaper than a skip

Reduce your wood disposal costs

In most cases we charge less than an 8yd3 skip, saving you money. We load our vehicles by hand, packing the wood so you don’t get the void spaces found in skips. You only pay for what we take away and so our service can work out at 20-30% cheaper than a typical builders’ skip.

Fulfil CSR and Policy Goals

As well as saving resources, by working with us you are helping to change lives too. Your involvement will result in opportunities for a wide range of disadvantaged people who will gain confidence and self-esteem and learn a range of useful and transferable skills enabling them to get back to work. People we help include ex-offenders, those with mental health or learning difficulties and people who have come through drug and alcohol abuse.

In partnership with Construction

Charlie Stanley from our Leeds Enterprise explains how we work with the construction industry to collect waste wood from site and prepare wood for re-use.

Trusted by the UK’s top construction companies

We are absolutely delighted with the progress Community Wood Recycling have made with our business and are looking forward to building on this success over the coming years. A great initiative that provides benefits for communities and our planet.

Mark J. FOX MCIPS, ACIOB

Procurement & Supply Chain Manager, Bouygues UK

Community Wood Recycling provide a first class service, nothing is ever too much trouble. We have not experienced any issues at all, they are very easy to work with and have been extremely helpful with our enquiries. Willmott Dixon are proud to support Community Wood Recycling and the great work they are doing.

Shelley Williamson

Supply Chain Coordinator, Willmott Dixon

They have always been very accommodating and offer our business a superb service from start to finish even during these uncertain times we have found ourselves in. If you were to ask me who I would recommend for any wood waste removal, and who goes that extra mile, then Community Wood Recycling are and always will be my first choice.

John Fowler

Buyer, Wates

CWR consistently deliver to an exceptional standard, completing everything they do with pride. We have a duty to help disadvantaged people to get back into work and improve the communities that we work in. CWR are able to assist with that by providing a service which can be relied upon and coupled with a service that helps others and strives to improve the world we live in.

Jon Meeks, MCIOB, BSc (Hons)

Head of Supply Chain, Wilmott Dixon

I spent a day with the team at Preston and was blown away by the work done there. I had not truly appreciated the impact made by the organisation. I must say that Damian who runs the depot is a different calibre and the balance he holds in making the charity viable whilst supporting those within the community was an eye opener. I will be encouraging any of the team here at Wates to take time to volunteer with the community wood and get a real appreciation of how we too can help support on site.

Nathan Sandland-Jones

Site Manager, Wates

Customer satisfaction

To ensure our customers get the best possible service, we survey every site we collect from using our key service criteria. Our feedback is consistently positive, and we’re always looking for ways to improve.

“The lads get along really well on site, always collect everything we need, absolutely recommend to other sites.”

Site Contact, Bethell Construction

“I have informed other sites of this scheme and I have been promoting it with all its merits. Today’s collection was very good, the chaps who came to collect were on time, helpful, hard working and happy, which I like.”

Store Controller, Volker Rail Specialist Business

Just before Christmas I took a day and spent it with the team at Preston and was blown away by the work done there. I had not truly appreciated the impact made by the organisation. I must say that Damian who runs the depot is a different calibre and I thought the balance he holds in making the charity viable whilst supporting those within the community was an eye opener. Damian and the team at Preston are a credit to community wood. 

Site Manager, Wates

“I wholeheartedly support what you do and would gladly recommend your service to other site managers / developers. The guys you sent to site worked in a safe and efficient manner and are a credit to your organisation. Keep up the good work!”

Site Manager, Linden Homes

“I have only recently found out about what CWR do with the wood they take away and am thinking of ways to put this across to our lads onsite to gain a better understanding of the process and hope to complete the circle by purchasing some products for home and site. Keep up the good work!”

Site Contact, Taylor Wimpey

“Extremely happy with the service always friendly and flexible and work with a smile.”

Site Contact, Dragados UK London

“You guys have been absolutely brilliant, always collect everything we need, provide us with all the necessary paperwork, WTNs and reporting, would definitely recommend.”

Contracts Manager, Fortem Energy Services

“Definitely recommend to other sites, don’t know why more don’t use you, it’s a cost-effective useful scheme.”

Senior Site Manager, Bloor Homes

“Have worked with you guys for years and would always recommend, always better to recycle instead of throwing the wood waste into a skip, great service.”

