Public Sector Clearance

Public Sector Clearance is the professional removal of assets, office equipment, and electronic waste from government buildings. Our services to the public sector cover everything from office chairs and whiteboards to printers and scanners. A full clearance includes the physical removal and transport of all agreed items, WEEE segregation and routing to authorised treatment facilities, certified data destruction for all digital devices, an asset inventory, upper-tier Waste Transfer Notes for every vehicle load, and a recycling rate summary. The service is designed for council offices, NHS premises, schools, public housing stock, and any other premises owned or occupied by a public body. We also manage the donation of reusable assets to local charities, supporting your department’s Social Value obligations.

We offer secure, certified destruction for laptops, tablets, and servers. We provide certificates of destruction that satisfy UK GDPR requirements under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Information Commissioner’s Office’s guidance on secure disposal of IT assets, ensuring no data remains on decommissioned office equipment. Every data-bearing device is assessed individually, catalogued by make, model, and serial number, and wiped using a process compliant with NIST SP 800-88 Rev 1 (Guidelines for Media Sanitization) before physical destruction where required. The certificate of destruction for each device identifies the device, the destruction method, and the date – forming a complete audit trail that your information governance team can file as evidence of compliant disposal. For devices requiring higher security clearance standards, contact office@drclear.co.uk to discuss your specific requirements.

Absolutely. We have a team specialised in handling sensitive material from NHS wards, science labs, and schools. We ensure every clearance is completed in a tidy and safe manner. All DrClear operatives are DBS-checked to standard appropriate for working in regulated environments, trained in safeguarding awareness, and experienced in restricted site protocols including escorted access, out-of-hours working, and compliance with active service areas where patient care or educational delivery continues nearby. We carry out a pre-clearance risk assessment covering asbestos identification, specialist referral coordination for any hazardous or clinical waste encountered, and structural access requirements. Our fleet of high-capacity Luton vans with electric tail lifts removes the need for additional onsite lifting equipment, which is particularly important in NHS corridors and school halls where structural integrity must be preserved.

We recycle or reuse over 95% of items. Reusable furniture is often donated to local charities and community projects to reduce the environmental impact. At the point of clearance, our operatives sort all items into four streams: reusable items donated to local charities (including Birmingham Dogs Home, Charity No. 222436, and Acorns Children’s Hospice, Charity No. 700172); recyclable materials routed to licensed recycling facilities; WEEE items routed to authorised treatment facilities under the WEEE Regulations 2013; and residual waste sent to licensed waste transfer stations. The proportion in each stream is recorded and reported in your recycling rate summary, which you can use in your department’s annual environmental and Social Value return. Donated items are listed in the asset inventory, naming the receiving charity and the approximate volume donated, supporting your community impact narrative.

You can get in touch by phone (07958 429751) or email (office@drclear.co.uk) to request a survey. We provide a quote quickly to help you meet your deadlines. The process begins with a brief scoping call to confirm the site type, postcode, approximate volume, and any specialist requirements – typically taking under ten minutes. We then arrange a free site survey at a time that works around your access restrictions. Following the survey we provide a fixed, all-inclusive written quotation suitable for procurement processing, including our EA Licence number, insurance reference, and D-U-N-S number. For urgent projects we can mobilise within 24-48 hours of quote acceptance. Repeat clients and framework contracts can be managed via a single point of contact throughout the programme.

Yes. DrClear issues an upper-tier Waste Transfer Note for every vehicle load removed from a public sector site. A Waste Transfer Note is a legal document that records the transfer of controlled waste from the waste producer to a licensed carrier. Under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the GOV.UK Duty of Care code of practice, waste producers – including public sector organisations – are legally required to ensure their waste is transferred to an authorised person and that a Waste Transfer Note is issued and retained for a minimum of two years. Only upper-tier licensed waste carriers can legally issue this document. Operators without EA registration cannot provide a compliant Waste Transfer Note, leaving your organisation exposed to enforcement action. DrClear’s WTNs reference our EA Licence CBDU549477 and are formatted for public sector audit requirements.

Yes. Every DrClear operative holds a current Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. DBS checks are renewed annually as part of our staff vetting programme. Our vetting process meets Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) expectations for access to publicly funded environments. Operatives working on NHS and education sites receive additional safeguarding awareness briefings and are supervised by a team leader experienced in the protocols of those settings. All team members carry photo identification on site and are issued with full PPE including JCB safety boots and Dickies workwear. Our uniformed team are clearly identifiable as DrClear operatives throughout the clearance. For contracts requiring a higher level of security clearance – such as Counter-Terrorist Check (CTC) or Security Check (SC) – please contact us to discuss your specific vetting requirements before booking.

