The basics to know about when it comes to skip hire

People hire skips for a variety of reasons. Having a spring clear out, removing an old kitchen or bathroom, wanting to remove lots of garden waste are all reasons why people hire skips.

Hiring a skip is a fairly simple process, even more so nowadays with many companies offering the option of booking your skip online. Usually the process is as follows. Book the hiring of your skip from a skip hire company giving them a date and time you would like your skip delivered and the size of skip you require. Your skip should arrive on the date you specified. You can usually keep the skip for as long as is required to fill it with your waste. Once you skip is ready for removal, simply give the skip hire company 48 hours notice of when you would like your skip collected.

Another option many skip hire companies offer is a 'wait and load' service. This means the skip will be delivered and the driver will wait while you load it and then take it away. This is ideal if you have a pile of waste ready for loading and don't require the skip for a longer period of time.

If there is no room on your property for the skip it will have to be placed on the public road/pavement. For a skip to be placed on the public road/pavement a permit from the council is required. Usually this permit can be arranged by the skip hire company when you order your skip, although some councils insist that the applicant for the permit must be the person hiring the skip. Also, if the skip is to be placed on the road it is the responsibility of the person hiring the skip to ensure it has to appropriate warning lights attached. These lights can usually be hired from the skip hire company when ordering the skip.

You can fill your skip with pretty much anything with the exception of a few items these include aerosols, gas canisters, computer monitors, televisions, full paint cans, food waste, tyres, fridges or freezers.

The skip must not be overloaded. This can cause problems in picking up the skip and also is hazardous to pedestrians and motorists. The skip should not be loaded above the top of the walls of the skip. If the skip is overloaded the skip hire company usually reserve the right to 'level' the waste on picking up the skip if the skip is deemed unsuitable for transport.

Skips come in many different sizes. The smallest is what's known as a Mini Skip, can hold up to 1.5 cubic metres of wastes but is not always available everywhere in the UK. The next size is a Midi Skip which is ideal of bathroom and kitchen refits and can hold up to 3 cubic metres. The most common skip size is what's known as a Builders Skip it can hold up to 4.6 cubic metres of waste (as much as 50-60 bin bags) and is available everywhere in the UK. There are larger skip sizes available but some of these are not suitable for very heavy waste due to the weight of the fully loaded skip.