Skip (container)

A skip on skip-carrier lorry

A full skip

A rubbish skip, also skip or waste bin, is a large open-topped waste container designed for loading onto a special type of lorry. Instead of being emptied into a garbage truck on site as a dumpster is, a skip is replaced by an empty skip (or no skip at all) and then tipped at a landfill site or transfer station. In the UK Richard Biffa is widely credited with the introduction of the skip in the 1960s.

Uses

Skips are commonly used to hold open topped loads of construction and demolition waste or other waste types. The construction debris originates from a building site where something is being built, renovated or demolished. Skips are also used for various cleaning-out jobs that need much material to be taken away, and at factories producing large quantities of scrap metal. The material in the skip may be taken to a landfill, recycled or recovered/disposed of in some other way.

One end of the skip sometimes has a large door that hinges down to allow manual loading and unloading. Skips are usually durable and tough, made to withstand rough use by tradesmen and labourers. The size of a skip bin can vary from 4.5 cubic metres (160 cu ft) to 18 cubic metres (640 cu ft), and can hold up to 10 tonnes (10,000 kg) worth of waste.

Skips are picked up, carried and deposited by a special skip carrying lorry or crane.

Building supplies can be delivered to a site in a skip, which is later used to carry the site's waste away.

A typical small skip, when empty, weighs about 250 kilograms (550 lb).

In parts of the developing world, where health and safety laws are quite lax, an empty skip hoisted up high by a crane is used as an emergency platform for rescue workers to work from.^{[citation needed]}