Consolidating our waste services into NWS has provided us many benefits — cost savings through their buying power and expertise, along with them taking away the day-to-day management and hassle of dealing directly with waste service suppliers.
Devon · Areas We Cover
Commercial waste management in Exeter.
Commercial waste collection and management for businesses across Exeter, from the city centre to the business parks and industrial estates.
Licensed & compliant operatorsFull duty-of-care paperworkOne accountable point of contactFree, no-obligation waste audit
As Devon's commercial centre, Exeter is a core part of the area we cover. We manage commercial waste for businesses across the city and its surroundings — from the centre to the business parks and industrial estates on the edge of town.
Exeter's business mix is broad: city-centre retail and offices, hospitality, manufacturing, healthcare and trade. We match the right licensed operators and the right service to each, and coordinate it all so collections simply happen.
Whether you think of it as collection, disposal or management, it comes down to the same three things: the right bins, emptied on the right schedule by a licensed operator, with the paperwork to show where the waste went. We arrange all three for Exeter businesses and stay accountable for every part.
You deal with us, not a chain of suppliers. We control your waste costs, keep compliance paperwork in order, consolidate your invoicing and resolve any collection or supplier problems — so waste is one less thing for your team to manage.
If you run more than one site in and around Exeter, we coordinate them centrally — one managed service, one consolidated view of cost, one point of contact. Start with a waste audit and we'll show you where the savings are.
Managing sites further across the county? See our commercial waste management in Devon.
Request a quote for ExeterWhat we manage for Exeter businesses
- Commercial Waste Collection & Management
- Commercial Wheelie Bin Hire
- Cost Control & Clear Pricing
- Waste Audits & Process Improvement
- Paperwork & Compliance Support
- Missed Collections & Supplier Issues
- Invoicing Support
- Multi-site & National Coordination
- One Accountable Point of Contact
Local landscape
Exeter's commercial business mix.
Exeter's commercial economy is wide-ranging. Princesshay and the High Street anchor city-centre retail; the Quayside and Cathedral Quarter run a busy food, drink and hospitality scene; Sowton Industrial Estate and Exeter Science Park host offices, tech and light industry on the east side of the city; Marsh Barton on the south carries trade, motor and manufacturing; and the M5/A30 corridor pulls a long tail of logistics and distribution. Add the university and the RD&E catchment for healthcare, and you have a mix where no two businesses generate waste the same way. We arrange the right service for each.
Areas we manage waste across
- City centre
- Cathedral Quarter
- Quayside
- Sowton Industrial Estate
- Exeter Science Park
- Marsh Barton
- Heavitree
- Pinhoe
- St Davids
- Topsham
- Exminster
- Cranbrook
- Alphington
- Matford
- Exeter Airport Business Park
Not on the list? We cover the whole Devon area — just ask.
Sectors we manage here
Built around how Exeter businesses actually run.
Every sector handles waste differently — volumes, streams and schedules all vary. Here's how we work across the sectors most present in Exeter.
Hospitality & food
Restaurants, cafés, bars and hotels around the Quayside, Cathedral Quarter and the university — predictable collections that fit early-morning or late-night operating patterns.
Offices & professional services
Sowton, Exeter Science Park and city-centre offices — recycling-led services with secure document destruction where it's needed.
Retail
Princesshay, the High Street and neighbourhood retail — high-volume card and DMR with a tidy on-street presence.
Healthcare & care
Surgeries, dental practices and care homes in the RD&E catchment — clinical-waste collections coordinated through specialist licensed operators.
Manufacturing & trade
Marsh Barton units and the wider trade base — mixed-stream collections sized around production patterns and storage space.
Multi-site & national
Operators running Exeter sites alongside others nationally — one central team, one consolidated view of every site's waste service.
What we collect
Commercial waste collection in Exeter: every stream, one service.
Most Exeter businesses produce more than one kind of waste, and each stream has its own containers, rules and licensed operators. We arrange collections for every one of them, matched to how your part of the city works.
General waste
The non-recyclable remainder, collected on a schedule sized to what you actually produce, so you are not paying for half-empty lifts.
Dry mixed recycling
Plastic, metal, paper and card kept out of the general bin. It is the separation the Simpler Recycling rules now ask for, and usually the cheaper stream.
Food waste
For kitchens on the Quayside, in the Cathedral Quarter and across the city centre, collected often enough that it never becomes a smell problem.
Glass
Bottle bins for bars, restaurants and hotels, emptied on a schedule that matches your busiest nights rather than an average week.
Cardboard and paper
The heavy volumes from Princesshay, the High Street and the retail parks, with collections timed around your delivery days.
Confidential waste
Secure document collection and destruction for offices on Sowton, at Exeter Science Park and in the city centre.
Clinical waste
Surgeries, dental practices and care homes across the city, handled by specialist licensed operators with the paperwork in order.
Hazardous waste
Oils, chemicals and other hazardous materials from Marsh Barton workshops and trade units, through operators licensed to take them.
Electrical waste (WEEE)
Old IT, equipment and electricals from offices and units, recycled through licensed WEEE operators.
Commercial bins for Exeter businesses
Bins come with the collection, not as a separate contract. We arrange 240, 660 and 1100 litre bins through the operator who empties them, sized from your waste audit. In tight spots such as the Cathedral Quarter and the Quayside, where the bins live matters as much as when they are emptied, so we plan both.
Commercial wheelie bin hire240L
Roughly 3–4 bin bags per lift
Cafés, small shops, offices and workshops
660L
Roughly 10–12 bin bags per lift
Restaurants, larger shops and small manufacturers
1100L
Roughly 15–20 bin bags per lift
Hotels, supermarkets and industrial units
How it works
Setting up commercial waste collection in Exeter.
