A Guide to Skip Bags

What is a Skip Bag?

A Skip Bag is a convenient, cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing alternative to hiring a skip. Instead of having a skip taking up a significant amount of space on your driveway, Skip Bags are a poly woven bag which will arrive via the post and can be stored away until the moment you need to use it.
Skip Bags are flat-packed, folded or rolled, depending on the size ordered and can be filled in much the same way as a skip. Our sturdy Skip Bags are suitable for garden waste such as bricks, soil and rubble, bulky waste such as furniture or large electrical items, or small amounts of construction waste. In each instance, it’s essential that you plan what waste is going into the Skip Bag as there are weight limitations and collection implications.

Planning your Skip Bag

First of all, it’s best to decide which items you are going to fill the Skip Bag with as this might eventually make the difference between purchasing one or multiple bags.

Many electrical items could still be of interest to other people and can be easily passed on, or even sold via websites like Gumtree or Facebook. Some pieces of furniture can also be donated to local charities as long as they are still in a resellable condition with fire safety labels attached where applicable. For a range of collecting charity shops near you, simply choose your location from this list.

Once you’re decided which items you’re able to donate and which you will be placing in the Skip Bag, then it’s time to start thinking about which size bag you’ll need.

Options

When thinking about sizes, we would advise that you overestimate. It’s better to have a bigger Skip Bag and not need it than to need a bigger Skip Bag and not have it.

As a guide, using the size of a domestic washing machine is a good way to estimate how much volume of waste a Skip Bag can hold.

A small Skip Bag, for example, will store approximately 2 washing machines worth of waste. A medium Skip Bag will hold around 3 washing machine-sized amounts of waste, whilst a large Skip Bag will take waste the size of 9 washing machines.

Things to think about

If you’re planning on getting rid of any plasterboard, then it will need to be collected in its own dedicated Skip Bag. Plasterboard can putrefy and generate hazardous amounts of hydrogen sulphide if it becomes wet or mixed with any other waste.

White goods such as washing machines and dishwashers need to be moved in a dedicated WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Skip Bag and must be collected by our ‘man and van’ service, as opposed to an HGV.

Our small and medium Skip Bags are suitable for heavy waste streams such as bricks, rubble and soil but this will need to be identified at the point of ordering. This will ensure that we can successfully and safely remove the waste.

Buying Your Skip Bag

In contrast to hiring a skip, there is less emphasis needed on planning the arrival of your Skip Bag. The minimal space taken up by an unpacked Skip Bag means that you can be more leisurely with your approach to your clearance project.

With Clearabee, your Skip Bag can either be bought outright on its own, or alongside a collection. In the case of the latter, you will have a 6 month period in which to organise your collection date before the order expires. In either case, simply select your Skip Bag size, and purchase it online or over the telephone from a member of our office team. This is also the opportunity to discuss the planned contents of your Skip Bag to reduce the chances of additional charges being applied at a later date.

In most instances, your Clearabee Skip Bag can be delivered during the very next day and then filled at your convenience.

Filling your Skip Bag

Before filling your Skip Bag, you should make sure that your bag is positioned within 4 metres and within clear sight of the road: a filled Skip Big will likely be impossible to move once it’s been filled. There must also be unrestricted access to the bag as an HGV with a crane and hoist may be utilised when collecting it.

If the Skip Bag is positioned further than 4 metres distance from the road, or is deemed excessively heavy for the bag in question, then an additional handballing charge might be applicable. However, this charge is easily avoidable if our office staff have a clear understanding of what waste items are being removed before we come to collect.

The nature of the waste might make a significant difference to the collection. Skip Bags filled with large, bulky items could be collected by our Man and Van waste removal service, and could be collected from a distance of more than 4 metres from the road without incurring a charge.

Collection of your Skip Bag

Once your Clearabee Skip Bag has been filled, if you purchased both a bag and a collection, then you can either email us or book your collection via your online account. Alternatively, you can simply get in touch with our office team directly and they will assist you in booking your named-day collection.

These collections operate from Monday to Friday and can be done without you being present at your property, although you do need to be contactable by phone at all times of the day of your collection.

In order for the collection to go smoothly, a clear understanding of the waste which is being collected is needed by our office team, and before and after photographs of the collection are taken as a matter of course. If it is deemed to be more environmentally friendly and efficient, your collection may be removed by one of our rapid reaction man and van teams as opposed to an HGV. These collections may also be available on the same day, depending on the location of the collection and the availability of our teams.

All of the waste we collect is transferred to a local commercial recycling facility where, on average, over 95% of the waste collected is diverted from landfill. We also provide customers with a digital Waste Transfer Note which will be emailed along with a receipt upon job completion. We store a copy of these documents for you, should you need to request a copy in the future.

If you still have any questions about your Clearabee skip bag, then have a look at our handy FAQ guide or get in touch with us directly.
Clearabee is the UK’s largest clearance company. We operate over 120 vehicles with almost 300 staff all over the country. We are the most reviewed company on Trustpilot and have featured in The Telegraph and The Sunday Times Fast Track.

We have a range of other services which include commercial skips, Man & Van collections and more.

Skip Bag service highlights