Skip size estimator

Order too small a skip and you're paying for a second one, or piling waste up past the rim — which most haulers won't legally collect. Order too big and you're paying for space you never fill. This calculator works from the volume of waste you're clearing to recommend a standard UK skip size.

Why waste type changes the answer

Skips have two limits: how much they hold, and how much they can legally weigh once loaded on the lorry. For light, bulky waste — general mixed waste, garden clearance — volume is almost always the binding limit, so a skip fills to roughly its nominal capacity. Heavy, dense waste is different: soil, rubble, bricks and concrete hit the weight limit long before the skip looks full, so in practice a skip taking heavy waste is often only usable to a fraction of its nominal volume. This calculator accounts for that by sizing heavy waste up.

The standard UK skip sizes

Skips are sold in cubic yards: 2-yard (mini), 4-yard (midi), 6 and 8-yard (builders' sizes), 10 and 12-yard (maxi), and 14–16-yard roll-on-roll-off containers for the largest jobs. Availability varies by hauler and area, so treat the recommendation here as a starting point for the conversation, not a guaranteed booking size.

A worked example

2m³ of general household waste comfortably fits a 4-yard skip. The same 2m³ as rubble or soil needs an 8-yard skip — not because there's more of it, but because the weight limit means only a third or so of that larger skip can actually be filled with something that dense.

Where this falls short

This doesn't know your local hauler's exact weight limits, which vary by skip size and area, or whether your waste needs licensed disposal (some materials — asbestos, plasterboard in bulk, certain chemicals — can't go in a standard mixed skip at all). Confirm both with your skip company before booking.