Lambeth's free community skip days start on Saturday 21 November in Streatham, then Brixton on 5 December. Clapham's date is still to be announced.

Lambeth residents will be able to get rid of a sofa, a mattress or bags of rubbish for free at the council’s first community skip days. The first is on Saturday 21 November in Streatham, about three miles south of Clapham Common. The second is in Brixton on Saturday 5 December.

A Clapham skip day is part of the trial, but its date and location have not been announced yet.

The council announced the dates on Thursday evening (Love Lambeth).

The dates so far

Both run from 9am to midday. The council warns that the skips may close early if they fill up before then (Lambeth Council).

Date Where
Saturday 21 November Outside Sunnyhill Primary School, Sunnyhill Road, Streatham, SW16 2UW
Saturday 5 December Outside Ark Evelyn Grace Academy, Shakespeare Road, Brixton, SE24 0QN

The trial runs for ten weeks. It covers five areas:

  • Brixton
  • Clapham
  • Norwood
  • Streatham
  • north Lambeth, which the council says includes Vauxhall, Kennington and Waterloo

The council says further dates and locations will be added to its page as soon as they are confirmed. We will add Clapham’s here when it is.

What you can take

You can bring up to six items per visit. A sofa or a mattress counts as one item, and so does a single bag of rubbish (Lambeth Council).

The skips take:

  • mattresses, sofas and other bulky household furniture
  • electrical equipment
  • bags of general household rubbish
  • nitrous oxide canisters
  • lithium batteries

There will be two skips at each event, one for recycling and one for everything else. Council staff will be there to point you to the right one. The waste then goes to the Western Riverside Waste Authority for processing.

They will not take asbestos, cardboard, concrete, rubble, chemicals, engine or cooking oil, flammable liquids, non-lithium car batteries, paint, plasterboard, or needles and other sharp objects.

Bring proof of address

The skip days are for Lambeth residents only. Waste from businesses and tradespeople is not accepted (Lambeth Council).

You need one of these:

  • photo ID showing a Lambeth address, such as a driving licence
  • a recent utility bill, such as electricity, gas or council tax

Why the council is doing it

The council’s deputy leader, Councillor Ciara Alleyne, said residents “are sick and tired of flytipping”. She said the skip days would help “especially those without access to a car who might struggle to get down to the tip”.

The trial will shape a rolling schedule of skip days from early 2027. The council says it wants residents’ feedback on what works.

We first reported the trial in October, when it appeared in the papers for a full Council debate on bins and the Serco contract. At that point the council had said there would be five events between November and January, one in each town centre. It had not said whether they would be free. They are.

What it means for you

  • If you have a sofa or mattress to shift, the nearest dates are Streatham on 21 November and Brixton on 5 December. Either is open to any Lambeth resident, not only people who live nearby.
  • Go early. Two skips can fill quickly, and the council says they may close before midday.
  • The free alternative is Emmaus. It collects resaleable, non-upholstered furniture for free. The council’s paid bulky collection costs £36 for up to three items. Both are set out on our Clapham bin collection page.
  • Questions about an item go to the council’s contact centre on 020 7926 9000, or streetcarecallcentre@lambeth.gov.uk.