Rubbish removal in Portslade and Southwick: two councils, one pile

Portslade and Southwick run into each other along the coast road, and a person standing in one can see the other. For rubbish, though, a council boundary runs between them. A pile in Portslade is Brighton and Hove City Council's business. The same pile in Southwick is Adur District Council's, and the household tip belongs to West Sussex County Council.

That split matters before anyone books a van, because the tip rules, the booking rules and the council collection all change with it. This guide sets out what each side of the boundary does, what a large rubbish clearance actually covers, how outdoor loads such as soil and rubble are handled, and what to send for a clear price. It gives no Right Turn price: a price depends on volume, access and what the waste is, and Lewis agrees it from your photos before booking.

Which council your rubbish belongs to

Portslade is in Brighton and Hove; Southwick is in Adur District, West Sussex, so each follows a different council's rules.

Adur District Council describes itself on its own page as covering Shoreham-by-Sea, Southwick, Fishersgate, Lancing and Sompting. Portslade, by contrast, is part of the city of Brighton and Hove. That is why the household recycling site, often called the tip, is a different one for each, and why its rules differ.

The table below sets them side by side using the councils' own pages, opened on 9 November 2026. It is a way to name your situation before you ask anyone for a quote. Nothing in it is a price.

Right Turn covers Brighton, Hove and Sussex, and Portslade and Southwick are both within that. Lewis reviews volume, access, parking and anything that needs a specialist route from your photos, then gives a clear price before booking. If the scope changes on the day he explains it and agrees any change before continuing. The services page lists everything he covers.

What a large rubbish clearance covers

Rubbish clearance means a load of mixed household or garden waste cleared and taken away, without emptying a whole property.

Right Turn's rubbish clearance covers garage, garden, loft, building waste and mixed household loads. It sits between a single item collection and a full house clearance. A shed that has filled up over ten years, a garden strewn with bags after a tenant left, a loft full of boards and boxes: each is a rubbish clearance, and each is more than the council's item-by-item service is built for.

Reuse and recycling are considered where suitable, and the property is left swept. A waste receipt and the relevant waste record are available on request. Right Turn cannot take hazardous or flammable materials, gas bottles, chemicals, asbestos, clinical or medical waste or illegal items, so mention anything doubtful in your first message rather than on the day.

If the load is mostly one kind of thing, the dedicated guides may help first. Mattress disposal, sofa disposal and fridge and freezer disposal each cover one awkward item, and clearing the house and garage together covers the common case where a garage is the real job.

The Portslade route: Brighton and Hove's rules

Brighton and Hove collects bulky items for a charge by the item, and its Hove site takes household waste from city residents with ID, but refuses vans of a certain type.

When the council's large items page was opened on 9 November 2026 it listed these charges: £25 for one item, £45 for two, £65 for three and £120 for six. White goods were £47 each, sofas and sofa beds £45 each and armchairs £35 each. Bookings were running three to four weeks ahead because of demand. The service takes furniture, mattresses, white goods, TVs and up to about half a cubic metre of bagged waste, roughly five black sacks.

Here is the arithmetic. A sofa and an armchair come to £45 plus £35 for a total of £80. Three ordinary items such as a wardrobe, a chest of drawers and a coffee table come to £65 on the standard scale. Those are the council's figures for the council's service, not a Right Turn price. They are a yardstick for a small pile, and they show where the service stops: building waste from traders is not accepted, and the page does not say what happens beyond six items.

The council also warns that leaving items on the road or pavement for collection is fly-tipping, which can carry a £400 fine. Put things where the booking says, not out on the street the night before.

If you take rubbish to the Hove site yourself, the access page says a resident arriving by car needs photo ID and proof of address dated within three months, and a van needs proof of a Brighton and Hove address and two forms of ID. Luton vans, box-body vans, flatbed, tipper or dropside vehicles, trailers over 1.2 metres and commercial vehicles with business name signage are all refused. Hired vans need the rental agreement. The page also says commercial vehicles, removal firms and tradespeople should use a licensed commercial waste facility, because trade waste cannot be tipped there.

The Southwick route: West Sussex's rules

West Sussex's Shoreham site needs a booked slot, refuses Luton vans and takes household waste only, with the producer present.

The Shoreham Recycling Centre page gives the address as Brighton Road, Shoreham, BN43 6RJ and says you must book a slot before visiting, with slots 15 minutes long. You do not need one on foot, by bicycle or on a mobility scooter. It lists the vehicles you cannot bring: Luton-type vans, horseboxes, twin-axle trailers, trucks with tippers, flatbeds or drop-sides, and anything over 3.5 tonnes gross weight or 2.2 metres high. The page does not say whether proof of residence is needed, so check the terms or phone the site before you go.

