Skip Hire Edinburgh
Skip Hire
Kindly provided by www.topskips.com
Secret Number 1: "How can I tell which skip companies in the Yellow Pages are the good ones?"
Unless you personally know the company, you can't. Any fool with a wagon and a skip can get an advert designed and printed to entice you to call them, but mainly it's a lottery not just in terms of prices and service, but also in terms of what actually happens to your waste - something that depressingly few of us actually think, or even care about.
Skip companies are not actually regulated at the time of writing. The good ones operate their own licensed waste transfer stations (regulated by the Environment Agency) and are members of the Institute of Wastes Management (a professional body that promotes education and raising standards in waste management).
The bad ones are just cowboys that often fly-tip your waste and therefore add to your council tax bill - 'cos the councils are the ones who have to clean it up!
Did you know? "Every 35 seconds, somebody, somewhere is fly-tipping in the UK"
You don't have to be a tree-hugger to be depressed about this fact.
This figure is so high because so many people opt for the cheapest skip hire or "man with van" they can find. Because these cowboys cannot afford to dispose of the waste properly, it ends up costing all of us more money.
Secret Number 2: "Why do skips cost so much money?"
Think about the overheads involved:
Skip Wagon: £35,000+
Skips: £500/each for standard builderSkip
Vehicle Insurance: £2000/year per vehicle
Public Liability: £1250/year per vehicle
Employer's Liability: £1250/year per vehicle
Skip Wagon driver: £25,000/year
Fuel: £20,000/year
Office staff: £18,000/year per member of staff
Landfill taxes: £18/ton increasing by £3 every year until 2010 where it will stand at £35/ton
Recycling costs: Cost of buying shredders, trommels, weighbridges, picking stations etc - £millions
Soon adds up doesn't it?
Add into this the cost of cowboys stealing proper companies skips (it does happen), plus the costs of being a licensed carrier and having a licensed waste transfer station - £££s!!
Getting rid of waste is not a cheap business (unless you do it illegally), but it has to go somewhere!
Secret Number 3: "Why isn't my skip dropped off and picked up when I ask for it?"
This isn't always the skip company's fault - too many people don't understand that hiring a skip is not like calling a taxi.
Just think about what goes into the average skip lorry driver's day - it's heavy haulage we're talking about here, and lots of things can go wrong on a pick-up or drop off that will slow down the whole day's schedule, such as a customer putting toxic waste in a skip, overfilling it, or the driver being given incorrect drop off details by a customer. We actually publish a national trade magazine for the industry called "The Skip" - You might have seen it in 2005 on BBC1's "Have I Got News For You" - and through this magazine we are pushing for more s...