The load line

Skip bins, hired and loaded well

A skip fills from the bottom up, and so does a good hire. This guide follows the load in six bands, from where the bin will stand to what is charged on it at the tip, each drawn from the official pages of councils, regulators and the ACCC.

Published by Dotto from the official sources listed at the foot of each page. General information, not legal advice. Rules differ between states and councils, so each band says whose rule it is.

A skip drawn side-on, its load in six bands A steel skip seen from the side, wider at the rim than at the base. Its load is drawn as six horizontal bands numbered 1 at the bottom to 6 at the top, under a line at the rim labelled load line. Yellow reflective marks sit in the two top corners. LOAD LINE 123456
Band 1 goes in first and sits at the bottom. The yellow marks in the top corners are the reflective tape the City of Melbourne asks for on a skip standing in a public place under its permit.

The load, band by band

  2. Loading a bin safely

    What safety regulators say about lifting and carrying.

  3. Household chemicals and drop-off programs

    What leaves the load first, and the programs that take it.

  4. Prices, quotes and hire terms

    The total price, surcharges, and terms that may be unfair.

  5. Your rights when you hire a bin

    The consumer guarantees that come with the hire.

  6. Before the bin arrives

    Where it can stand, and what to ask the hirer first.

The line at the top

The battered blue-grey rim of an old orange steel skip, its paint chipped and rusting.
The rim of a steel skip. Photo by jillrose999 on Pixabay

The City of Melbourne puts a condition on the shape of a skip standing in a public place under its permit: whatever is loaded into it must not change the skip’s outside shape or size. The same conditions ask that the road is kept free of debris and spillage.

Those are Melbourne’s conditions, not a national rule. They still draw the line this guide is named for: a load that stays inside the skip’s own shape, with nothing in it that should have gone somewhere else.

Three rules, and whose each one is

  1. National: the guarantees come with the hire. Under the Australian Consumer Law, consumers receive the consumer guarantees automatically, and nothing a business says or does can take them away. Band 2 sets them out for a hire.
  2. National: the price shown is the total price. The ACCC says: “Businesses must display a total price that includes taxes, duties and all unavoidable or pre-selected extra fees.” Band 3 covers prices and terms.
  3. ACT: the nature strip is public land. In Canberra the nature strip is publicly owned, not part of the home beside it, and the ACT Government says you need approval to store a skip or bin on one. Band 1 covers where the bin can stand.

What comes out before anything goes in

Some things leave the load before the first barrow. Brisbane City Council warns that hazardous waste put in the wrong place can start fires in bins and collection trucks, which can endanger truck drivers, the community and the environment. The Queensland Government adds that batteries crushed or punctured in waste trucks or at recycling facilities can catch fire, give off toxic gases and cause acid burns.

States and councils run drop-off programs for these things. Band 4 goes through them, place by place, and band 5 turns to the loading itself.

Sizes and prices

This guide does not size a skip or quote a price for one. Both come from the hire business. The ACCC’s rules on displayed prices ask for one total figure, with any extras the business has pre-selected for you already counted in it. Band 6 explains the waste levy and tip charges in four states and territories.

A skip hire business can tell you which bin suits the job, when it can arrive and how it will be placed, and your council can tell you whether the spot you have in mind needs its approval. Band 1 lists the questions worth asking before the bin arrives.