10 Do's and Don't of Skips Hire

Hiring skip bins over the internet has never been easier.  It can be quicker than phoning round trying to find competitive prices and many people find it much less harrowing.

1. Do plan ahead of booking your skip bin.  Consider what rubbish and waste you have to dispose of, and what is the best way to do it!  In most states in Australia there are landfill levies or government charges for waste sent to the tip which will punish you for mixing household rubbish with construction waste (bricks and concrete especially).  General residential or commercial waste is usually relatively light and therefore you will not incur significant landfill levies which are usually charged by the tonne.  Adding bricks, concrete, ceramics, sand, soil or rock to your household waste will make it heavy and expensive to dispose of. 
2. Don't be afraid to phone up and ask questions about booking your next skip hire.  If you are not sure what is the best way to dispose of your waste or recycling in your area call and ask. Check the bottom of the page for our local skip bin phone numbers. It quick conversation about whether to separate materials could save you money.
3. Do give yourself time to prepare and use your skip bin fully. Skip bins are usually available for a standard number of days (different by area and suppliers) after which there is a daily rental charge.  If you are not prepared properly for the delivery of your bin you might loose time to fill the bin while you sort stuff out after the bin has been delivered.
4. Don't leave it until your skip has been delivered to to think about what you are going to put in the bin. From time to time we hear about people who got a bin at short notice and then just start filling it with anything and everything.  And just because there is some spare space in the bin they add heavy material without thinking about the weight or mix of wastes.  This can be an expensive mistake to make when excess tipping charges can be hundreds of dollars per tonne.
5. Do check what skip bins are available in your suburb!  There is a wide variety of services and providers available who offer slightly different services so it is worth checking what is available in your suburb. This can be as  simple as adding your suburb name to the search term. Doing a search for 'skip bin hire "suburb name"' first up may well save you some time searching through interstate skip bin companies. There are thousands of suburbs across Australia, so to to find the skip bin companies that are operating in your area it is worth adding the suburb to your search term as this will help to qualify who is providing skips hire in your area!
6. Don't be tempted to put heavy materials in your general waste skip bin like bricks, concrete sand soil or rocks into a general waste bin just because there was room. This can turn out to be an expensive way of disposing of them.
7. Do consider separating materials that can be recycled; with increasing waste/landfill levies think about separating materials that can be recycled such as concrete, bricks, cleanfill and green waste.  Many regional landfills offer significantly lower disposal charges for materials that can be recycled and these savings on waste disposal are often passed back to you the waste service consumer.
8. Don't overload your skip bin. Imagine being the driver in a car following your skip bin to the tip! If your bin is overloaded there is a risk that something might fall out when the bin is taken away.  Imagine how you would feel to hear that some of your waste fell onto a car injuring the occupants.
9. Do check out whether you need need a council permit if you want to have a skip bin placed on council property.  Councils around the country, especially in Sydney and Melbourne have differing policy on whether a permit is needed to place a skip bin on their property, whether it is going on the road or the nature-strip (the land that is either side of the road).  The fees and processes also vary. In some places the council require the skip bin company to be licensed or pay for a permit. In other area it is the resident of skip bin hirer who needs to arrange the permit.  If you ignore the need for a permit it could be to you peril as the fines where they are required can be very high, even over a $1,000 .
10. Do organise your bin sooner rather than later so you are not disappointed.  Skip bin companies get very busy on long weekends especially before Christmas or Easter.  Leaving booking your bin until the day you want it will mean you will have to chase around more to find the bin you need.  You might not even get one or it might only arrive after the best part of the day has gone.