Environmental Manager, Fastflow Energy Services

“The service was absolutely perfect, they listened to us and took everything we needed. We first worked with you in London and then brought you with us to Birmingham, no complaints at all.”

Site Manager, Ecofficiency

“Would 100% recommend; the scheme is very good and very worthwhile.”

Project Manager, Seneca
98%

Would recommend the service

(Based on 298 surveys in 2022)

Committed to quality and best practice

We’re proud to be a social business registered with Social Enterprise UK and accredited under SafeContractor, SafePQQ and Constructionline. We’re also ISO 9001 certified, meaning we manage the quality of our services in line with guidance from ISO, the world’s leading best practice authority, to ensure our Quality Policy is delivered on.

Our model saves wood and creates jobs and training

The Community Wood Recycling process

Wood bays

We don’t require a skip, but we do need wood to be piled somewhere accessible by vehicle, preferably a bay made from 3 sections of Heras fencing. When you have at least 12 cubic yards, give us a call and we’ll collect. We ask that you don’t break up or compact the wood. There’s no need to cover it or remove nails, screws, door furniture, fixings, pallet fastenings and other metal contamination.

What we collect

We’ll collect virtually all waste timber, wood composites, furniture and wooden items, regardless of type or condition. Collections composed mostly of heavy material such as fire doors, kitchen units or offcuts of sheet materials are charged on a ‘Minimum Load’ basis. See our terms and conditions for full details.

Electronic Waste Transfer Notes

To cut paper waste and keep things simple for our collectors and clients, we comissioned bespoke waste transfer management software. Copies of WTNs are emailed to contacts as soon as the collection is completed, and if the Purchase Order needs uplifting, details are sent to relevant staff. There are no apps to download or portals to sign into – all you need to do is provide us with contact email addresses when you sign up and electronically sign the tablet we’ll bring with us to site. WTNs are timestamped and automatically filled out with all details needed for full legal compliance, and copies are sent with invoices at the end of the month. There’s no obligation to use the system and if you’d prefer, we can provide conventional paper WTNs instead, copies of which will also be emailed. Never lose a Waste Transfer Note again!

Keeping you informed

Recycling certificates

When a site reaches 10 tonnes, 20 tonnes, 50 tonnes, and 100 tonnes of wood collected, we issue certificates of recycling direct to site to let you know how much wood is being saved. We can also issue custom certificates on site completion, or for an entire division or company on request.

Waste summaries

To help you monitor your waste and produce site waste management plans, we provide monthly summaries of the wood we collect and how much was reused, turned into firewood, or recycled, along with an export of the data for creating your own summaries.

Impact reports

We provide an annual estimate of the number of people your custom has helped us support and the CO2 you’ve helped to save based on your contribution of work, and can provide these reports on demand for a particular division or site over any period.

Community wood reuse in practice

wooden foundation cubes

By partnering with Community Wood Recycling at their Bath Western Riverside site, Crest Nicholson saved over 200 tonnes of wood for reuse and recycling. Collections at the site were carried out by Bristol Wood Recycling Project, a co-operative established in 2004. The wood collected was sorted and reused for projects in the community and beyond.

Helping you lead the way in sustainability

The construction sector generates over 30% of the UK’s waste, 25% of its carbon emissions, and has a significant impact on biodiversity. Transitioning to more sustainable practices is therefore vital if the UK is to meet its target of net zero by 2050, as well as the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals for a safe and fair future for humanity. Community Wood Recycling’s social and environmental mission intersects with a number of these goals, so working with us is one of the many ways to help put your company at the forefront of this global effort.

Changing people’s lives for the better

As well as saving resources, we are committed to creating jobs, training and volunteering opportunities for local people who for one reason or another are marginalized from the labour market. All sorts of people get to work in our highly supportive but disciplined and customer-focussed social enterprises. We train them, help them to build their confidence and self-esteem and up-skill them – and if we can’t employ them within the enterprise, we’ll help them move on to other paid work, often in the construction sector. For many people, their time with Community Wood Recycling can be a genuinely life-changing experience.

Helping the environment

We work hard to ensure that as much as possible of what we collect is reused, not just downcycled into woodchip. By pushing wood up the waste hierarchy and getting as much as possible back into the community for DIY or garden projects, we reduce the need for imported timber and the environmental impact of the felling, processing and transport associated with it. Our lightweight trucks also use much less fuel than a skip lorry, reducing carbon and particulate emissions.

Send us an email or call us on 01273 20 30 40 to learn more