House clearance in Swords: what Fingal will and won’t take, and when to hire a crew

What Fingal County Council does and doesn’t do

Fingal County Council does not offer a bulky waste collection. It tells householders to use an authorised collector with a National Waste Collection Permit Office (NWCPO) permit, or to bring items to one of its two recycling centres: Estuary on Seatown Road in Swords (beside Swords Business Park) and Coolmine on Porter’s Road, Coolmine Industrial Estate, Dublin 15 (beside Coolmine Fire Station). Both open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm (last entry 7:30pm) and Saturday 8am to 6pm (last entry 5:30pm), and close on Sundays and bank holidays. They may close in severe weather. Phone 01 890 5000.

Recyclables and household WEEE are free, as are fluorescent tubes, batteries and cooking and engine oil. Mattresses, carpets, duvets and pillows are charged. Pay by debit or credit card. Staff are not permitted to help lift items. The centres take household waste only: household bin refuse and commercial waste are refused. Council fees, opening days and rules change. The figures here are as we last checked them in October 2026, so confirm with the council or the centre before you travel.

Using Estuary for a house clear-out

Estuary is a genuinely useful site if you are clearing a few things and have a car. Put a full car of furniture through at €30 and a boot of general waste at €12, with recyclables and electricals free. The sums change quickly for a whole house.

• The vehicle decides the price. A hired Transit-size van pays €128 for general waste, before you count the hire.
• You do the lifting. Staff cannot help, so everything has to be carried by whoever you bring.
• It is household only. A load that looks commercial will be turned away, which matters if the house belongs to an estate or a landlord and someone else is doing the clearing.
• You do the sorting. Each material has its own bay and rate, so a mixed load has to be separated at the gate.
• Weather and closing times. The centre may close in severe weather and the last entry is 30 minutes before closing.

A spare room, a shed of timber and an old sofa is a good job for Estuary on a Saturday. A three-bed house with an attic is not.

When a crew is the simpler option

Hire a crew when the house has to be empty by a date, when nobody can lift, when the contents are in the attic and garage as much as the rooms, or when the property is being sold, handed back or settled in an estate. A crew of two or three arrives with a box truck, carries everything out, and sweeps through. You get a fixed price from photos, instead of fees at the gate that depend on weight.

We are a permitted waste carrier, Krystal Klean Express Limited, Waste Collection Permit No. NWCPO-25-13287-01. Fingal’s own advice is to use a collector with an NWCPO permit, so ask any contractor for their permit number before you book, including us.

How a sorted load works

The sort happens on the truck as each room is emptied, so it adds little time. Furniture and household goods in good condition are set aside for reuse where there is a realistic second life. We do not promise a destination for a particular item, because that depends on condition and demand that week. Metal and electricals (fridges, washing machines, TVs, cables) are separated as WEEE. Cardboard, paper, clean timber and textiles are kept apart. What is left goes to authorised waste facilities under our collection permit, No. NWCPO-25-13287-01. Disposal is charged by weight, so every kilo kept out of the general load lowers the cost.

Asbestos, chemicals, paints and solvents, oils, fuel, gas cylinders and clinical waste are on our not-accepted list, so tell us in advance if any are in the house. Estuary accepts household hazardous waste such as paint, herbicides and cleaners with a charge, and cooking and engine oil free, so those are best taken there.

Preparing a Swords house

• Take out papers, photographs, jewellery and cash. Check coat pockets, books and drawers.
• Tag or room-off anything staying, and tell us in the quote.
• Defrost the fridge and freezer a day ahead.
• Photograph the attic, garage and shed as well as the rooms.
• Tell us about parking. On a driveway the truck stops at the door; on a busy street, a few metres can add time.

For particular spaces see attic clearance, garage clearance and shed clearance. For a single item, see sofa disposal or fridge disposal.

Item by item: where each kind of thing goes from a Swords house

A clearance is really thirty small disposal decisions. Here is each common category, what the Fingal centres do with it, and what we do with it in a clearance. Where we say “the centre”, we mean Estuary (Swords) or Coolmine (Dublin 15), which share the same charges.

