Skip Bin Tips to make Cleaning up the Shed easy

I have decided that writing a little expose' on cleaning out the shed would be quite helpful for quite a few people. You see I have received quite a few inquiries about what is needed to clear out a shed? Often these the enquirer asks for a heavy waste skip bin as such manly places can only be filled with heavy things.

The good news is that most sheds only contain materials that would be considered General Light waste skip bin (rather than the Heavy Waste). In my experience most men's sheds do not have the materials that make waste heavy.  It is materials like Bricks, Concrete, bags of cement, sand soil, aggregates etc that makes waste heavy (over 1 tonne {1,000 Kg} per cubic meter).  

General light waste is more like 150 to 200 kg per cubic meter and that is more like the stuff men have in their sheds. They have nails, screws, held in containers, glass jars, plastic boxes, wood, old tools, bicycles, broken furniture, and other items in need of repair, engines, fishing rods and tackle, and other tat etc.

Often sheds can contain some challenging materials to get rid of like:

• Paint
• Chemicals
• Gas bottles or pressurised canisters 
• Tyres

Paint is often far easier to get rid of than expected. Liquid or wet paint should not be placed in skip bins. It is likely to go on the bin or the heavy equipment at the tip. The easy answer is to stir in newspapers and leave the lid off the paint tin so the paint dries and and goes hard. We prefer newspapers to using sand and the resulting block will be lighter.

The best place for chemicals is anywhere but a skip. We suggest you try to find when and how your local council collects unwanted chemicals. Councils often have events throughout the year where householders can drop off their unwanted chemicals.

Check whether Gas bottles or pressurised canisters can be put in a skip. Generally they can not go in the skip as they present a potential hazard.  Often skip bin companies will take these items  separately either with a charge or sometimes even for free.

Car tyres or tyres from larger vehicles are a pain. They do not compress when placed in a tip. They create voids that can fill with liquid or gases which is a problem for the stability of the tip. They need to be separated and there is usually an additional charge to get rid of them. The best way to get rid of them is to take them to your local tyre garage where they are regularly collected from at the least possible price.

So if you are helping organise a skip hire to clean up your husbands's shed remember it is likely to only contain general light waste unless he was a brick layer, tiler, concreter, stonemason, geologist or lapaidrist (these last two being people who are interested in collecting, studying or working with rocks).  As for the size of the skip bin, well for a spring clean a 2 or 3m skip bin is likely to be enough.   
If however it is a serious clean-up you may need a 4 or a 6 cubic meter skip bin. Especially if the owner of the shed has been collecting odd-cutoffs and other useful materials for years!