Guide to Skip Bin Permits & Placement

Hiring a skip bin is a great way to manage waste removal, prevent mess, and reduce cleanup time during a home or business project. At Jim’s Skip Bins, we provide full-service waste management solutions, with various bin sizes to suit most projects. Choosing the right skip bin for your needs is important, and there are a couple more important factors to ensure it doesn’t become a different type of headache. 

Understanding the skip bin placement and permit needs in your area is essential to a stress-free skip bin rental experience. Violating skip bin permit requirements or placing it in the wrong location can get you into trouble with your local council, and potentially law enforcement. That’s why we’ve created this simple guide to help you navigate the skip bin placement and permit process.

Skip Bin Placement 

When it comes to the optimal location for your skip bin, there are just four things you need to keep in mind: hazards, access, damage, and permits.

Hazards 

Before deciding on the location for your skip, ensure that there are no clear hazards around that could cause problems when trying to access it. Potential hazards include overhead tree branches, powerlines, intersections, pedestrian walkways, or neighbouring properties. If any of these hazards are likely to obstruct your access to the skip, keep looking for a more appropriate spot!

Access 

There are two important elements of skip access that you need to consider before your skip is placed: the truck’s accessibility to the site and your accessibility to the skip. If the truck can’t drop the skip off in your chosen location then it will never get there. If you can’t access the spot, it’ll never get filled. So make sure you consider these when deciding on the best place to put your skin bin.

Damage 

You don’t want your skip bin to destroy your garden or property, so make sure you consider how to minimise the chances of any incidental damage that could occur. We recommend placing the skip on top of some wooden planks to reduce the damage to your garden when filling and moving the skip. This is especially important if you’ll be placing it on the street or other council property, as damage to these areas could lead to a more serious issue.

Permits 

The final element to consider when placing your skip is whether you have the legal permission to do so. Generally speaking, you can place a skip on private property without a permit, but will require a permit from the local council to place it on public property. Continue to the next section for more information on that.

Skip Bin Permit 

Working out if you need a skip bin permit can be confusing, so our best advice is to contact your local council, as the requirements often vary between states and suburbs. In some cases, your skip bin provider may be able to handle the permit application, but in others, the responsibility will fall to you.

We recommend using this guide as a helpful starting point, but it’s your local council who can verify the requirements to ensure that you are not violating any regulations.

New South Wales 

With skip bin hire in New South Wales and Sydney, you can put a skip bin on your private property without the need of a permit from your local council. However, if you wish to place the skip on a public piece of land, such as the street or a nature strip, then you will need to apply for a permit in order to do so legally. In NSW, it is recommended that you speak with your skip bin operator, as some areas of the state allow them to purchase an annual permit that negates the need for the customer to purchase one.

Victoria 

Skip bins in Victoria and Melbourne are generally permitted to be placed on private property without the need of a permit. However, some councils will require the skip bin operator to have a licence or permit to operate in that municipality. Knowing this, you should check with your operator that they are permitted to work in your council. If you wish to place the bin on public land, you will need to apply for permission from your council.

Queensland 

If you’re getting skip bins in Brisbane and around Queensland you can place bins on their private property without the permission of their local council. If they wish to place a bin on public property, things get more complicated. Some municipalities will allow you to do so if you have applied for a permit from the council, while others strictly prohibit the placement of skips on public land. Ensure that you check with your skip bin operator in QLD before you try to place a skip on public land.

Western Australia 

For skip bins in Western Australia, and specifically in Perth, you will generally require a permit from the local council if you wish to place a skip bin on private or public land.

Tasmania 

Customers can hire and place skip bins in Hobart or Tasmania on their private property without a permit from the local council. Some councils require a permit for the skip bin to be placed on public property, and some prohibit it entirely.

Northern Territory 

For skip bins in Darwin and the Northern Territory, councils normally allow residents to place a bin on private property without applying for a permit. A permit is almost always required if the skip is to be located on public land.

Australian Capital Territory 

You must apply for a permit if you plan to place a skip bin in the ACT, whether on public property or land, including Canberra. For private property, you ordinarily won’t need to apply for a permit, however, it’s highly recommended that you check with your skip bin operator about permit requirements before booking.

South Australia

When you hire a skip bin in Adelaide or South Australia, you do not need a permit to place it on private property. We still suggest that you should check with your local council or skip bin provider about any special conditions on this. If you plan on placing the skip bin on public land, a permit will be required, and the regulations for these vary by council.

Get in touch 

If you’re unsure about anything covered in this guide, or you would like to speak with a skip specialist about our range of options, get in touch with us today. Alternatively, you can request a free quote 24/7 with our online “request a quote” tool.

