Can You Recycle Skip Waste?

With environmental issues increasingly come to the fore, the subject of recycling waste has become equally prominent for businesses and homeowners throughout the world. Knowing what can be recycled or reused isn't always obvious though, so there is often confusion about getting rid of waste. This is particularly true when it comes to the large volumes thrown away when hiring a skip.

There are a fair few things that, with all the will in the world, just can't be recycled. Then there are others that require specialist processes. Being able to differentiate isn't always easy, particularly if you don't deal with waste regularly.

In the most part skip hire companies will treat all contents as general waste. Therefore the rubbish you throw away will be handled in much the same way as your everyday waste is. This means that any recyclable products thrown in to the skip could just end up in a waste dump.

Whilst you don't want to be spending hours sifting through and dividing everything up, particularly if working on a big job on a tight schedule, it is certainly recommended that you do so. Whilst the skip hire company might do it for you (at a cost) when they process the waste, just taking a little time to do it while you work is a far simpler solution.

Find Out What Can Be Recycled

When hiring your skip, make sure you talk to the company and enquire about their recycling services. Often you can get specialist bags or even a secondary recycling skip to deal with products that can be disposed of in an alternative manner. Whilst there will be a charge for this, at least you'll be able to ensure that you aren't creating undue waste as a consequence of work. Just a little waste recycling management can go a long way.

There are some items that a skip hire won't take. These include a variety of hazardous materials and appliance. For example in the UK there is the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive. To adhere to this you need to ensure that any electrical items are properly recycled at a dedicated centre. Therefore you wouldn't be permitted to simply toss it in a skip.

So it is important to be mindful of what work you're doing, what you're likely to be throwing out and ensure that you have taken steps to deal with it all accordingly.

Avoid Unnecessary Additional Charges

Often a skip hire company will include additional fees if they have to separate out products when retrieving your waste. Again, this might be because they have a recycling policy or it could be triggered by finding products that they stipulate that they won't take - i.e. asbestos, solvents or tyres. Therefore it can be far more beneficial, in both a financial and environmental sense, to make sure you separate these items from the outset .

Quite often recycling is seen as an unnecessary hassle. Invariably throwing everything into one bin is always far easier, but when you get to know what can and can't be reused you can quickly separate the two. When you're generating high volumes of waste as a consequence of extensive building, garden work out or a clearance, you have to do what you can to reduce the impact that you are having.

Find Companies Equipped to Deal with Your Waste Recycling

There are a variety of specialist recycling companies and waste disposal centres who are able to handle your site's rubbish, as long as you separate all materials properly. For example you can recycle timber, glass and even rubble. Whilst it might just be rubbish to you, if you're going to be consigning it to a skip, you might as well take a little extra time to get rid of it responsibly.

So you might well be surprised at just how much you can recycle, even to the extent where you might not even need a general waste skip at all. If you're dealing primarily with one sort of waste, you can easily find out whether it is recyclable either through the waste management company you're dealing with or any one of the many online help sites. If it can be recycled, make sure that you take the necessary steps to do so.

A little extra research and a bit of work separating the various materials will help you to do your part for the environment and should ensure you don't incur additional fees from your skip hire company further down the line.