Below are some tips for a successful Community Skip where this has been done in other areas:

• consider limiting to one skip visit per household or up to three bulky household items
• prenotification / reservation of time slots to avoid everyone turning up at once
• proof of local residency should be provided on the day of visiting the Community Skip
• encourage swapping / takeaway items to reduce waste and put items to better use
• manage expectations – those who use the Community Skip are unlikely to be the people who otherwise would consider fly tipping
• promote the bulky waste collection and free tips in MK
• consider working together on community tip bookings or communal bulky waste collections for those who struggle to access these services.
• Encourage the community to report fly tips along with supporting evidence to the council.

Community Skips should be monitored constantly to ensure that the waste is stored and segregated carefully and to enable the waste to be described accurately. This is a legal requirement of the Community Skip organiser under their Duty of Care.

Ideal waste to target for Community Skips would be:

• furniture e.g. mattresses, bed frames
• large garden items e.g. large branches, fence posts, broken play equipment
• DIY type wastes e.g. rubble, hardcore, soil, doors, skirting boards, timber

It is recommended that the Community Skips are used for bulky household waste only and not for general waste such as black sacks and garden waste, which should be put out for the weekly refuse, recycling and food & garden waste collections.

The Community Skips should not be used for waste electrical and electronic items which require specialist treatment prior to recycling. This includes large items such as fridges and freezers and small items such as toasters and kettles.

We would suggest that batteries are not accepted in the Community Skips as they can lead to fires.

We would strongly recommend that the Community Skips are not used for Hazardous Waste e.g. asbestos, gas bottles or household chemicals e.g. paints (unless hardened), thinners and weed killer.

Tyres and plasterboard should not be allowed in the Community Skips as they require specialist treatment and disposal (speak to your skip hire company for advice).

Avoid commercial and industrial (business) waste as this should be disposed of responsibly by the producer / business owner and not met by the local community.

Skip companies are usually responsible for getting skip licences, also sometimes called skip permits. A Community Skip organiser will need to contact MKC if they want to put a skip on a public road (this is a chargeable service).

The organiser may need to ensure that the skip includes appropriate safety lights and markings on or around the skip. This could include:

• reflective markings
• traffic cones
• night-time safety lamps
• the name and telephone number of the skip hire company.

Information on skip licences can be found on this webpage.

The Community Skip organiser will have a legal responsibility to ensure that they produce, store, transport and dispose of the waste without harming the environment. This is known as “duty of care”.

The duty of care applies to anyone who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats, disposes or brokers the removal of waste. A Community Skip organiser is likely to be considered as the Waste Producer and/or a Waste Broker.

The duty of care has no time limit. You are legally responsible for your waste from when you produce it until you have transferred it to an authorised person. However, the duty does not end when you hand over the waste to the next holder. It extends along the entire chain of management of your waste. If you think that your waste is not being managed correctly you must take action to check and prevent this. You must:

• segregate, store and transport your waste appropriately and securely, making sure that you do not cause any pollution or harm to human health.
• check that your waste is transported and handled by people or businesses that are authorised to do so.
• ensure that waste transfer notes are completed, including a full, accurate description of the waste, to document all waste transferred and keep it for your records.

More information on the duty of care can be found on gov.uk