Our handy list of tricks on how to fill your skip bins efficiently to save you time, space and cash!

  • Break down your bigger rubbish items – to make them lie as flat as possible. This will make fitting them in the skip a lot easier and save you a bit of hassle. If you are short on time on the day of the disposal, plan to collapse all of your appropriate larger items before the skip is delivered to your property so it’s all ready to go straight in the bin!
  • Take apart broken or old furniture (or consider donating it, instead.) – Any furniture pieces for disposal should be dismantled to fit in the hire skip bins and take up less space. Do this with the right tools if required, or some flimsier pieces may just be able to be broken apart by hand. If your homeware is still in pretty good condition, consider donating those pieces instead to someone who can give them a second life!
  • Make a flexible plan about how to fill the skip bin and what with. – Make a list of everything that needs to be thrown out so that you don’t forget anything that needs to go into our skip bins! You should, if possible, start by filling the bin with the lighter items of rubbish at the bottom of the skip like polystyrene, paper, cardboard and leave heavier things until last. This prevents light items from falling or sliding out of the skip onto the road in transit. Think of filling your hired skip bin hire as a giant game of Tetris or a puzzle. Carefully putting items that fit together into the skip together will maximise your skip bin space. The last thing you want to do is to haphazardly stuff the designated skip bin with any old items that will quickly build up a pile with lots of air pockets that could have otherwise been filled.
  • Avoiding air pockets. You want to wisely use the space in the skip bin as much as possible. Don’t waste paid space by not filling it or creating air pockets by mismatched items filling an odd space (this happens a lot with fast or random filling). Filling the bins with hollow objects (bins, buckets, etc.) will negate some space, so as per the previous planning tip, make sure you break down hollow items or fill them up before you toss them in the skip bins! Consider putting awkward items next to the bin as you’re filling it so you can utilise the right space as it appears for those items without forgetting about them.
  • Try not to throw anything recyclable in the skip bins! – Recyclable items can be disposed of by your Hillcrest council in your green bins for free, so don’t waste valuable space in your skip bins for them! Any items made of glass, paper, cardboard and plastic can all be recycled, so depending on their size, consider putting them in your free collected recycling instead.
  • Never overfill your skip bin. – Overfilling skip bins is a dangerous practice, not just for the team picking it up and transporting it, but for you and everyone on the road between your Hillcrest location and the dump. Loose items near the top can become dislodged and fall out onto the road or onto our team, so we charge a fee for overfilled skip bins in Hillcrest. In extreme cases of overfilling, we will need to offload items that have been piled on top of an overfilled skip before removing the skip from the site. You will need to arrange a second skip to remove those leftover items. We can not take a skip that is dangerously filled under any circumstances.
  • Pack your loose items lower in the skip — Smaller and lighter items placed at the top of the bin risk spilling out during transit to the landfill. If you have last-minute additions (and we get that it happens often), be careful that you stuff any smaller items that are just balancing on the top to lower areas so that they don’t become dislodged during the drive. Be careful with your skip packing, make a plan, and avoid frivolous additions to avoid an overfill charge from our collection team.
  • Extra items that won’t fit. – If you have any extra or oversized items that are too big for the skip bin, get in touch with our team to discuss a new skip bin for extra bits and bobs that need to go or if they are able to take the oversized items. If your skip bin is already filled to capacity, you will need to let the ASAPSKIPBINS team know if you need extra bits removed before they turn up to collect the agreed-upon skip bin. They can not take individual pieces without pre-planning of a second skip.