A free waste audit
We look at what your Exeter site produces, the bins you have, how often they are emptied and what you pay now. It is free and there is no obligation.
The right operators, benchmarked
We match each waste stream to licensed operators who genuinely cover your part of Exeter, from the city centre to Sowton and Marsh Barton, and check the price against what the area actually pays.
A switch with no gap
Moving from another provider? We go through your notice period with you and time the changeover so no collection is missed.
One contact from then on
You deal with us: one point of contact, one consolidated invoice, duty-of-care paperwork kept in order, and any missed collection chased for you.
Collecting in Exeter: what we plan around
City-centre access
Streets around the Cathedral Quarter, the Quayside and parts of the High Street are narrow, busy and short of bin space. Collection times and bin storage need planning there, and we check with the operators covering your street what collection times they can offer.
Business parks and estates
Sowton, Exeter Science Park, Marsh Barton and the units along the M5 have yards and room for bigger bins, but heavier and more varied waste: cardboard, pallets, WEEE and trade streams. Those sites often need more than one operator, which is exactly where a single managed account saves your team time.
A growing east side
Cranbrook, the Science Park and the business parks towards the airport keep adding new premises. If you are opening or moving there, sorting the waste service before you sign anything means it is sized right from the first week.
Customer stories
Trusted to manage commercial waste.
Real feedback from the businesses we manage waste for across the South West and nationally.
Gareth was fantastic in helping us source skips for our commercial waste requirements. Reliable, professional and completely hassle-free. He took the stress out of organising everything and made sure it all ran smoothly from start to finish. Highly recommended.
We're so pleased with the service — fast, efficient and supported by genuinely helpful staff. Gareth handled everything quickly and took all the stress out of the situation. A service we'd happily recommend.
Good to know
Exeter commercial waste — common questions.
Do you cover Sowton, Exeter Science Park and Marsh Barton — or just the city centre?
All of them. The business parks and industrial estates on the edge of Exeter are some of the highest-volume parts of the area we cover. Wherever your site sits — city centre, Sowton, Science Park, Marsh Barton or a unit along the M5 — we coordinate the right local licensed operator and manage the service from there.
We've got sites across Exeter and East Devon — can you manage them as one account?
Yes. Multi-site is one of the things we do most. You get one managed service across every Exeter location (and any others, regionally or nationally), one accountable contact and one consolidated view of what every site is paying. The day-to-day operator coordination sits with us.
Can collections fit our restaurant or shop's opening hours around the Quayside or High Street?
Often, depending on the street and the operators who cover it. Tell us your opening hours and we will check what early-morning or out-of-hours collections the operators covering the Quayside or High Street can offer, before anything is agreed. We design the schedule around how you actually operate, not the other way around.
What about clinical waste for a dental practice or care home in the RD&E catchment?
Clinical and care-home waste is handled through specialist licensed operators — we coordinate the right one for the size and type of your site, keep the paperwork in order and stay accountable for the service.
We're already with a major waste contractor — is it worth switching?
Worth finding out. Start with a no-obligation waste audit: we'll review your current spend, schedule and service performance and tell you honestly where the savings or service improvements are. If your current setup is genuinely the best fit, we'll tell you that too.
What types of commercial waste do you handle for Exeter businesses?
All the main commercial streams: general waste, dry mixed recycling (DMR), food waste, glass, cardboard and paper, confidential waste, clinical and medical waste, hazardous waste, and electrical (WEEE). Exeter's spread means the mix varies a lot by area — the Quayside and Cathedral Quarter are food-and-glass heavy, Princesshay and the High Street generate serious cardboard volumes, and Sowton, Marsh Barton and the Science Park bring WEEE, confidential and trade waste that a retail unit never produces. Tell us what your site actually generates and we'll route each stream properly.
How much does commercial waste collection cost in Exeter?
We quote per premises, because the honest answer depends on your volumes, streams, frequency and how easy the site is to service. Access is a bigger factor in Exeter than people expect — a Quayside or Cathedral Quarter unit with narrow access and restricted hours costs more to serve than an equivalent business on Sowton with a yard, and a quote that ignores that tends to get revised later. A free waste audit lets us price it properly first time, with no hidden surcharges.
Do you collect household waste in Exeter?
No, we only work with businesses, venues and organisations. Household rubbish and recycling in Exeter is a council service, run by Exeter City Council. What we arrange is the commercial side: the bins, collections and paperwork a business needs for the waste it produces.
What's the difference between commercial waste collection, disposal and management?
They overlap. Collection is your bins being emptied. Disposal is what happens to the waste afterwards: recycling, energy recovery or, as a last resort, landfill, through licensed sites. Management is organising all of it, from choosing the operators to keeping the paperwork and the cost under control. We manage the whole thing for Exeter businesses and arrange the collection and disposal through licensed operators, so no part of it falls between suppliers.
Do Exeter businesses have to separate their recycling under the new rules?
Yes. Under the Simpler Recycling rules for workplaces in England, businesses with 10 or more full-time-equivalent employees have had to keep dry recyclables (plastic, metal, glass, paper and card), food waste and general waste apart since 31 March 2025. Businesses with fewer than 10 have until 31 March 2027. Paper and card should normally be collected separately from plastic, metal and glass. We set up the bins and collections so your site meets the rules without your team having to work them out.
We're moving into new premises in Exeter. When should we sort out our waste?
Before you open, ideally. A new unit at Sowton, the Science Park or around Cranbrook won't come with a waste service, and a contract signed in a rush in opening week is usually the expensive one. A free audit before you move lets us size the bins and collection days from the start, so the service fits the business from day one.
Managed commercial waste in Exeter.
Request a quote, or book a no-obligation waste audit and we'll show you where the savings are.