SIC 38 Waste collection, treatment and disposal: UK company statistics (October 2026)
Part of section E: Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation.
Key figures compared with the UK
| Measure | SIC 38 | All UK | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active companies | 10,501 | 5,166,057 | 0.2% of UK |
| Median company age (years) | 5.9 | 5.6 | close to UK |
| Incorporated in the last 3 years | 36.0% | 34.0% | close to UK |
| Filing micro-entity accounts | 25.3% | 32.4% | 7.1 pts lower |
| Filing dormant accounts | 9.4% | 10.8% | 1.4 pts lower |
| Accounts overdue | 1.8% | 1.8% | close to UK |
| Under a proposal to strike off | 9.9% | 7.4% | 2.5 pts higher |
| In liquidation, administration or receivership | 3.1% | 2.0% | 1.1 pts higher |
| With outstanding charges (secured lending) | 14.3% | 12.1% | 2.2 pts higher |
| Median net assets | £11k | £3,113 | 240% higher |
| Negative net assets | 16.8% | 18.8% | 2.0 pts lower |
| Net current liabilities | 38.2% | 36.2% | close to UK |
| Median cash at bank | £30k | £10k | 192% higher |
| Cash covers creditors due within a year | 27.6% | 35.3% | 7.7 pts lower |
| Holding £100k or more in cash | 33.3% | 20.3% | 13.0 pts higher |
| Median employees (where stated) | 2 | 1 | 100% higher |
Balance sheet measures use each active company's most recent machine-readable (iXBRL) accounts with a period ending in 2024 or later: 7,115 companies here (67.8% of active). Net assets 25th to 75th percentile: £2 to £194k. Cash 25th to 75th percentile: £1,311 to £192k.
Share with negative net assets, 2014 to 2025
Share of accounts with net liabilities (total liabilities larger than total assets) by financial year end, for companies on the live register. Dissolved companies are not included because the register no longer lists their industry, so earlier years show survivors. Negative net assets is a warning sign, not proof of insolvency: see what negative net assets means.
Accounts types filed
| Type of last accounts | Share here | Share UK |
|---|---|---|
| Total exemption full | 26.8% | 23.8% |
| No accounts filed yet | 26.7% | 26.0% |
| Micro-entity | 25.3% | 32.4% |
| Dormant | 9.4% | 10.8% |
| Unaudited abridged | 3.5% | 2.9% |
| Full (audited) | 3.5% | 1.5% |
| Small | 2.1% | 1.2% |
| Audit exemption subsidiary | 1.4% | 0.7% |
The type shows how much a company has to disclose. Micro-entity and abridged accounts contain no profit and loss account on the public record. Read more about accounts categories and micro-entities.
Active companies by year of incorporation
Companies incorporated in each year that are still active today. Younger cohorts are larger partly because older ones have been dissolved.
Most common activity codes
| SIC | Activity | Live companies |
|---|---|---|
| 38110 | Collection of non-hazardous waste | 7,357 |
| 38320 | Recovery of sorted materials | 2,192 |
| 38210 | Treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste | 1,668 |
| 38220 | Treatment and disposal of hazardous waste | 352 |
| 38120 | Collection of hazardous waste | 317 |
| 38310 | Dismantling of wrecks | 190 |
Methodology
Industry is the first SIC code each company declares on the Companies House register (snapshot 1 October 2026); the dormant placeholder 99999 is excluded. Status, accounts type and due dates come from the register. Financial measures come from our parse of 37 million iXBRL accounts filed since 2008; values above £100bn are treated as extraction errors. Companies filing paper or PDF accounts are not in the balance sheet figures. Full details: methodology.
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