How to Avoid Overfilling a Skip

The rule is one line: nothing above the top rail. A skip filled level can be sheeted and driven away. A skip heaped above the rail cannot, and if we arrive to one, we cannot lift it until the excess comes off.

This is not us being difficult. An unsheeted load is not legal on the road, and material falling off a skip lorry is exactly the accident the rule exists to prevent.

What happens if it is over

Nothing dramatic, but nothing good either. The driver cannot take it. You take material off until it is level, which usually means doing it there and then while the lorry waits, or rebooking the collection for another day. Either way the job stops.

The frustrating part is that it is nearly always avoidable, and usually caused by loading order rather than by genuinely having too much.

Loading it properly

Most people fill a skip badly, and get maybe two thirds of what they could into it. The difference comes down to a few things:

• Flat and heavy first. Rubble, tile and broken concrete go on the bottom, spread across the whole floor rather than tipped in one corner. This gives you a level base to build on and keeps the weight distributed.
• Break things down. A wardrobe or kitchen carcass put in whole traps an enormous volume of air. Taken apart, the same item takes a fraction of the room. This is the single biggest saving available.
• Fill the gaps. Bags of light waste pushed into the voids between bulky items convert dead space into used space.
• Bulky and light last. Save the awkward items for the top where you can see what you are working with.

Weight matters as much as height

Overfilling is not only about height. Fill a large skip with soil or rubble and you can be over the weight a lorry is permitted to lift while the skip still looks half empty. It cannot be collected in that state either.

This is why we put heavy waste in 6 yard skips rather than larger ones. It is not upselling in reverse; a bigger skip you are only allowed to part-fill is money wasted. Our size guide goes into the reasoning.

If you have misjudged it

It happens, and it is fixable if you tell us early. Options are an exchange, where we swap the full skip for an empty one, or a second smaller skip alongside. Both are cheaper than a failed collection and a rebooking.

Ring 01302 490 249 as soon as you can see it is going to be tight rather than waiting for collection day.

The simple version

Load heavy and flat first, break everything down, keep it level with the rail. If you are choosing between two sizes, take the bigger one. Nobody has ever regretted having a bit of headroom.