If you have a pile of soil, rubble or hardcore that needs to go, grab hire in Peterborough is usually the quickest way to shift it. One of our grab lorries can lift up to 16 tonnes in a single visit, and loading normally takes 15 to 20 minutes. No skip permits, no barrowing waste across the site, no waiting on exchanges.
BSH Recycling has been handling waste across this area for over 20 years, and our depot on Vicarage Farm Road in Fengate means we are minutes from most jobs in the city. We are a family business, started in Bourne in 2002, and grab hire has become one of the most requested services we run out of Peterborough. The city has had near constant development for a decade now, from the Hamptons to Paston, and a lot of that muck away has gone on our lorries.
A grab lorry is an 8-wheeled, 32 tonne vehicle with a hydraulic arm mounted behind the cab. The arm on our lorries reaches 6 metres at full extension, so the driver can lift material straight from where it sits. It will also reach over a wall or fence of around 10ft, provided the lorry can pull up alongside.
That reach matters more than people think. On a typical Peterborough terrace or new build plot, the waste pile is often behind a boundary wall or down a side passage. With a skip you would be barrowing every load out to the kerb. With a grab, the arm does the work.
The practical points to know. You need 11ft of access width for the lorry, clear of low branches, power lines and overhangs. Payment is taken at the point of hire by card or BACS. We do not take cash on arrival.
Grab hire is for inert waste only. That means:
It is not for mixed waste, so general building waste, timber, plastics and household clearance still need a skip. If your job produces both, we can put a skip and a grab on the same site. Plenty of Peterborough builders do exactly that, skip for the mixed waste, grab for the muck away.
Most of our grab work in Peterborough comes from three types of job.
Groundworks and footings. Digging foundations produces far more spoil than people expect. A footing dig for a modest extension can easily produce 20 tonnes of soil and clay. That is three 8 yard skips, or two grab loads.
Driveways and patios. Breaking out an old concrete drive creates dense, heavy waste. An inert skip caps out at 8 tonnes. A grab takes double that in one go, and you are not lifting a single barrow.
Garden landscaping. Levelling a lawn or digging out a pond leaves a soil heap with nowhere to go. The grab arm lifts it over the fence from the road side where access allows.
Here is the comparison that matters for cost. A 16 tonne grab load carries roughly the same inert material as two full 8 yard skips, and it is on and off your site in under an hour. For bulk soil and rubble in Peterborough it almost always works out cheaper per tonne. For smaller volumes, a skip wins. We will tell you straight which one your job needs, even if that means less work for us. Call 01778 394044, option 2, and ask.
This is the part of grab hire most firms gloss over. Everything our grab lorries collect in Peterborough goes back to our own registered waste transfer stations in Fengate and Bourne. The material is processed and crushed, and much of it comes back out as recycled aggregate like 6F5 hardcore. Across the business we divert up to 99.9% of waste from landfill.
We are ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 certified and FORS accredited, and our grab operators are fully trained and certified. When the Environment Agency or your main contractor asks where the spoil went, you will have a proper answer and the paperwork to back it up.
One thing worth knowing. The same lorry that takes your muck away can deliver. We supply aggregates and topsoil across Peterborough, including recycled 6F5 for sub bases and driveways. If you are digging out a drive and need stone brought in, one vehicle can do both jobs and you save on transport. Just mention it when you book.
Booking is simple. Call our team on 01778 394044, option 2, or send an enquiry through our contact page. Tell us what the material is, roughly how much there is, and what the access looks like. A photo helps. We will confirm a price and get a lorry to you, often next day.
We cover the whole city and the villages around it, including Werrington, Bretton, the Ortons, Hampton, Yaxley, Whittlesey and Crowland. You can check the full list on our areas covered page.
And if it turns out a skip suits your job better, we do that too. Our skip hire and commercial waste collection services run from the same Peterborough depot, with next day delivery as standard. Either way, you are dealing with a local team that knows the city and has been doing this for two decades.
The BSH Recycling Grab Lorries are 32 tonne, 8 wheeled vehicles can carry a maximum of 16 tonnes, ideal for transporting and unloading large quantities of inert material quickly. With a 6-meter arm, the Grab Lorry Operator can retrieve material for locations with tight access without the need to manual load skips.
The main purpose of the BSH Recycling Grab Lorry is to remove large quantities of inert material from site.
You will need 11ft to allow our vehicles access. It will also need to be free from low hanging branches, power lines and manhole covers to prevent obstruction.
Services must be paid for at the point of hire, either by debit/credit card over the telephone or BACS payment. BSH Recycling DO NOT accept cash upon arrival.
At full extension, the grab arm can reach 6 meters to retrieve waste from hard to access locations.
If the BSH Recycling Grab Lorry is able pull alongside the obstacle, it is able to reach material over a height of approximately 10ft, however, this can be affected by additional factors.
If the material is accessible and free from obstruction, it may take approximately 15-20 minutes to load a grab lorry however this can fluctuate, depending upon the material, access and additional factors.