Caravan gas bottle disposal (and the other bits that can't go in the skip)
Most people picture scrapping a caravan as one job. It turns up, it gets broken, everything leaves in a skip. For the shell, the panels and the furniture, that's roughly right. A handful of items inside it don't work that way. The gas bottle under the front locker. The leisure battery tucked in a cupboard. The fridge. Maybe an old fire extinguisher wedged behind a seat base. None of those can travel with the rest of the waste. Caravan gas bottle disposal in particular has its own rules, and they catch a lot of owners out.
The gas bottle isn't yours to bin — and it can't come with us
If there's an LPG cylinder in the front locker, start there. Branded bottles — Calor, Flogas, that sort of thing — stay the property of whoever issued them. That's true even after years of sitting unused. They're not scrap, and they're not ours to take either. The right route is back to the supplier. Most gas companies run exchange or return schemes, and handing one back to the right company costs you nothing.
If the bottle has no markings and you genuinely can't tell who issued it, your council's household waste recycling centre may take a small number in. Most cap it at two per household a year, so check with them first. What doesn't change: it never goes in a bin, a skip, or in the caravan when we collect it. Even a bottle that looks empty can still hold enough residual gas to be dangerous. That's exactly why household and kerbside collections won't touch them.
Batteries: a five-minute job that saves an argument on the day
Leisure batteries are more straightforward. Skipping this step is still one of the most common reasons a job runs long. Most local garages and recycling centres will take an old leisure battery back under the UK's battery take-back rules. Sometimes there's a small fee, sometimes there isn't. Before you move it, cover the terminals so it can't short out. Keep it upright if it's a wet-acid type, and get a hand carrying it — they're heavier than they look.
Fridges, and anything that's ever held refrigerant
Caravan fridges are where people most often assume "it's just going to be scrapped anyway" is reason enough to leave it be. It isn't. The refrigerant and the insulation foam inside a fridge count as hazardous waste in their own right, separate from the rest of the caravan. They need a proper recycling route, not general waste. If yours still has its fridge fitted, tell us before your quote is confirmed. It changes what we're planning for on the day, and it's far better to know upfront than to find it once we've arrived.
Fire extinguishers, old fuel and anything else that shouldn't be near a flame
A lot of caravans that have stood a while have picked up more than damp. Old fire extinguishers. Part-used gas canisters for cookers. A can of fuel for a generator. Cleaning chemicals left in a cupboard. None of it belongs in a skip, and none of it is safe to just tip out. An extinguisher needs its pin left in, or its handle taped, so it can't discharge in transit. It goes to a household waste recycling centre, not the bin. Fuel and chemicals follow the same route. If you're not sure where something goes, your council's website will list what it accepts.
If your caravan is older, tell us the age rather than guessing what's inside
Caravans built roughly before the early 2000s sometimes used materials in their insulation, flooring or fittings that later manufacturers moved away from. That's the sort of thing that needs careful, professional handling, not pulling apart on the drive. We're not going to pretend we know what's behind every panel of every van without seeing it, and neither should you. If you know roughly how old your caravan is, or the lining looks original, mention it when you send your photos. It doesn't stop the job. It just means we go in knowing what we're dealing with, instead of finding out halfway through — whether it's a touring van or a static.
What we actually need before we can quote you properly
Can you get a quote without sending photos? No, not an accurate one. Every quote depends on seeing the caravan as it actually is, not as it was described down the phone. We ask for clear photos of the outside, the inside, the wheels and any damage — gas bottles included, if they're still fitted. "It's basically fine" means different things to different people. We've had jobs where a caravan was called fully towable and turned out to have a floor that wouldn't survive being hitched up. That changes the job, and the price, on the day itself.
That's the difference between a towable job and a not towable one, and it's the first thing your photos need to show us clearly. If your touring caravan still has its wheels, rolls freely and is sound enough to survive being towed, collection runs £350–£450. If it isn't — the axle's gone, the floor's failing, it hasn't moved in years — that becomes a caravan breaking job instead, priced at £500–£850. We handle it one of two ways: break it up on site, or take it away on a tow bed. Either way, the skip for the breaking waste isn't included in that price. You'll need to arrange your own, usually 6–8 yards. That skip is for caravan waste — the gas bottles and batteries above never go anywhere near it, towable, not towable or static.
Static caravans are their own job again, priced at £1,800–£3,980. We break the static up on site and take the waste away as part of that price. If we're able to burn the timber on site, the cost drops by a few hundred pounds. Whichever category yours falls into, sort the hazardous items first and the rest of the quote goes a lot more smoothly. Our guide on being clear when you ask for a quote covers the rest of what we need to know.
One more thing worth knowing before you start moving gas bottles about: we're consistently heavily booked. Once you've got a quote you're happy with, book within 24 hours if you can. Leave it much longer and you could be looking at several weeks before a collection slot frees up. There's more on timing in our piece on how quickly a caravan can actually be collected.
None of this makes the job harder. Sort the gas bottle and the battery into their proper routes. Flag anything you're unsure about in your photos. The rest of the caravan — the bit we actually take away, touring or static — is the easy part.
Sources checked for accuracy: Derbyshire County Council — gas bottles, GOV.UK — waste batteries regulations, GOV.UK — battery waste responsibilities, Safelincs — fire extinguisher disposal