Is Using Cheap Skip Bins in Western Sydney a Good Idea?

News > Is Using Cheap Skip Bins in Western Sydney a Good Idea?

Get Prices Instantly

Suburb

Type of Waste Amount of Waste

No contact details required to get detailed information about our services in your area

Blacktown Hiab Skip Truck in Western Sydney Yard

Cheap Skip Bins in Western Sydney are not always what they first appear to be. And being aware of some of the pitfalls can be a better way to ensure you get value for money when you are hiring a skip bin.

1. If the price of the Cheap Skip Bins is too good to be true be wary

Skip bins are not generally cheap because the cost of disposing of the waste at a landfill which is expensive as a result of the NSW Government waste levies. Currently (FY 2016/2017), the NSW waste levy is $135.70 per tonne. And to add to the cost of disposing of waste at landfills and transfer stations the NSW EPA (Environment Protection Authority) require that they have weigh bridges, video surveillance accessible by the EPA so all waste is charged by the tonne and can be monitored remotely to ensure everyone pays their fair share. So including the waste levy the cost of tipping general waste is generally between $350 and $400 dollars a tonne.

It is hard for a skip bin company to avoid paying this price for disposing of the waste unless there is something shady going on. And this probably explains some of the illegal tipping that you might see from time to time on the side of the road, on the edge a of a reserve or some other random place (next to a child-care center or pre-school). And as is often said about special deals; "If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is too good to be true".

2. Make sure you know what you are getting for your skip bin hire

When choosing the size of a skip bin the first and foremost question you should be asking your self is "What volume (or quantity) of waste am I trying to get rid of"? Here the key item is volume of waste as the first consideration. Think cubic meters. There are a few operators around who describe their bins as mini-skips, a 2-tonne skip or a 4 marrell. None of these terms describes how much waste you can put in the bin which is the important issue. And if you want to make a like for like comparison you need to know what the volume of the bin is. Nothing else will do.

The use of the term of mini-skip and telling you it is a 2-tonne skip is just to obfuscate, to avoid having to tell you that the bin is say a 1.8 cubic meter bin rather than a 2.0 cubic meter bin. So that is essentially 10% less than the normal size bin. So if you were going to get one of these bins you would want to save 10% on the price to make it the same value as the larger regular bin. It is a similar story with with other bin descriptions where another large bin company describes their bins by an alternative title (this is just like alternative facts). Here a 3.5 cubic meter bin gets called a 4-marrell (which most people assume to mean a 4-cubic meter bin).

3. Check the cost of additional tipping and other small print

The next pitfall to watch out for is where the price of the bin includes a specified amount of waste. This is not a bad thing. In some cases it is a good way to hire a bin as it can give you the flexibility to hire a bin for less without the being restricted about what can go in the bin. So if you have if you have half-a-dozen bricks to get rid of getting a bin with a weight allowance included and a reasonable tipping rate can be the most cost effective solution. What you have to look out for is the tipping rate for the additional waste. I just check one leading website where you can book a skip bin for hire and the tipping cost per tonne is $560 even the cost of the skip is cheap. If you are paying $560 per tonne you wouldn't want to put even one brick in the skip bin.

So the bottom line to this question is yes, cheap skip bins in western Sydney can be good. But just be careful you are getting value for money, not just a cheap skip bin.

Authored By:Steve Shergold
Updated:10/02/2017