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New 鈥榩ay-as-you-throw鈥� service, Skoup, launched by Biffa, enables homes and businesses to clear their rubbish, not their bank accounts 164,000 houses鈥� worth of space is being wasted by people storing rubbish and old junk. The cost to UK SMEs alone of storing junk could be as high as 拢34 billion per annum nationally in wasted rent

Homes and businesses across the UK are storing rubbish and old junk that is wasting space, rent and rates, according to research by Censuswide* for Skoup, a new 鈥榩ay-as-you-throw鈥� service for surplus clutter and waste. Research by Skoup indicates that homes and business are wasting space and money on storage for bulky items that they鈥檒l never use, such as sofas, filing cabinets, old equipment and general junk that can鈥檛 be recycled at the kerbside.

The data also found that the average home is wasting six square feet of living space, storing rubbish because the items are too large or too difficult to recycle or dispose of. The scale of this waste at national level is reaching startling proportions. Collectively, the national 鈥渨aste of space鈥� in UK homes amounts to 3,444 acres of living space, equivalent to the entire floor space of 164,000 average sized UK houses, 1,722 football pitches or ten Hyde Parks.

The worst part of the country for storing rubbish is Norwich, where the biggest hoarders store a colossal 7.36 square feet on average in their homes. In the South East a staggering one in 50 homes have more than 20 square foot dedicated to junk storage. Age was also a factor in hoarding 鈥� the baby boomer generation (age 55+) store more than twice as much junk as Gen Z (age 16-24).

鈥淢any of us wish that we had more space in our homes and businesses, and often we overlook the rubbish that has literally become part of the furniture,鈥� said George Pearce, Commercial Development Manager, who is leading the national launch of Skoup. To gauge pent-up demand, Skoup placed a skip in a street in Solihull and filmed what happened next. The Skoup skip was filled within just three hours.

鈥淚f you replicate what we did with this experiment nationally, it鈥檚 clear that there are thousands of skips鈥� worth of rubbish that UK homes are desperate to get rid of, not counting the extra waste that they tolerate,鈥� George added. Businesses are also housing unwanted desks, chairs, old equipment and more, according to Skoup polling.聽 The average office of a small business has enough space taken up with rubbish to seat an additional two employees and most say they have been hoarding for a matter of years rather than weeks or months.

Office floor space equivalent to just one employee鈥檚 work area can cost around 拢6,000 per annum, based on a per square foot rental fee of 拢4 per month.

鈥淲hen you consider the cost of business rent and rates for storing rubbish, clutter and junk, the total national bill for SMEs alone stretches into the tens of billions of pounds per annum, which is simply staggering,鈥� George added. Skoup is a simple 鈥榩ay-as-you-throw鈥� rubbish and waste collection service for items that are too big or unusual to be added to usual roadside collections. Customers can order a Skoup skip, a van or bag collections by visiting the Skoup website.

Items collected by Skoup are handled by Biffa, which has the largest waste management and recycling infrastructure in the UK. The name 鈥楽koup鈥� comes from the Greek 鈥楽koup铆dia,鈥� meaning junk, litter or refuse. It is also linked to the English 鈥楽coop,鈥� meaning to remove or gather something up.

*Censuswide survey of 2,000 respondents across the UK between 20^th and 23^rd September 2019