- Date: 30 January 2025
- Category: Small Business Guidance
You may think that filling a skip is a simple process, mainly consisting of throwing everything in until you’re finished, or the skip gets full. If you think this, you would be wrong. There is a right and wrong way to load up a skip that many people don’t know about. Especially if you’re more interested in disposing of the waste, not knowing about the waste. That’s what Direct365 are here for. In our latest blog, we’ll explain the best way to fill a skip to ensure you’re making the most out of the space you have, and to make sure you aren’t at risk of getting fees for over-filling your skip. Welcome to Direct365’s guide to filling a skip.
Things to Think About When Filling a Skip
Filling a skip seems easy, and it doesn’t have to be hard as such. But there are ways to fill a skip that ensure you’re utilising the space correctly and able to fit everything in that you need. Here’s some of the thing to think about when filling a skip.
Flat Items First
This is the best start you can get to filling a skip. The reason for putting flat items in the skip first, along the bottom of the skip, is to give everything else a steady, flat base. Putting these flat items first, as opposed to throwing them on an uneven surface later, means you get to utilise the space better and can fit more in the skip.
Layer Your Items
By layering your items, mixing between large, heavier items and smaller waste items, you can ensure you’re filling all of the gaps being created. It can sometimes be difficult to do, and does require some planning on your part, but it should save you money if you pack it correctly.
Ensure Even Distribution of Weight
This is an important part of using a skip. Distributing the weight evenly makes the entire skip safer for both those using it, and those moving it. When your skip hire company come to collect the skip and dispose of the weight, it’s important the heavier items aren’t at one side of the other. That would make it unsafe to transport. Even when you’re loading up the skip, having heavy items at one end or near an edge can make the skip tip up on its end, causing damage and possible injury.
Don’t Overfill the Skip
This partly comes back to the above point about weight and safety. Overfilling a skip is likely to make it uneven when transporting, and unsteady when adding to the already full skip. Someone could walk past and, unknowingly, be on the other end of a fallen weight from the skip. This is highly dangerous.
Another reason is that overfilling a skip can cause extra charges, and in some instances waste carriers will reject the skip and require an additional skip for the excess weight. This becomes a waste of your time and an extra expense on top of everything else. So ensure you’re thinking about this when ordering your skip in the first place, and when you’re loading your skip close to maximum height and potential weight. We’ve explained a few things about how to fill a skip, but this is one of the most important.
Where Can You Hire Skips in the UK?
Direct365 offer skip hire nationwide, having serviced thousands of customers over a 20-year period. We use reputable ski hire companies, checking the cost and availability of multiple options to ensure you get exactly what you need.
Not only do we offer skip hire, but we manage a wide range of waste management options for small and medium-sized businesses all across the country. For more information about out 5* service, call us today on the number below.