Waste, Rubbish and Fire Risk in Accommodation Blocks and Commercial Premises

Waste rarely feels like a fire safety issue until it suddenly is. Cardboard boxes stacked near bin stores. Overflowing wheelie bins waiting for collection. Packaging from deliveries left beside loading bays or rear exits because there is nowhere else to put it. These scenes are familiar across accommodation blocks, HMOs, restaurants, shops and mixed use buildings, and they tend to blend into the background of daily operations.

Over time, however, waste changes the character of a space. It introduces combustible material, restricts access, and quietly alters the way a fire would behave if one were to start. This shift is often gradual and unnoticed, particularly in external areas that sit just outside the main building footprint. Yet it is in these overlooked spaces that fires involving waste most often begin.

Fire and rescue services across the UK attend thousands of fires each year involving waste paper, cardboard and general rubbish. Many are dealt with quickly. Others escalate, drawing in multiple appliances and causing disruption far beyond the original pile of refuse. What they share is a common theme. The materials involved are everyday, familiar and entirely preventable when managed well.

A growing pressure on waste management

In recent years, the way waste is managed has changed. Council collections have become less frequent in many areas, particularly for residential accommodation blocks and HMOs. At the same time, the cost of commercial waste collection has increased for businesses such as restaurants, cafés and retailers. The result is simple. Waste remains on site for longer.

Where accommodation blocks house large numbers of people, or where buildings combine residential and commercial use, this delay can lead to bin stores and external waste areas filling beyond their intended capacity. Cardboard packaging from online deliveries builds up. Food waste is stored alongside combustible materials. Discarded consumer items such as vapes and batteries find their way into general refuse. None of this feels dramatic in isolation. Taken together, it creates a fire risk profile that many people do not realise they are responsible for managing.

How waste fires develop

Waste fires rarely start with a dramatic ignition source. More often, they begin with something small. A carelessly discarded cigarette. A battery damaged under the weight of other waste. A hot item placed into a bin without thought. Once ignition occurs, the density and composition of the waste determines how the fire behaves.

Cardboard and packaging burn readily and produce large volumes of smoke. Plastics add heat and toxic by products. When waste is piled closely together, heat builds rapidly and suppression becomes more difficult. In enclosed or partially enclosed bin stores, smoke can spread towards buildings and compromise escape routes before anyone realises what is happening.

Case Study - Leatherhead Fire

The short video below shows fire crews responding to a significant waste fire in Leatherhead, Surrey. It is a clear illustration of how quickly a pile of discarded material can develop into a sustained incident requiring considerable resources to bring under control. It also shows why waste fires are taken seriously by fire services, even when they occur outside the main building envelope.

This type of incident is not limited to recycling centres or industrial sites. Similar fires occur in bin compounds serving accommodation blocks, behind restaurants, and in shared service yards where waste accumulates out of sight.

Responsibilities extend beyond internal spaces

One of the most common misunderstandings we encounter is the belief that fire safety responsibilities stop at the front door. In reality, if a fire in an external area could affect the building, its occupants or the ability to evacuate safely, it forms part of the overall fire risk picture.

This is particularly relevant for accommodation blocks and HMOs where bin stores are often located close to entrances, stair cores or plant rooms. A fire in these areas can quickly threaten the safety of residents and complicate evacuation. The fact that the fire starts outside does not reduce its potential impact.

What is often overlooked

Waste management is frequently seen as an operational or environmental issue rather than a fire safety one. As a result, responsibility can become unclear. Managing agents assume tenants will manage waste properly. Tenants assume the managing agent or landlord is responsible for bin areas. Over time, these assumptions create gaps.

There is also a tendency to focus on internal fire precautions while external areas are left unchanged for years. Bin stores are repurposed. Storage creeps into spaces not designed for it. The fire risk assessment mentions waste briefly, but without detailed consideration of how those areas are actually used day to day.

Practical and proportionate control

Managing waste related fire risk does not usually require complex solutions. It starts with visibility and ownership. Regular inspection of bin stores and waste areas. Clear arrangements for separating hazardous items such as batteries and aerosols. Waste collection schedules that reflect actual usage rather than minimum provision. Simple housekeeping measures that prevent combustible materials from building up next to buildings.

Crucially, external waste areas should be considered as part of the fire risk assessment in their own right, not as an afterthought. Understanding how a fire might start in those spaces, and what it could affect, allows proportionate controls to be put in place.

How Fletcher Risk can support this work

Fletcher Risk has supported landlords, managing agents and businesses across the North West and North Wales by reviewing waste and bin areas as part of wider fire risk assessments for accommodation blocks and mixed use sites. In many cases, small changes to layout, management arrangements or waste handling practices have significantly reduced risk without the need for major investment. Our approach is not about judgement. It is about clarity. Helping people understand where risk actually sits, how it develops, and what reasonable steps can be taken to manage it effectively.

If waste management has slowly become a background issue on your site, it may be worth taking a fresh look. A short conversation is often enough to bring these overlooked spaces back into focus. Please reach out to us and we would be glad to help.

Disclaimer

This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Fire safety duties and appropriate control measures depend on the specific premises, occupancy, waste streams, management arrangements and findings of a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. If you require advice on your circumstances, you should seek competent professional support.

Fletcher Risk Team - 23 December 2025