Skip / dumpster

Frequently asked questions

Are skip sizes and dumpster sizes comparable?

Only through their volume, and even that is quoted differently. British skips are commonly described by a nominal capacity in cubic yards and by familiar names — a builder's skip, a midi, a maxi — while American containers are quoted in cubic yards as roll-off sizes and Australian skip bins in cubic metres. Converting between them is arithmetic, but the comparison is still not like for like, because what limits a container in practice is usually WEIGHT rather than volume: heavy waste such as soil, rubble or plaster reaches the permitted load long before the container is full, which is why suppliers restrict those materials to smaller containers or to separate hires.

Why does mixing waste cost more than separating it?

Because a mixed container has to be sorted after collection, and the sorting is priced into the hire. Where the waste stream is separated on site — clean rubble in one, timber in another, plasterboard kept out of both — each stream has a lower disposal cost and some carry a recovery value, while a single mixed container is charged at the rate for whatever is hardest to deal with in it. Plasterboard is the usual reason a rate jumps, because gypsum is restricted from mixing with biodegradable waste in several jurisdictions and is handled separately. The trade-off is space and discipline on site against the disposal rate, which is why it is decided at planning rather than at the skip.

What is the difference between a skip and a roll-off?

How it is loaded onto the lorry, which sets the practical size range. A skip is lifted by chains onto a tipper-style vehicle and is the smaller family, with the familiar sloped-end shape. A roll-off — the large rectangular container common on North American sites — is winched or hooked onto a flat bed and rolled off again, which allows a much longer and larger container than chain lifting can manage. The consequence for anyone comparing quotes across markets is that the size ranges overlap only partly: the biggest skips are around the smallest roll-offs, and the container sizes above that have no skip equivalent at all.