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Choosing the right size skip bin

When it comes to hiring a skip bin, the biggest decision you will have to make is between skip bin sizes. Choosing a skip bin might sound relatively straightforward. However, the type of skip you choose will have a big effect on your project. It will impact the amount of space available for waste disposal, the type of access you have to your bin, how often you need to have your skip bin emptied and ultimately – cost.

The trick to choosing the right skip bin is to have a good understanding of your needs and the skip bin hire options available to you. In order to simplify that process, we’ve created this short guide to help you choose the right bin for your next project.

What will your skip bin be used for?

Are you landscaping in your backyard? Renovating an office space? Disposing of green waste or contaminated soil?

Knowing what the project is for helps to narrow down the range of skip bins. So before you contact our friendly customer service team to get a free quote for your next skip bin hire, make sure you know exactly what it will be used for. This assists in determining which size skip would be optimal. It also helps to choose the most appropriate type of bin for the waste you will be dealing with and the type of access you will require.

Outdoor gardening projects, for example, would generally require a skip bin with wheelbarrow ramp access. This style would enable you to easily wheel your green waste from your garden into the bin. Office renovations on the other hand, work best with walk-in skip bins as they allow you to make the most of the available space and cut down on the frequency of skip pickups.

Where will you put your skip bin?

Where your bin will be located is just as important to know when determining the type of bin you will require for your next project. The right size for your skip is not just the one with the right capacity for your needs, but also the one that can fit on the site of your project. When considering where you will put your skip bin, there are a number of factors that you should consider. The first is whether the skip bin can fit in the location you need it. There’s no point in choosing the largest size for your bin if your site has insufficient space.

The second consideration is whether the truck that carries the skip can access the site. At a minimum the truck will need to be able to drop off and pick up the skip, so don’t forget truck access in your calculations. You will also need to consider the type of terrain the bin is on. The larger size skips can hold an immense amount of weight. So ensure that the location of your skip can withstand the necessary weight without problems. The final consideration is the type of access your chosen skip provides. If you choose a walk-in skip or one with wheelbarrow ramps, make sure the location provides the necessary space to easily access your bin.

How big is your project?

The size of your project will ultimately determine the skip bin size that you require. Understanding the approximate duration and scope of the project you are undertaking will help you to choose the right skip bin for your needs. A home renovation of a single room will obviously create less waste and require less cubic metres in the skip than a renovation of an entire home. Similarly, an office renovation can vary dramatically in scope depending on the number of offices and square footage being renovated. All of this information is worth noting down so that you can convey to our team of experts exactly how big your project is likely to be.

Once you’ve noted down an approximation of the amount of time, space, people and waste involved in your upcoming project, it’s time to estimate the cubic metres you will require in your skip bin. Using the cubic metre as a metric for gauging volume can be tricky to visualise. So instead we recommend using “the Wheelie Bin approach.”

Estimating the size of a skip bin – how many Wheelie Bins?

If you can perfectly visualise what a cubic metre looks like and how much waste you can fit in it, then we would love for you to fill out an application to join the Jim’s Skip Bins team.

For everyone else, we have a simpler method for estimating the size of a skip bin. The Wheelie Bin approach is effective because everyone can picture the dimensions of general household wheelie bins. With the height and width of a wheelie bin in your mind you can easily translate it into cubic metres by multiplying it by four. Four standard wheelie bins fit neatly into one cubic metre. This means that the smallest skip bin of two cubic metres is roughly equivalent to eight household wheelie bins.

What can I put in my skip?

There are different types of skips for different types of waste. Below we have provided a rough guide for the type of waste you can put in each skip. For more information, or to confirm the type of skip that’s right for your next project, get in touch with our team today.

  • General Waste bins: Most general household waste. Boxes, wood, cabinets, white goods, clothes, toys, carpet etc.
  • Builders / Renovation bins: Waste from household clean-ups & renovations including bricks, concrete & general waste.
  • Dirt bins: Exclusively dirt, soil & sand.
  • Brick and Concrete bins: Only bricks and concrete are allowed.
  • Green Waste: Organic waste such as grass clippings, branches, wood-chips and bark, wood, fence palings.

What if I choose the wrong size skip bin?

With skip bin sizes ranging from two cubic metres to ten cubic metres, there is no shortage of options when it comes to hiring a skip bin. This guide has outlined some of the important questions to answer when determining the right skip for your needs. However, with so many choices it can still be a tricky process. Our team of friendly experts are happy to talk you through the process, provide free quotes and help you choose the best skip for your budget and project specifications. If you still find that you have chosen the wrong size for your skip bin, then there is nothing to worry about. Give us a call and we can pick up your bin and replace it with the right size so that your project doesn’t get held up by the wrong bin.

To help your next project go smoothly, get in touch with our team today to start organising the right skip bin for the job.

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