The history of skips

1. HOW THE WORD ‘SKIP BINS’ CAME ABOUT

According to the Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, the term ‘skip bins’ actually originates from the Old Norse word skeppa, meaning basket. This word evolved over the years, found new uses, until we have the word for skip today.

2. HOW DID THE SKIPS THEMSELVES COME ABOUT?

The entire history of skip bins still remains somewhat of a mystery but some sources say that skip bins are modelled after old mining carts and mining boxes. That makes sense as mining carts have pretty much the same design and use – rectangles or trapezoids, sometimes wheeled, sometimes not, and both used for moving heavy loads of loose material.

3. SKIPS ARE A DESIGN GENIUS!

Speaking of modern skips, their designs are simple but efficient. This makes skips affordable and convenient to use. Think of the shape – the top wider than the base. This means that it can take in a lot of things while not taking up too much of precious floor space. The hinged doors in some bins prevent spillage. The slope on the walls of the skip bin allows for the easy loading of materials.
The skip bin is simple, yes, but also effective at doing its job.

4. TYPES OF SKIP BINS

Over the decades, different types of skip bins have developed and each of them has different advantages.

Open skips– these are some of the most common. Open-topped skip bins allow large amounts of waste to be loaded.

Mini skips– as the name suggests, these are smaller skips and are easily loaded, transported, and empty. They’re often a lot cheaper, too!

Closed skips– these have doors that aim to prevent unpleasant odours from seeping out, and prevents rubbish from spilling.

Walk-in skips– these are larger skip bins that are open on one side to allow easy loading of items. Imagine a walk-in closet.

5. SKIP SIZES

Different jobs and clean-up projects will, of course, demand different sizes of skips. Moving residences will need larger skips, perhaps a walk-in skip bin. A yearly garage clean-up, on the other hand, will most likely just need a mini skip bin.
Sizes can range from 2m³ to 3m³ for mini skip bins, walk-ins range from 1m³ to 6m³, and the largest bins can go above 10m³. Try to estimate how much waste you’ll be throwing out before choosing a skip bin hire.

Greyhound offers a range of skips from Mini all the way to Maxi for our Household skips in Dublin. For our commercial customers, we go from Mini up to Roll On Roll Off skips which are most popular in the construction sector.

6. USES OF SKIPS

These large boxes for garbage disposal are known as skips or skip bins in the UK and Australia, and as dumpsters or dumps in the United States. They have the same use though. What’s more, skips have seen wide use in clean-up projects – be it house renovations, business clean-ups, and more.