Skip Hire Guide.
From commercial gardeners to amateur enthusiasts, if you are undertaking a garden clear-out or will be producing a sizeable amount of garden waste, skip hire may be the perfect waste and rubbish removal solution. Skips come in a range of sizes to suit any job, and are often a convenient and affordable method to remove your unwanted garden rubbish.
Skip Hire Prices
Skip hire is a popular method of disposing waste, and affordable prices play a considerable role in why people choose to hire a skip. Throughout the UK, skip hire prices vary greatly, with variable factors including location, skip size and competition within your area.
As you might expect, London skip hire prices are commonly more expensive than elsewhere in the country, but there are a few reasons for the higher costs. Council issued skip hire permits are often required if a skip cannot be placed on the homeowner’s land, and permits in many London Boroughs are costlier than outside London. If the delivery truck needs to travel through Central London, the congestion charge may also increase your quote.
Skip prices are directly related to skip price, with larger skips costing more than smaller skips. This is because after a skip has been filled and collected, the skip company must then separate the waste, and pay to dispose anything that cannot be recycled, and larger skips generally produce more waste.
Locations that have numerous skip hire firms often have some of the best prices. When skip hire firms need to compete for business, clients will receive a great deal on their skip hire.
Skip Hire Sizes
Skips come in a range of sizes and shapes to accommodate almost any job. Mini skips are the smallest skips available, and normally come in 2 yard and 3 yard capacities. They are perfect when you only have a small amount of waste, or limited available space to place a skip. Midi skips are slightly larger, with sizing from 4 to 5 yards.
Maxi Skips are available in sizes ranging from 6 to 18 yards, but there are sometimes variations in sizing between different skip hire companies. The smaller maxi skips are often referred to as a builder’s skip. Maxi skips are popular on commercial jobs, where there is a significant amount of waste to be disposed.
The largest skips available are known as Roll-on Roll-off skips, and come in sizes up to 40 yards. These industrial sized skips can hold a lot of waste, and are generally only used by commercial clients. For comparison of size, a 2 yard mini skip can only hold approximately 25 black bin bags, whereas a 40 yard roll-on roll-off skip can hold approximately 440 bin bags.
Skips often come in different shapes and set ups, depending on their required use. For example, if you will be throwing away waste soil, which you are transporting to the skip via a wheelbarrow, you could opt for a skip with a drop down side, allowing you to wheel the waste inside the skip, saving you time and preventing any unnecessary heavy lifting.
If you need to keep your waste secure, or perhaps want to ensure no unwanted rubbish is added to your skip, using a lockable skip may be the best option. Lockable skips also help protect your waste from the weather, which is useful for certain types of waste that should be kept dry, such as plasterboard.
What can you put in a skip?
Most of your garden waste will be able to go into a skip, but to ensure skip hire is right for your requirements, there are a few exceptions that you should know. Non-hazardous waste can generally be thrown into a skip, including soil, organic waste, rubble, furniture, wood, metal, domestic waste, and cardboard.
Electrical items, known as WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), such as fridges and televisions cannot be thrown into a skip. Some other items that cannot be thrown into a skip include tyres, fluorescent bulbs, solvents, medical waste, batteries and asbestos.
An item you may be surprised to learn cannot be thrown into a skip with other waste is plasterboard. Plasterboard can release toxic gases whilst decomposing, if mixed with other waste, so a plasterboard bag is often provided to ensure it is kept separated from your other waste.
If you are unsure as to whether your waste is suitable for a skip, your skip provider can provide a list of what they do and don’t collect.
What should I look for when hiring a skip company?
There are two essential items that every skip hire firm should have – public liability insurance and a waste carriers license. Public liability insurance (PLI) is important to ensure that you and others are protected if the skip, the loading truck or the skip hire employees cause injury to anyone. This insurance is vital to ensure any medical bills, damages or repair costs are covered.
All skip hire providers must have a valid waste carriers license to remove your waste. It is illegal for a skip company to carry waste without a license, and a license must be carried at all times when transporting waste. You can check whether a skip hire company has a license on the government public register.
Alternatives to skip hire
You can use the LoveJunk rubbish clearance marketplace to find a licensed waste business to remove your garden waste. Just take a couple of photos of the rubbish that needs to be cleared and use their app or web form to create a free listing. Then receive quotes from local waste collectors to remove and dispose of it. Compare their prices and customer ratings to choose the best collector for you, and pay securely through LoveJunk after the pickup. LoveJunk is widely recommended by councils and all the rubbish collectors on it are verified licensed waste carriers. Plus, if you have any reusable items (like good condition garden furniture) you can also use LoveJunk to see if anyone nearby would like to collect it for free. Visit LoveJunk for more details.
Is skip hire environmentally friendly?
Many people do not realise that once a skip has been removed from your property, most of the waste is recycled, making skip hire an environmentally friendly waste disposal solution. It is in the interest of skip hire firms to recycle as much was as possible, as this reduces the landfill costs, and they can also make a small profit by selling recycled materials, such as metals. Many skip hire firms achieve recycling rates of over 80%, and in many cases a skip used for garden purposes can be 100% recycled.
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