Dear Customers

We would like to address a very important topic on how to correctly fill your skip bin. 

Why Is It  Important  to Fill a Skip Bin Correctly

We found that regardless of who is fillling the skip bin, whether it's an experienced team on a building site or a first time residential customer, the issues and questions arise regardless. The main reason from consumer's point of view, having an understanding of how to fill the bins correctly is to avoid extra charges for the overfilled, incorrectly filled skip bins.

Here's a brief guide of top 5 tips of filling a skip bin.

Tip 1 - Skip Bins Cannot Be Overfilled

It is not only limited to Melbourne, Australia but a world wide phenomena where customers try to fit just one more and then just another item into a Skip Bin.  In some circumstances customers go as far as piling up a few cubic meters on top of the bin, as if they are trying to play Jenga.  However when the skip bin truck arrives to pickup the skip bin, in case of extreme overload, the bin cannot be picked up and an alternative pickup date needs to be scheduled for the customer to either off-load the extra waste above the bin or to order an extra smaller size bin to dispose of the remainder of the rubbish.

Should the truck not be able to pickup the bin due to customer overfilling the bin, there will be an extra charge for rescheduling delivery and attracting extra transportation cost.

In some circumstances when the overfill is somewhat manageable to be covered with tarp, the customer will be charged for overfilled waste, as all waste has to be separated, recycled and then disposed of by us hence any waste above the purchased cubic meters will need to be paid for.  To ensure that no additional charges are payable upon pickup of your bin, we recommend to please level the bin to ensure that no waste is above the top rail of the bin.  Should you find yourself in a situation where you have additional waste remaining on your property, we suggest to call us at least 24 hours prior to pickup of your bin and order a smaller bin for the remainder of the rubbish, that way when the truck arrives to pickup your full bin, he can at the same time deliver a new empty bin, so that you can continue your waste disposal process without interruption.  For more information on how high you can pile up your skip bin, please read our FAQ's section.

Tip 2 - Fitting the Rubbish Into The Bin

To ensure that you utilise the bin to its full capacity we recommend to assess your various pieces of rubbish and pack the largest items, which require length first on the bottom of the skip, such as timber pallets or other long items, which wil not fit in vertically and will undoubtably stick out on top of the bin.

Should you have loose items, such as bricks, tiles, some small toys or small light items, we also recommend to place them at the bottom of the bin as if they are placed at the top of a completely full bin, there is a danger of these items falling out of the bin upon transportation, even when the bin is covered with tarp.  Loose items at the very top of the bin are very dangerous as even a smaller item falling out from the bin on a highway can cause a serious damage to the vehicles travelling behind the truck.

All our skip bins from 3 cubic meters and up are fitted with a door, hence for heavy items we recommend to use a wheelbarrow, where you can safely walk into the bin, using the door as a ramp.

If you are unsure about the size of the bin you need in order to fit all of your rubbish, we recommend to first check out Bin Sizes page, which shows the dimensions of each bin.  If you are stilll unsure, we encourage you to contact our friendly and experienced team on 1300 605 624 to assist you with selecting the right size and type of bin for your project.

Tip 3 - Use The Length of The Bin Instead of Height

If you have ordered a skip bin below 8 cubic meters, then you need to consider that you are working with the height range of 0.95m - 1.3m assuming that your skip bin size is between 2 cubic meters and 6 cubic meters.  Depending on your project, that is not much height to work with, in particular if you are dealing with long tree branches or planks of wood or other longer materials.

If you are using power tools or a saw, you can trim the longer pieces to fit into the length of the bin or in some cases the width of the bin.  Since we are working with cubic meters, you need to use the lenght, width and height of the bin to your advantage, so that you can utilise as much cubic meters as possible. 

