Wednesday 1 January 2014

Making life easier with a skip

By Geoge Linen


Most people, at some point in their lives, will need to hire a skip. These large, open topped containers can be used either by businesses or by individuals to deposit waste where the quantities are too large for the usual refuse collection services to remove. The skip is normally dropped off by the hire company, left at the customer's disposal for a certain number of days, then picked up again by a purpose built wagon. This should then dispose of the contents in a responsible manner.

Skips are particularly useful if you are planning any sort of home improvement project, such as replacing your roof, putting in new windows or stripping out a central heating system. They can also be used for garden clearances, providing a solution to the question of what to do with awkward garden sheds or greenhouses.

It's important to choose the right size of skip for the purpose. If in doubt, go for the larger size; you don't want the wasted time and expense of leaving a job half-done and having to reorder a second skip. Bear in mind that there is often a fill level on the skip over which you must not go. This prevents the load from becoming unstable in transit.

If there's no possibility of putting the skip on private land, then a permit from your local council will be necessary. Whilst many councils are happy for the skip company to apply on their customer's behalf, some only issue permits to the end user. It is illegal to park a skip on the public highway without a permit, and it's also illegal to park it on the pavement.

There are a number of statutory, as well as local, regulations that you need to be aware of when you park a skip on the public highway. The basic rules are that the skip should not exceed five metres in length by two metres in width, it should be guarded by at least three traffic cones and illuminated at all four corners by night. It should not cover any manholes and the name and telephone number of the hire company should always be clearly visible somewhere on the skip.

There are certain household items that are deemed hazardous and which must not be put into a skip. These include refrigerators, freezers, electrical appliances, tyres, batteries, asbestos, gas bottles, fluorescent light tubes, solvents, fuels, aerosols and medical waste. If you are unsure about anything, contact the skip provider for confirmation.

A good skip hire company should be able to tell you exactly how it intends to process your material and tell you precisely what its recycle rate is. With a normal load, the absolute maximum that should end up in landfill is 20 per cent. The company should hold a valid waste removal licence and, if it processes the waste in its own waste transfer station, an environmental permit.

The final stage of the process sees your waste being separated out into recyclable and non-reusable items. Wood, cardboard, paper, plastics, metals, rubble, soil and glass can all be reprocessed to make new products. Green waste can either be composted or converted into green fuel. Only the bare minimum should actually end up in the ground.




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