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[cherokee]

Having recently hired a skip, I am now curious as to what happens to the contents ? Is it all put directly to landfill or is it actually sorted out into what can be re-cycled first?

[Shaggy]

Well it depends really. I know when i drove the skip wagon for a company down south it was always taken back to base and a bunch of lads sorted through it all but up here its just taken to landfill unless its purely of the following nature:-
building rubble - can be graded for hardcore
timber - recycled locally (also theres a part at the tip for wood)
cardboard - either sent to the tip or taken out to Speedy's if theres a contract
metal - Speedy's or O'Brians as they are the local registered dealers
plasterboard and insulation is a nightmare. needs special disposal and that has to be done by a company in Dornoch i think (or somewhere round there)
If its mixed at all then its all off to the tip and of note is that none of the skip companies will take white goods (cookers/washing machines etc)

It's actually in your own interest to take heavy stuff to the local recycling point as when it comes to landfill charges, you will get a shock!
Theres the skip hire and removal cost, then when its gone to the council tip, not only do Highland Council charge you per tonne, they charge you the same amount again as landfill tax then they stick VAT on top of it all. Talk about a double whammy! On average a tonne will cost you around £150 to get rid of

[cherokee]

Thanks Shaggy for that information, much appreciated.

[focusRS]

Put it here in Castletown before you send it away so we can all have a good rake in it please.

[Shaggy]

that will make a change from filling it like the last one i dropped in Castletown. The hirer phoned the following day asking for a replacement as the first was full.......of everyone else's rubbish :-)

[billmoseley]

I like Shaggy used to be involved in the skip business for a while in Bradford i was in charge of a transfer station. You would not believe what you came across in skips. almost new kitchens and all appliances just cos the colour wasn't right. you name it i think i must have seen it.

[Shaggy]

Body parts and a bag of money were a few things found in the transfer dump i worked at in Liverpool for a while but worst thing was the skip from a local primary school that was getting work done. They had a nursery next to it and the mothers were throwing the crappy nappies into the skip and when it was sorted through at the transfer dump, the lads thought it was just plastic rubbish so shovelled it into the plastics baler......was fun when the pressure forced the brown stuff out of the side of the baler and sprayed them :-)