Van, pickup and trailer waste permit - terms and conditions

Van, pick-up and trailer waste permit terms and conditions (from January 2023)

Please note: When you apply for a van, pickup or trailer waste permit online, you will be asked to read and accept our terms and conditions below first before completing your application.

  • Van, pick up and trailer waste permits are valid for a 12-month period from the date of issue.
  • Your permit will provide 12 visits and must be available for inspection on each visit.
  • The fee for a permit is £8.50 (non-refundable).
  • Your Vehicle Registration Number (VRN) is required to apply for a permit for your van, pick-up or trailer. Our system will cross check with the DVLA to ensure your vehicle is legal to be on the highway and is taxed and has a valid MOT. If it is not, you will not be eligible for a van permit to enter any of our Community Recycling Centres (CRCs).
  • If you are planning to hire a vehicle, you will need to enter 'Hire vehicle' in the vehicle type drop down box. You can apply for a hire permit without knowing the VRN, however you will need to go back into your permit to enter the VRN of the hire vehicle, before being allowed to enter a site. You will also be required to show your hire vehicle documentation on entry. Please ensure vehicle hire documentation is clearly displayed in the windscreen, ready for site staff to check, otherwise you may be refused entry.
  • Our Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) are now only available to Surrey residents. You will be required to show proof of residency on your first visit, after which you will be given a Surrey resident sticker to display on your windscreen.
  • You will also need to show proof of residency when you visit the site after renewing your permit or if you have changed your address.
  • Site staff will verify the proof of residency against the details that you used to apply for your permit.
  • Business addresses will not be accepted.
  • Our van permit scheme is not for commercial use.
  • Surrey resident van permits are issued and valid for you to bring in your own personal household waste only.
  • You can bring chargeable waste into our CRCs in a van, pickup or trailer with a valid van permit. However you cannot bring in non-chargeable household construction waste (including home DIY). Please familiarise yourself with our policy before visiting. If you're planning a large DIY project, please consider hiring a skip.
  • You must apply for a permit online using a valid email address as this is where your permit number will be sent to.
  • If you do not currently have an email account, it's quick and easy to apply for one online with a provider of your choice. If you are unable to apply for a permit online for any other reason, please call the contact centre on 03456 009 009 for further guidance.
  • Only one permit will be issued per household and for one specific vehicle (i.e. Vehicle Registration Number).
  • If you move house or change your vehicle you need to update your permit details online by logging back into your Surrey account. If you no longer require the permit, please let us know by emailing contact.centre@surreycc.gov.uk.
  • If we receive an application for a permit from a new resident or new owner of a sold vehicle, we reserve the right to expire permits within five working days if we are unable to contact previous residents or owners so that the new application can be processed.
  • Should there be any query over residency or ownership of a vehicle, we reserve the right to request proof of either or both. This may be a driving licence, a council tax bill, a recent utility bill or a V5 logbook.
  • Permits are valid to use at any one of our nine larger CRCs (subject to all of our T&Cs).
  • The permit will need to be shown to site staff on arrival, either a paper copy or on a smart phone.
  • The permit must match the registration number of the vehicle you have driven to the CRC.
  • No other third party (e.g. tradesman) should be involved or apply on your behalf.
  • Your visit and the type of waste you bring will be recorded.
  • Surrey County Council (SCC) may use this information to identify users with commercial waste to prevent abuse of the scheme.
  • SCC will not tolerate abuse of its staff or anyone working on SCC's behalf. Your permit and access to services may be withdrawn if you abuse the staff on site.
  • We may contact you in order to verify or update your details.

For better safety of your data, you will need to enable two step verification on your Surrey account to use the new permit system. You can enable two step verification now in your account settings by signing in to your account. You will need a mobile phone number to do this.


Vans, pick-ups or trailers are not allowed access onto the following sites:

Please check the individual CRC pages you wish to visit beforehand for exact details of waste that can be accepted.

How your personal information is used

Please see a link to our Van, pickup or trailer Privacy Notice. It contains important information about your rights regarding how we process, share, and store your personal information.


Data Protection

The information you supply will only be processed for the purposes of the van, pickup or trailer waste permit scheme and information will not be passed to third parties.

A valid email address is required as this is where your permit number will be sent to.


Contact us - it's easiest online

Visit our van, pickup or trailer waste permit webpage:

  • For full details of the scheme.
  • To pay for a permit.
  • For lost/forgotten permit numbers
  • To update permit details

Read our Frequently asked questions page on the types of waste you can now bring in to our CRCs in a permitted vehicle.

Visit on webpage on construction waste (including home DIY), for more information on our policy.

Visit our webpage on business and commercial waste, for details of how to properly dispose of commercial waste and recycling.

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