Procurement Policy Note 06/21 requires central government suppliers to provide a Carbon Reduction Plan as part of their tender submission, demonstrating a commitment to Net Zero by 2050. Many local authorities and NHS trusts apply equivalent Social Value requirements to their own procurement. DrClear supports these targets through a quantified environmental impact. Our 95% landfill diversion rate, our charity donation programme, and our WEEE routing through authorised treatment facilities are all recorded and reported in the environmental summary we provide on completion of every clearance. This summary includes the total weight of waste removed, the proportion diverted from landfill, the categories donated to charity, and an estimated carbon saving versus landfill disposal. For tenders requiring a formal Social Value statement, we can provide a supplier Social Value summary on request.

All WEEE identified during public sector clearances is segregated at the point of removal and routed exclusively to authorised treatment facilities registered under the WEEE Regulations 2013. We do not commingle WEEE with general commercial waste. Items categorised as WEEE include IT equipment (laptops, desktops, servers, printers, photocopiers, monitors), office communications equipment (telephones, routers, scanners), catering kitchen appliances, and any other electrical or electronic item. Each category is weighed and recorded in your WEEE disposal summary, which documents the authorised treatment facility used and the processing date. Public sector organisations are required by the WEEE Regulations to ensure their electrical waste is handled by an authorised party – DrClear’s documentation provides the audit trail required to satisfy that obligation.

DrClear wipes all data-bearing devices to NIST SP 800-88 Rev 1 (Guidelines for Media Sanitization), the internationally recognised standard for secure media sanitisation. This standard specifies the correct overwrite patterns for different storage media types, including HDDs, SSDs, flash storage, and optical media. Each device processed under this standard receives an individual certificate of destruction recording the device make, model, serial number, media type, sanitisation method applied, and the date of processing. For devices where sanitisation alone is insufficient – for example, physically damaged drives or drives in decommissioned equipment holding classified data – we proceed to physical destruction, which is also certificated. This process satisfies the requirements of UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Information Commissioner’s Office’s guidance on secure IT asset disposal. Certificates are issued within 24 hours of job completion.

Yes. DrClear is experienced in managing sequential multi-site clearance programmes for local authorities and public sector estates teams. We coordinate scheduling across multiple sites, maintain a consistent documentation format throughout the programme, and provide a single point of contact for the commissioning department. Each site receives its own Waste Transfer Notes, asset inventory, and data destruction certificates, which are compiled into a programme-level documentation pack at completion. Framework contracts can be structured with per-site pricing agreed in advance, minimising procurement administration for repeat clearances. We have worked with public sector contractors including Mears Group and Morgan Sindall Group on coordinated clearance programmes. Contact office@drclear.co.uk to discuss framework arrangements.

Under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the GOV.UK Duty of Care code of practice, any organisation that produces, imports, carries, keeps, treats, or disposes of controlled waste has a statutory duty of care in respect of that waste. This duty applies fully to public sector organisations. The duty requires the waste producer to ensure that waste is only transferred to an authorised person – a licensed waste carrier or exempt waste operator – and that a written description of the waste accompanies every transfer in the form of a Waste Transfer Note. Failure to comply can result in a fixed penalty of up to £300 or unlimited fines on conviction. Facilities managers, estates officers, and directors who commission clearance through an unregistered contractor risk personal prosecution. DrClear’s fully documented service – upper-tier EA Licence, WTN issuance, and audit-ready pack – closes that statutory gap completely. Seek independent advice from a qualified solicitor for guidance specific to your organisation’s obligations.

Yes. DrClear provides a supplementary Social Value and environmental impact report for any public sector contract where this is required. The report summarises the total weight of waste removed, the proportion diverted from landfill, the categories and estimated volume donated to local charities, the WEEE tonnage routed to authorised treatment facilities, and an estimated carbon saving versus landfill disposal. Our charity partnerships – with Edward’s Trust (Charity No. 1105370), Acorns Children’s Hospice (Charity No. 700172), and Birmingham Dogs Home (Charity No. 222436) – are documented in the report, supporting your department’s community contribution narrative. The report can be provided in standard format or adapted to your organisation’s reporting template. For contracts governed by PPN 06/21, we can additionally provide a supplier Carbon Reduction Plan summary on request.

DrClear operatives are trained to identify warning signs of asbestos-containing materials in public sector buildings – particularly in premises constructed before 2000. If suspected asbestos is encountered during a clearance, work halts immediately in the affected area and the client is notified. Asbestos removal is a specialist licensed activity under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and must be carried out by a separately contracted asbestos removal contractor before general clearance resumes. We coordinate with asbestos survey specialists on request and can schedule our clearance team to return once the area has been cleared and certified safe. For other hazardous materials – including fluorescent tubes, batteries, sharps, clinical waste from NHS premises, and chemical containers – DrClear does not carry or dispose of these. They require a separately licensed specialist contractor under the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005. We identify these materials during the pre-clearance risk assessment, advise the client, and coordinate the appropriate specialist referral before general clearance begins.