Furniture, sofas and wardrobes

The centres take furniture as general and bulky waste, charged by the vehicle. In a clearance, furniture in good condition is the first thing we set aside for reuse; furniture that is broken, damp or infested goes to authorised disposal. If you want a few pieces to go to family, move them to one room or tag them before the day. For a single awkward item see sofa disposal or furniture removal.

Mattresses and bed bases

Mattresses are accepted at the centres and charged. Bed bases and frames are bulky waste, and timber frames can be separated as timber. In a clearance, mattresses go in the general stream; ask about this at quote stage. See mattress disposal Dublin.

Fridges, freezers, washing machines, cookers and TVs

These are WEEE. The centres take household WEEE free. In a clearance we keep them out of the general load so that they go to the right stream. If a fridge is staying until the last day, defrost it a day ahead, because a leaking fridge on a carpeted stair is a problem for everyone. See fridge disposal.

Small electricals, cables and batteries

Household batteries (car and household), fluorescent tubes and energy-saving bulbs are free at the centres. Put them in a bag as you find them; the kitchen drawer is where most of them live.

Books, paper and cardboard

Paper and cardboard are free recyclables at the centres. Books are heavy: a few boxes of books can weigh more than a wardrobe. If you are paying by weight, or paying a crew whose disposal costs are by weight, books worth keeping or giving away are worth separating first.

Clothes, shoes and textiles

Clothes are accepted as recyclables at the centres. Clothes in good condition are better offered first to family or a charity shop. We bag textiles separately in a clearance.

Kitchenware, crockery and glass

Glass bottles and jars are free recyclables. Crockery and drinking glasses do not normally go in the bottle bank, so wrap them and treat them as general waste unless someone wants them. The set of good plates is the thing families most often want and forget to ask for.

Garden items, green waste and timber

Green waste and wood are charged separately from general waste. Green waste is €6 for a car boot and €10 for a full car; a car van or car plus trailer is €35. If the garden is part of the job, mention it in the quote. See shed clearance and garden waste clearance.

Soil, stones and rubble

Soil and stones are charged at the centres. Large quantities of construction rubble are outside a normal clearance, so ask us at the quote stage if there is any.

Duvets, pillows and carpets

The centres charge for duvets, pillows and carpets. Carpets that are fitted are only part of the job if you ask us to lift them, so say so at quote stage.

Paint, chemicals, oil and gas

Paint, herbicides and cleaners are accepted at the centres as household hazardous waste, charged. Cooking and engine oil are free. These are not things we take, so give yourself a morning for them. See the list in the earlier section.

Council fees, opening days and rules change. The figures here are as we last checked them in October 2026, so confirm with the council or the centre before you travel.

Doing the sums: three ways to clear the same Swords house

Here is a worked example using only the published Fingal charges. It is an illustration, not a quote, and it uses an imagined job: a small three-bedroom house where the general waste fills roughly three car loads.

• Option A, your own car, three runs: three full-car general waste fees at €30 each is €90 in gate fees, plus three round trips, your own fuel and your own time to load, drive, queue, sort at the bays, unload and drive home.
• Option B, one hired van: an intermediate or Transit van pays €128 at the gate for general waste. You add the van hire, the fuel, and a second pair of hands, because staff will not help with lifting. It is quicker than three runs but it is still your day.
• Option C, a crew: a fixed price from photos, the crew and the truck are ours, and sorting and disposal are included. Nothing is paid at a gate by you.

On gate fees alone, option A looks cheapest. It stops looking cheapest when you count the hours and the lifting, and it stops being possible when the house has to be empty by Friday and nobody in the family can lift a wardrobe. If you want to compare properly, write down what your time is worth, what a hired van costs where you are, and ask for our fixed price. We would rather you did the maths than guessed.

Two other points make the sums less simple than they look. First, the centres charge by the vehicle category for the whole load, so a half-full van is still the van price. Second, items with separate rates (green waste, timber, mattresses) mean a mixed load is split between charges at the gate, which is slow when the queue is long on a Saturday.

Room by room: a checklist for a Swords house

Use this as a walk-through. Tick off each room before you ask for a quote, and photograph it as you go.

Hall, stairs and landing

• Coats, shoes, umbrellas and the things that live in pockets: check for keys, cash and receipts.
• Photograph the stairs and any turns in them; they decide how long carrying takes.
• Look at the hot press and the storage under the stairs.

