They take five routes: back to you, to donation, to resale, to material recycling or to energy recovery. Around 98 per cent is recycled or reused in some way.
Guide · Recycling
What happens to the items after the clearance?
The question we get asked most. Here is the whole chain: what comes back to you, what is donated, what is sold and what is recycled – openly explained.
After a clearance in Gothenburg, items take five routes: back to you, to donation, to resale, to material recycling or to energy recovery. Nothing is dumped illegally and nothing is discarded without your approval. Around 98 per cent of what we collect is recycled or reused in some way.
This is the question we get most often – particularly with estate clearance, where the worry is rarely about the price but about what happens to a parent’s belongings. So we set out the whole chain openly below, step by step.
Step 1
What you keep always comes first
Before anything else happens we go through the contents with you. You mark what should be kept – ideally gathered in one room or with labels – and we never touch anything that is marked.
Beyond what you point out, we routinely set aside things that almost always matter to a family: photographs and albums, letters and diaries, documents and records, jewellery, watches, coins and medals, plus keys and valuable papers. These are collected separately and handed to you, even if you had not thought of them in advance. If we find something that looks important but we are unsure about, we would rather call once too often.
Step 2
Donation – what can still be useful
Furniture, household goods, clothes, books and toys that are whole and usable we try to donate first. In the Gothenburg area there are several charities and second-hand operations that accept working household goods, and for much of what would otherwise become waste there is someone who has a use for it.
Donation requires items to be clean and intact – broken furniture and damp-damaged textiles are not accepted. We assess this on site and sort accordingly. Many people find donation the most important part: knowing that a father’s tools or a mother’s china will keep being used by someone else feels better than seeing it go to the tip.
Step 3
Resale – items with a second-hand value
Some items have a clear market value. That applies above all to antiques and older quality furniture, design pieces and known brands, art and collectables, tools and machinery in good condition, and working white goods and newer electronics.
We set such items aside and document them so you can choose: keep, sell yourself, or have them appraised. In an estate where the heirs live in different places this is often decisive – it is easy to accidentally throw away something worth money. If the contents have a larger combined value it can be offset against the cost of the clearance.
Step 4
Material recycling – sorting into fractions
What cannot be reused is sorted into fractions and taken to the right facility. In practice that means:
- Metal – iron, aluminium and copper are recycled into new material.
- Wood – clean wood is chipped and used as raw material or fuel.
- Paper and cardboard – recycled into new paper material.
- Glass – sorted into coloured and clear.
- Plastic – rigid plastic is sorted separately where possible.
- Textiles – intact garments go to reuse, damaged ones to material recycling.
- Electronics and white goods – electrical waste is dismantled and hazardous components removed. Fridges and freezers contain refrigerant requiring special handling.
- Hazardous waste – paint, oil, chemicals, batteries and fluorescent tubes go to a dedicated facility.
Sorting is done on site as far as possible, which is both cheaper and environmentally better than taking a mixed skip to the tip. Read more about our junk removal and recycling.
Step 5
Energy recovery – the last resort
What can neither be reused nor materially recycled goes to energy recovery – incineration where the heat is captured for the district heating network. In Gothenburg this accounts for a significant share of the city’s heating.
This is the last step in the chain, not the first. The point of sorting carefully earlier in the process is precisely so that as little as possible ends up here. Nothing goes to landfill that can be avoided, and nothing is left illegally – we hold the permits required for transport and waste handling.
Transparency
Can I see what happens?
Yes. You are always welcome to be present during the clearance and follow the sorting. Many choose to be there for the first hour, go through the important things with us, and then let the work continue without them.
If you cannot be there we keep in touch by phone and check in whenever something is unclear. For estates where the family lives outside Gothenburg it is common for us to send photos as the work progresses. To learn more about how a job runs, read our guide to clearing a house or our guide for next of kin.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about what happens to the items
No. We sort on site and take each fraction to the right facility. Landfill is avoided entirely where possible, and nothing is dumped illegally.
You mark it before we start. In addition we routinely set aside photos, letters, documents, jewellery and valuable papers even if you have not pointed them out.
Tell us as soon as possible. Until a fraction has been delivered to a facility we can usually retrieve individual items. That is why we would rather ask once more before anything leaves.
They are always set aside separately and handed to you. Personal records are never discarded without your explicit approval.
It depends on condition and value. Whole and usable items are donated first, while antiques, design furniture and anything with a market value is set aside so you can keep, sell or appraise it.
If the contents have a larger combined value it can be offset against the cost of the clearance. We go through this with you together with the quote.
Paint, oil, chemicals, batteries, fluorescent tubes and electronics go to a dedicated facility. Fridges and freezers contain refrigerant requiring special handling.
Yes, you are always welcome to be on site. If you cannot be, we keep in touch by phone and are happy to send photos as the work progresses.
Yes, we are fully liability-insured and hold the permits required for transport and waste handling.
Related
Related
Questions about the handling?
Call us or get a free quote within 1–5 minutes.