The terms and conditions add the rule that catches most people out. The centres accept household waste only, and if the person producing the waste does not accompany it, it is classed as commercial waste. The council states that depositing commercial waste there is against the law, and staff can refuse entry. In practice a driver you hire cannot take your rubbish to the household tip for you.

The Adur and Worthing Councils tip page confirms that West Sussex County Council runs the Shoreham tip, not the district council, and that you book through the county's website. It does not describe a bulky waste collection for Adur residents, so if you want a council collection, ask the county or district council what is on offer before assuming it matches the Brighton and Hove one above.

Garden, soil, rubble and plasterboard

Council tips cap soil, rubble and plasterboard and refuse builder's waste, so outdoor and building loads usually need a registered carrier.

Outdoor clearances are where the tip rules bite hardest. Brighton and Hove's accepted-waste page says its sites take up to four sheets of plasterboard and eight standard rubble bags a month, at a maximum of 50 litres a bag. It refuses builder's waste from work done by a trader or building company, even if it came from a home, and all trade waste. Bonded asbestos is limited to four bags at the Hove site, double-wrapped, with two forms of ID, and larger amounts need a registered waste carrier. The Brighton site does not take asbestos at all.

West Sussex sets a different limit. Its terms say most centres accept up to 200kg of building, construction and demolition material, which it compares to a small car boot load or eight 25kg rubble bags, and recommend a skip or bagged collection for more. Whichever side of the boundary you are on, a collapsed shed, a patio dug up or a skip-sized pile of soil is beyond a household tip run.

That is the usual point at which a rubbish clearance makes sense. Lewis can clear garden and building waste as well as household loads, but say what the material is when you send photos: bagged soil, broken slabs and old fencing are very different loads, and asbestos is something Right Turn cannot take. For a garden left like the one in the photos below, wide shots from the gate are enough.

For how the price moves with volume, stairs and access, rubbish clearance cost in Sussex sets out the drivers, and what goes in one load shows how a van fills. Neighbouring areas have their own guides: flat clearance cost in Hove and house clearance cost in Shoreham and Lancing.

Who takes the waste: the carrier check

Before any rubbish leaves your property, check the carrier is registered on the Environment Agency register.

GOV.UK says you should check a company is on the register of waste carriers before handing it household waste, and that for a business providing a waste collection service you select the upper tier. It adds that you could be fined if you give household waste to someone not legally allowed to take it, and that this can apply if fly-tipped waste is traced back to you. The page does not state the fixed penalty amount, so none is quoted here.

The check takes a minute on the Environment Agency public registers. Search by business name or registration number. Right Turn is a registered waste carrier (CBDU621046), and the point of the register is that you do not have to take that on trust. Apply the same check to every firm you compare, including a van with a handwritten sign or a name from a marketplace listing, whenever any of the load is rubbish.

Ask what record you get afterwards. Right Turn provides a waste receipt and the relevant waste record on request. A firm that cannot say where the waste goes has told you something about the quote. Our guide to choosing a registered clearance firm goes through the checks in more detail.

Choosing between the council, the tip and a clearance

Use the council for a few items, a tip run for a small household load, and a clearance when the load is large, awkward or contains building waste.

1. A few furniture items or appliances. The council collection suits this in Portslade. In Southwick, ask your councils what they offer first.
2. One small household load you can carry yourself. A tip run can work if you are the producer, you have a permitted vehicle and, in Southwick, a booked slot.
3. Anything larger or mixed. A garage, loft or garden that fills a van is a clearance job, not a tip run.
4. Soil, rubble, plasterboard or fencing in volume. It exceeds the tip limits and is refused as builder's waste, so it needs a registered carrier.
5. A whole property to empty. That is a full house clearance, and clearing a parent's house covers the order of work.

If you are also moving, describe both jobs together. A move that leaves a lot behind is two jobs, and one set of photos can cover both. The home removals page covers the move side, and council bulky waste or a man and van in Brighton runs the comparison for smaller piles. Getting rid of old furniture compares every route for furniture specifically.

What to send for a clear price

Send wide photos of the whole pile, the postcode, access notes and what is not part of the job.

Photograph the load from a distance with a gate or doorway in frame, then close shots of anything unusual such as a fridge, a gas appliance or bagged soil. Say whether it is indoors or outdoors, how far it is carried to where a van can stand, the stairs if any, and whether there is permit parking or a narrow road outside. Mention anything you are unsure about, because a surprise item on the day changes the job.

Send it by WhatsApp, the contact page, phone on 01273 981001 or email to lewis@rightturnremovals.co.uk. Photos are usually enough, so you do not need to arrange a visit. The sensible order is photos first, a clear price second and a booking third, with the waste route and the carrier registration confirmed before anything is lifted.