What You Can and Can't Put in a Skip-Bin

It’s amazing how much stuff a household can accumulate over a year. From clothes and trinkets to tools and appliances, we’re all guilty of holding onto things that will never get used from time to time.

Whether you’re doing a general spring clean of your home, or preparing for a home renovation or landscaping project, one of the biggest logistical hurdles to overcome relates to rubbish disposal.

Hiring a skip bin makes it easy to declutter your home or garden. Rather than loading up your car multiple times and making dozens of trips to the junkyard, all you have to do to clean up is to haul everything into a skip bin. Once you’re done, a driver will come and take it away in one easy trip.

Hiring a skip bin for your home or garden cleanout

Cleaning out your home or garden doesn’t have to be a tedious and time-consuming task. However, if you don’t have a good rubbish management system in place, it can easily turn into a logistical nightmare. Unless you’ve got a loader truck sitting in your garage, you’ll find that trying to dispose of high volumes of rubbish on your own will involve many trips back and forth to the tip.

Skip bins make spring cleaning, construction, and demolition projects much more manageable. When you hire a skip bin, a professional will come and deliver the skip to your property and then remove the loaded skip at an agreed-upon date. At Jim’s Skip Bins, our skips come in a wide range of sizes. From 2 cubic metre skips to 31 cubic metre hooklifts, we’ve got a product to suit every project.

Before hiring a skip bin service, it’s important to understand the types of items and materials you can put in a skip bin, and the types of items and materials you can’t. Not only will this save you from running into any unexpected charges, it’ll also ensure that everyone is kept safe.

So, what can go inside a skip bin, and what can’t?

The answer to this question will vary depending on the type of skip bin you’ve hired. There are different skip bins for different occasions. For example, the skip you’ll need for a demolition project will be very different from the skip you’ll need if you’re doing a straightforward spring clean of your property.

General Waste Skip Bins

For spring cleaning projects or property cleanouts, a general waste skip bin should cover most of your bases.

The types of things you can dispose of in a general waste skip bin include:

Cardboard boxes or packaging
Wood
Cabinets
White goods
Clothes
Toys
Carpet
Kitchenware
Computers and phones

Items and materials that you can’t put inside a general waste skip include:

Bricks
Concrete
Soil

Builders Skip Bins

For household renovation and home improvement projects, you’ll need a separate skip bin. Builders skip bins are great options for those projects where you know you’ll be dealing with heavy duty waste.

Builders skip bins are intended to be used to dispose of items and materials such as:

Concrete
Bricks
Tiles
Metal
Steel

Items and materials that you can’t put inside a builders skip include:

Organic waste
Hazardous waste
Liquids

Skip Bin Hire for Dirt, Soil & Sand

For specific outdoor projects such as landscaping projects, hiring a dirt-only skip bin will save you lots of time and energy down the track. After a big landscaping job or a gardening job, you may find yourself surrounded by mounds of soil. A dirt-only skip bin is a good way to dispose of this waste responsibly and efficiently.

The rules are simple for these kinds of skips: only dirt, soil, and sand can go inside. All other materials are strictly prohibited.

Skip Bin Hire for Concrete

Concrete should never be left to pile up. The more it builds up, the more time-consuming it is to remove. If you’ve recently completed a demolition, you’ll need to find a way to dispose of all those broken slabs of concrete. A concrete skip bin is a specialised solution that allows you to remove and dispose of concrete waste safely.

Like dirt skip bins, concrete skip bins have very straightforward rules. The only materials that can go inside a concrete skip bin are concrete. Everything else should be left outside or placed into a separate bin.

Green Waste Skip Bins

Green waste includes all organic material taken from your yard; for example, leaves, branches, and clippings. Anyone who’s a keen gardener knows how quickly green waste can accumulate. If you need a waste removal solution to help you manage your green waste, hiring a green waste skip bin could be an option to consider.

Materials that can go inside a green waste skip bin include:

Grass clippings
Branches
Garden pruning
Leaves
Weeds
Hedge trimmings
Fence palings

Items and materials that can’t go inside a green waste skip bin include:

Garden pots and flower pots
Rocks and bricks
Stones
Metal
Glass

Items that should never be placed in a skip bin

There are some things that should never be placed in a skip bin of any kind. Most of these items are prohibited either because they’re harmful to the environment, or because they pose a danger to other people.

Things that should never be placed inside a skip bin under any circumstances include:

Asbestos, chemical materials, and other hazardous materials – If you come across asbestos, chemical materials, or hazardous materials, you should never attempt to remove it on your own. Put your personal safety first and call in a licensed professional to do the job.
Putrescible waste – Food waste and other putrescible material should never be placed inside skip bins as they’re prone to creating offensive odours and smells. Look into composting solutions or other food waste recycling systems to save tonnes of food from entering landfill.
Gas bottles – Gas bottles are strictly prohibited from entering a skip bin or landfill because they have a high risk of explosion when compacted. If you need a new gas bottle, most gas bottle suppliers will swap out your old bottles with a refilled bottle.
Liquids such as paints and oil – Not only do they create a mess, paints and oils can also harm the environment. For that reason, these materials should never be placed in a skip bin. Look to specific paint disposal or oil disposal companies to dispose of these types of waste.

Here at Jim’s Skip Bins, our goal is to make waste management less tedious for everyone involved. Whether you’re planning for some light spring cleaning or you’re preparing for a major construction or renovation project, we have the perfect skip bin to suit every scenario. To find out the best type of skip for your project, get in touch with us today by calling 131 546 or by requesting a quote online.