Skip bins are an efficient and affordable way of recycling construction or demolition material from your home building site, but often, there is not enough room on the property to place one. Most local councils in Australia will allow builders to place skip bins on a road or nature strip upon application, but under some circumstances, a permit application may be refused. If your local council has denied your application for a skip bin permit, take a look at these alternative ways of recycling your unwanted construction material.
Transporting material yourself
Check if your local tip or waste transfer station will accept building waste. If the volume of construction or demolition material you wish to recycle is small, and you have access to a trailer, it may be economical to simply transport the waste to your local tip yourself. Contact your local council for an estimate of the cost, as you may be subject to a waste levy imposed by the state government—in NSW, for example, this levy is set at over $100 per tonne.
Skip trailers
Mobile skip trailers are similar in shape to a traditional skip bin, except that they are mounted on wheels and are designed to be parked on the road. Skip trailers are registered vehicles, so they do not require a council permit to be parked on a roadway. However, as parking on a nature strip is illegal in most states, they cannot be placed on verges.
Waste removal services
Waste removal services will load, haul and dispose of most types of construction and demolition waste. Generally, a builder or homeowner will need to place the material they wish to dispose of in one accessible location (that is, not scattered around the site), and the removal service will handle the rest. One advantage of using a waste removal service is that no bin or other container needs to be located on the worksite for the duration of the project; generally, the contractors will simply load the waste directly into the truck. When getting a quote, be sure to check that the contractor offers a recycling service—while the vast majority of construction waste in Australia is recycled, some demolition material still ends up in landfill, with harmful effects on the environment.
While it may be inconvenient to have your skip bin permit denied by your local council, there are still many ways to dispose of unwanted construction and demolition material. Having your permit application refused does not mean you have to send your waste to landfill!
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