We often find that customers who pay for bins themselves and are also filling them themselves are more likely to fill the bin correctly and utilise the space to their advantage.  However if you have a tradies team on site or someone else is filling the bin for you, who is not actually paying for it, the tendency is not to try hard to utilise the space and items are often thrown in carelessly, which results in long pieces or loose items on top of the bin, unsecured waste, which can fall out during transportation and by the time the bin is full its too late to try to fit the larger items.  We recommend that if you are paying for the bin but outsourcing it to someone else to fill for you, please instruct them on thoughtfull placement of items to work with bin's dimensions to avoid ordering an additional bin purely due to poor packing and not due to having some extra rubbish on site.

Should your project require a bin, which provides not only length but also height, we recommend to consider the following sizes of bins:

• 10m3 walk in marell skip bin, suitable for General Waste and some heavy waste, except for soil mixed with heavy waste
• 12m3 walk in marell skip bin, suitable for General Waste, Green Waste
• 21m3, 24m3 and 31m3 walk in bulk bins, suitable for General Waste & Green Waste.  Not suitable for heavy waste, such as soil, bricks, concrete, etc.

For a detailed discussion and specific advise about your project we invite you to contact our friendly and experienced team on 1300 605 624.

Tip 4 - Fill the Bin With The Correct Waste Type

When ordering a skip bin, we recommend to always check our Waste Types Guide to ensure that you are selecting the right Waste Type and can safely dispose of everything you need to in one bin, if unsure always call us on 1300 605 624 and we'd be happy to guide you to a correct waste type.

Once you've received your skip bin, it is then important to only fill the bin with the waste type that you've selected.  For example, if you've ordered a 10 cubic meters marell skip bin, which is ideal for General Waste and not a heavy waste and then once you've started filling it, you've decided to add a few cubic meters of soil or concrete there, this bin might be too heavy for us to lift upon pickup.  Hence if you know that you have soil, concrete, bricks or other heavy items to dispose of, we would recommend to order a 10 cubic meters Hook Bin instead, as Hook and Marell Bins are delivered by different type of trucks and Hook Trucks are more powerful, hence it is not a problem to lift a 10 cubic meters bin filled with heavy materials.

Apart from the issue of the weight of the bin, some changes of waste type after you've received a bin might result on additional costs, particularly if you are changing from recyclable waste into some form of a mixed waste.  For example: if you have originally ordered a 6 cubic meters bin for 100% concrete only but then decided to also mix in some soil or other waste, the price for mixed materials will be higher.  Should you find yourself in a situation where you need to change the waste type after you've received a skip bin, we recommend to call us asap, so that we can confirm if the bin you have ordered is indeed suitable for the new waste type and advise you of any extra charges that might be applicable due to change.

Tip 5 - Can I Put Extra Items Into Skip Bin

In additional to the regularl items and waste types, there is a list of items which are either completely prohibited from being placed in the skip bin or allowed but attract separate charges per any such item.  For a complete list of non-allowable materials and a price list of extra items please refer to our Waste Types Page.

Two of the commonly used extra items that customers are trying to dispose of are car tyres and mattresses, both of which are allowed into a skip bin but will attract extra fees.  Therefore you can book any skip bin with a waste type, suitable for your project and should you also need to dispose of a mattress or some tyres, please call our office to process extra fees.  When ordering a skip bin, please ensure you've provided for extra space for your mattress or any other extra items.  Even though they are extra, they need to be packaged correctly into skip bin and not cause the bin to be overfilled.

Statistically, most customers under-estimate the size of the skip bin required, hence if you are sitting on the fence deciding between 4 or 6 cubic meters or 6 to 8 cubic meters bins or 10 to 12 cubic meters, we always recommend to select the larger size as it is much cheaper to order a 6 cubic meters bin compared to 2 separate bins of 4 cubic meters and 2 cubic meters if you run out of space.  The higher you go in bin sizes the more you save per cubic meter, particularly on larger volume of rubbish.  Hence our 31 cubic meters bin is the best value for money per cubic meter compared to any other bin in range.

We hope that the above 5 tips on How To Correctly Fill a Skip Bin will be of assistance and will help you to avoid any unnecessary extra charges or confusion however in addition we encourage you to call us on 1300 605 624 for any questions you might have prior to ordering a skip bin or during the bin hire and we'd be glad to assist with any tips and information.