It is essential that the following waste DOES NOT go in the skip:

• Fridges/Freezers
• Tyres
• Full Paint Cans
• TV’s/Monitors
• Asbestos
• Clinical/Medical Waste
• Florescent Tubes
• Aerosols/Gas canisters
• Solvents
• Liquids
• Oil
• Batteries
• Plasterboard
• Hazardous/Toxic Material
• Food Waste

Delivery & Collection
Due to the unpredictable nature of traffic and a multitude of variables that affect collection schedules of a skip lorry driver e.g. incorrect details given by customer, overfilling, waste in the skip that’s not allowed (see list above), it is extremely difficult for our providers to give a precise time.  The best approach is to simply aim for AM or PM.  Those promising exact delivery times are likely saying this only to secure your business.

The skip must be accessible at all times. If the driver arrives and there is no clearway to deliver or collect the skip additional fees could apply.

Positioning your Skip
You are not authorized to move your skip at any time, this can only be undertaken by a member of our skip hire team.

Skip Hire Load
By law a skip must not be loaded past its fill line, which is the top of the walls of the skip.  Overloaded skips become dangerous in transport to other road users and pedestrians and is illegal.  Our providers may ‘level’ the skip to transport and this may require removal of waste.  Extra charges may apply if the skip has been overloaded, delayed due to overload or levelling is required.

Skip size

This follows on from the above point – get a skip size larger than you think you need.  It is very difficult to anticipate volume and so customers are advised to provide room for error and extra waste.  You will always fill the skip, it is a question more of how dangerously you fill it and how much more hassle it will become by trying to save a small amount of money ordering a smaller skip.

How do I choose between skip companies?

What motivated your choice is down to you and we do our best to furnish you with the likely considerations that will help you make that decision.

Our feedback system helps you decide which skip company’s suit your needs.  Not all of the companies offer the same level of service.  Where possible we indicate which companies take card payments (so you don’t have to be in when the skip is delivered). Some recycle, some recycle more than others, some landfill all of it.  Some have accreditations or some or more local to you.

We could just give you the best companies but who are we to decide who’s ‘best’.

Some skip hire companies fly tip, breach health and safety and waste disposal laws, damage your property when loading the skip and generally provide a bad service.  Our feedback system helps you see which these are so you can avoid them, but ultimately we leave the decision down to you.

Some skip hire companies own licensed waste transfer stations (regulated by the Environment Agency) and are members of the Institute of Wastes Management (a professional body that promotes education and raising standards in waste management). This does not make them more expensive as they sell what they recycle allowing them to price competitively.  But they do have large overheads.  Our point is that just because a skip company is small, doesn’t recycle waste or their bins have all the paint falling off, doesn’t mean they are bad.  This is a service industry, we let you pay for the level and type of service offering you prefer.

Why are Skips so expensive?

Landfill tax is to rise by £8 per tonne on 1 April each year until 2013. As a result, the tax will rise to £48 for each tonne of waste sent to landfill from 1 April 2010, then climb to £56 in 2011, £64 in 2012 and £72 in 2013.

Other major overheads are:

• Landfill taxes: Currently (2009) £40/ton
• Skips: £500 – £1000 (cost or Iron keeps increasing)
• Skip wagon: £40,000+
• Skip lorry driver: £25,000/year
• Fuel: £30,000/year
• Vehicle Insurance: £2000/year per vehicle
• Public Liability: £1500/year per vehicle
• Employer’s Liability: £1500/year per vehicle year
• Office staff: £20,000/year per member of staff
• Recycling costs: Cost of buying and running recycling factory – £millions
• Carrier licence & waste transfer station licence – BIG MONEY!!

Add to this the environmental cost and impact of waste disposal.  Certain of our skip hire companies recycle as much as they can, landfill as little as possible and charge a competitive amount to do so.  On the flipside, for those who landfill everything landfill tax goes towards preserving the environment and negating the effects of the disposal.

Skip ordering and delivery times – It can’t be instant, fast and accurate.

Our skip hire companies do the best they can to ensure a fast and timely service in line with the clients expectations.  There are, however, a multitude of factors beyond their control that result in an inability to guarantee availability and shcduled delivery times of a skip.

Too many people expect if they order a skip today it will arrive tomorrow.  Hiring a skip is not like hiring a taxi, its availability is much more restricted due to long hire periods and limited supply / transportation availability.

Any skip company giving you an exact time of delivery and pick-up is likely to be just saying that to secure your business.

Sometimes customers give inaccurate directions, there is heavy traffic (especially in London or major cities), the previous customer put prohibited items in the skip or overfilled it and the access is not as good as described.

You should simply aim for AM or PM delivery.  If you choose a skip company that allows you to pay by card this should eradicate the need to be at home when the skip is delivered.

“Why won’t they take the skip away if the rubbish is just over the fill line?”

The law requires skip companies to not transport unsafe loads on public highways.  They are, therefore, bound by legislation enforced to ensure the safe use of the roads by other road users.  Imagine what would happen if a large chunk of debris fell of the skip at high speed on a busy road.

Too many people underestimate the size of skip required.  We provide illustrations, measurements, examples and explanations in a bid to assist you in making this decision but take our advice; order a skip larger than you think you will need.  It will save you in the long run.  In certain circumstances a larger skip is cheaper anyway, this is especially true with very small skips (2yrd and 3yrd).

Where does my waste go?

Certain of our providers recycle large portions of the waste and depending on the type of waste they receive and the facilities available to them they recycle varying degrees of what they receive.  Certain skip hire companies will sell e.g. paper back to paper companies IF what they receive is of a high enough quality with very few contaminants (things other than paper in the skip).  The same is true for wood, metal, soil, sand, even building rubble and stone.

What is left over can be incinerated.  This is a highly regulated method which produced emissions 1000 times cleaner than that from a power plant.

A certain portion of your waste may end up in landfill and certain skip hire companies landfill everything.  Some even fly tip.  Space in landfill is running out which is the reason why landfill tax is increasing as the government tries to discourage landfill and encourage recycling.

Why is there such a difference in the prices between skip hire companies?

The answer to this lies in the answer to many of the questions above.  Some skip hire companies have lower overheads, some recycle more waste sometimes costing them more and sometimes allowing them to be cheaper.  Some have a larger operation requiring office staff, online and phone card payment systems, environmental and legal considerations are taken more seriously and the service delivery is delivered looking and acting more professionally with a fleet of new and clean trucks and skip bins and or a small local operator happy with a small albeit outdated skip wagon, only 4 skip bins with an ‘in-cab’ mobile ‘office’ allowing for very low overheads and a very personal service, but not necessarily cheaper.

Yes, we know, it defies logic and accepted norms but there is much about the equipment rental industry that results in such a varying range of variables that vary so many different things that it is as confusing as this sentence.  Hence why www.tuxebo.co.uk/skips exists to help you make that choice quickly, painlessly and economically whilst providing you with the ability to give feedback and hold the skip hire company to account.

Skip hire permits affect the cost of skip hire too (see below).

Skip Hire Permits

If you place a skip on a public highway you will need a permit from the local council.  This is required so that the council can ensure the safety of local residents and road users whilst maintaining a regular access via the road at all times.  If, for example, there happened to be requests for 10 skips on one street at the same time they would be forced to refuse as the street could become difficult to pass through and no parking would be left available.

Skip companies are required by law to tell you if you need a permit.  Sometimes they are required to apply for it themselves but sometimes the person hiring the skip has to go direct to the council.  Each council has a different procedure with different requirements and different prices.

The variance in skip permit price across the UK is staggering – some councils charge nothing and issue them the same day, some charge over £70 and make you wait weeks before issuing.