Do YOU Know How To Pack A Skip Properly?

If you're in need of a bin to hire, it makes sense to save money and effort by packing that bin as efficiently as you can. But what counts as 'efficient', and what can you do to maximise the space available to you? Read on to learn more!

The Basics of Loading Your Bin

Once you know what's going into your bin (where possible try to gather the bin's contents in advance of its arrival so that you can organise and arrange it well), there are really just a few simple steps to loading it properly.

1. Get anything flat—such as doors, tabletops and broken-down flat-pack furniture—and lay it neatly along the bottom of the skip.
2. Load in the big, bulky things that can't be broken down, such as white goods. If you have hard core, this is the right time to add it—but be mindful of your skip's weight limit.
3. Smash your furniture and other breakables up as thoroughly as you can. If it can be broken down at all, get it as small as possible before dropping it in on top of the bulky stuff!
4. Pack your rubbish in as tightly as you can, leaving as little airspace as possible. Be careful not to let anything protrude over the sides of the bin—the top should be entirely flat.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

You might be wondering why it's so important that you don't overload your bin and that you only put certain types of material into it. After all, it would save you money—and what's the harm?

The truth is that it's important to stay within the guidelines of your skip hire company—and here's why.

1. These skips need to be driven down the road, and rubbish flying off the top of them is extremely dangerous.
2. Vans will have a weight limit for what they can tow, and it's entirely possible that an overloaded skip could seriously damage the entire van. It could also become detached from the coupling while driving, which will at best cause a large traffic disturbance and at worst a serious road accident.
3. Asbestos is a highly dangerous substance that can only be dealt with by people with correct training. If bin hire companies took asbestos, they'd have to provide that training; this would increase prices for you exponentially!

If you don't stick to these guidelines—if your skip is overflowing or too heavy when the driver comes to pick it up—you will find that either they remove anything over limit and take the skip away, leaving you with a pile of rubbish to deal with, or they refuse to take the skip at all and you're charged for the late collection as well as for dealing with the extra trash. Either way, you won't solve the problem by ignoring guidelines—so make sure you hire a skip that's large enough for your needs.