Kitchen

• Decide what appliances are staying. Defrost the fridge and freezer a day before.
• Empty the presses of food that has gone off; cooked food in bags makes a load unpleasant for everyone.
• Set aside any cleaning chemicals and fuel in the cupboard under the sink; these are on our not-accepted list.

Living room and dining room

• Tag the furniture that is staying, and note anything going to family.
• Check behind and under cushions, inside ottomans and in the sideboard.
• Take down pictures and mirrors you want to keep before the crew arrives.

Bedrooms

• Check under beds, inside wardrobes, at the back of drawers and in jewellery boxes.
• Bedding, duvets and pillows can be bagged; they are charged at the centres and go in the general stream with us.
• Photograph the wardrobes: built-in ones are a separate question, because we only take down fixed items if it is part of the agreed job.

Bathroom

• Medicines go to a pharmacy.
• Check the cabinet for aerosols and cleaning chemicals.

Attic

• Photograph from the hatch with the light on; do not climb in if the floor is not boarded.
• Say if there is a ladder or a fixed stairs.
• If you suspect old insulation or sheeting that might contain asbestos, do not disturb it; tell us and we will stop and advise.

Garage and shed

• Photograph both with the doors open.
• Group paint, fuel, oil, gas bottles and chemicals together and photograph the labels.
• Tools, bikes and garden furniture: decide what is going to family.

Garden and outside

• Say whether the truck can reach the side or back access.
• Mention trampolines, hot tubs or sheds, which are separate services: trampoline removal, hot tub removal and shed removal.

Eight questions to ask any clearance company in Swords, including us

Fingal’s own guidance is to use an authorised collector with an NWCPO permit. That is a good starting point, and here is how to go further.

1. What is your waste collection permit number? Ours is NWCPO-25-13287-01, held by Krystal Klean Express Limited. Ask the same of everyone and write it down.
2. Are you insured? We are fully insured, including public liability.
3. Is the price fixed, and what does it include? Disposal, sorting and sweeping should be inside it.
4. What will you not take? You want a clear list. Ours is asbestos, chemicals, paints and solvents, oils, fuel, gas cylinders and clinical waste.
5. What happens to the furniture? You want to hear that reuse is the first sort, with authorised facilities for the rest, and no guarantee of a particular destination for a particular item.
6. Who will be on the day, and how many? We send two or three with a box truck.
7. What if something is missing afterwards? Our loads are held briefly in case something was missed.
8. Can I see the finished property? We send photos if you cannot be there.

Common mistakes when clearing a Swords house

• Starting without a date. A clearance without a deadline drifts. Pick a date, even if it is only the date of the first sorting session.
• Sorting everything before calling anyone. You only need to sort what you want to keep. Anything else is a job for the truck.
• Forgetting the attic and garage. They are often half the job, and a quote based only on the rooms is a quote that moves.
• Assuming the council will collect. Fingal does not offer a bulky collection. Dublin City Council runs one for its own area, but Swords is not in it.
• Taking commercial-looking loads to the centres. The centres take household waste only. If you are clearing for an estate, a landlord or a sale, check at the gate or book a permitted contractor.
• Leaving hazardous items to the last day. Paint, fuel and gas bottles need their own trip.
• Not telling the crew about parking. A job on a driveway and a job where the truck has to stand 80 metres away are very different lengths of day.
• Throwing out papers. Letters, bank paperwork and certificates look like rubbish and are not.

A realistic timeline for a Swords clearance

A half-day job is common for a flat or a partial clearance. A full house can take half a day to two days, depending on volume and access.

What affects the quote in Swords

We do not publish prices, because they follow the job: how many truck loads, the weight, access (stairs, distance to the truck, parking), the mix of items and how much can be reused, and your date. We are based in Athy and run into Dublin daily, and Dublin work is scheduled in rounds, so quotes do not carry a long-distance premium. Send photos by the quote form or WhatsApp and you will have a fixed price.

Swords clearance questions

Related pages

• Garage clearance Dublin
• Mattress disposal Dublin
• House clearance guide (Dublin)
• House clearance in Blanchardstown: landlords, tenants and sellersClearing a Blanchardstown house or apartment before a handover: planning the date, Coolmine recycling centre rules and fees, apartment management rules, and what a crew does.