Choosing a tipping skip looks like a capacity question and almost never is. The skip that fails on a real site is usually the one that was sized by volume, filled with something dense, and then could not be lifted — or the one that tips the wrong way for the container it has to empty into. This guide works through the decisions in the order they actually arrive, using our own published figures, and is honest about the specifications we do not publish. Prices and the full range are on the forklift tipping skips collection.
Start here: we do not publish a load rating for most of these skips
It is standard advice to "check the skip's safe working load". You should — but you cannot do it from our product pages for most of the range, and you ought to know that before you plan around one.
Across the nine skips we stock, exactly one family publishes a weight rating: the tilting skip trucks, given by GPC as "300 kg — 1/2 cubic metre". Seven of the nine publish no external dimensions either. So rather than tell you to look up a number that is not there, here is what that single published figure actually lets you work out.
GPC rating half a cubic metre at 300 kg implies a design density of 600 kg per cubic metre. Applying that same figure across the range gives you a planning estimate for a full skip:
| Skip | Capacity | Contents at 600 kg/m³ (derived) | Published tare weight | Estimated gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini skip SK419Y | 190 litre | ~114 kg | not published | — |
| Heavy-duty SK302Y | 250 litre | ~150 kg | not published | — |
| Skip truck SK101Y | 500 litre | 300 kg (GPC's own figure) | not published | — |
| Heavy-duty SK310Z | 1,000 litre | ~600 kg | not published | — |
| Heavy-duty SK315Z | 1,500 litre | ~900 kg | not published | — |
| Self-closing SKC16Z | 1.6 m³ | ~960 kg | 164 kg | ~1,124 kg |
| Self-closing SKC24Z | 2.4 m³ | ~1,440 kg | 212 kg | ~1,652 kg |
This is a derivation, not a published rating. Only the 300 kg figure is GPC's; the rest is that same density applied across the range so you have something to check a fork truck against. Treat it as a floor rather than a ceiling — dense wet swarf and steel turnings can run well above 600 kg/m³, and a skip sized on volume alone will hit a truck's limit long before it looks full. If the margin looks tight, weigh a sample of your actual waste in a known volume and scale it up. If you need the real rating for a specific model, ask us and we will get it from GPC in writing.
The useful takeaway is the bottom two rows. A 2.4 m³ self-closing skip at an estimated 1,652 kg gross is a serious lift, and that is before you check your truck's capacity at the load centre and fork height you will actually be using — which is always lower than the headline capacity on the plate.
What a tipping skip is, and what it is not
A tipping skip is a steel container built to be filled and then discharged by tipping, rather than lifted out and emptied by hand. Small mobile skips pivot on a body released by a catch and handle. Larger ones are carried on a fork truck and tip from the driving position, returning and re-locking automatically.
What it is not is skip hire. If you searched for a "mini skip" expecting a container to be dropped on your yard and taken away full for around £120, that is a waste contractor's service and a different industry. Our mini skip is a 100–190 litre steel bin that starts at £1,345.68 and lives in your workshop for years. Both things use the same words; only one of them removes waste from your site.
The advantage over a wheelie bin or an open stillage is controlled discharge: the operator positions the skip over a larger container and empties it cleanly, without anyone lifting a heavy bin by hand.
The five types, and which decision each one answers
1. Mobile tilting skips — the only ones you can empty without a fork truck
A welded steel body on two 150 mm swivel cushion castors and two 200 mm fixed cushion wheels, with a tubular mesh handle and a safety catch that stops the body tipping accidentally. One person can wheel a loaded skip to the discharge point and tip it under control. If nobody is driving a fork truck to your tipping point, this is the only type here that works for you.
There are two, they share a product name, and the difference is a drain: SK201Y at £1,355.83 has no drain; SK202Y at £1,892.04 has an internal drain for wet swarf. More on why that matters below.
2. Tilting skip trucks — and the two-listing trap
Carried on the fork tines and emptied from the cab. CE marked and plated, fully welded with the top press-formed for rigidity, with a positive skip-lock mechanism, side-entry fork pockets, retaining bars and integral sideguards enclosing the tip skid. This is what most people mean by "forklift tipping skip".
Read this before you order. The specification text says the truck is "available either mobile or static". That describes GPC's range, not either listing — and there are two listings under one name, each selling only one version:
| Model | Capacity | Version | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| SK101Y | 500 litre | Mobile | £1,914.24 |
| SK102Y | 1,000 litre | Mobile | £2,669.68 |
| SK103Z | 500 litre | Static | £2,342.76 |
| SK104Z | 1,000 litre | Static | £3,309.18 |
If you are looking at a page offering only SK101Y and SK102Y and you want the static version, you are on the wrong listing. Go by model code, not by the feature list. Note also that the published body size of 1,220 × 600 × 700 mm works out at roughly half a cubic metre, so it describes the 500-litre model and cannot also be the 1,000-litre one on the same listing — ask us for those dimensions rather than assuming.
3. Heavy-duty tilting skips — where the capacity decision actually lives
A reinforced chassis designed to be lifted and tipped by fork truck. Five capacities, and the pricing is not proportional to volume, which changes what you should buy:
| Model | Capacity | Price | Per litre |
|---|---|---|---|
| SK302Y | 250 litre | £2,397.24 | £9.59 |
| SK305Y | 500 litre | £2,751.36 | £5.50 |
| SK310Z | 1,000 litre | £3,406.08 | £3.41 |
| SK312Z | 1,200 litre | £3,664.14 | £3.05 |
| SK315Z | 1,500 litre | £4,137.90 | £2.76 |
Going from 250 to 500 litres costs 14.8% and doubles the capacity. That is the single cheapest capacity step in our handling range, and it makes the 250-litre model the weakest value here — £9.59 per litre against £2.76 at the top. Across the whole ladder, 250 to 1,500 litres is +72.6% for six times the volume, a 71.2% fall in cost per litre. The other flat spot is 1,000 to 1,200 litres at +7.6% for +20%: if the floor space exists, take the 1,200.
4. Self-closing and bottom-emptying skips — discharge geometry, not capacity
A self-closing skip has a spring-loaded base instead of a tipping body. The driver pulls a release chain from the cab, the base opens, the load drops, and it closes again automatically. They stack four high empty, and they are the only skips here where we publish full dimensions and weight: 1.6 m³ at 1,380 × 1,340 × 1,354 mm and 164 kg (£4,069.56), 2.4 m³ at 2,000 × 1,200 × 1,354 mm and 212 kg (£4,993.08).
A price comparison worth knowing about: the 1.6 m³ self-closing skip at £4,069.56 is £68.34 cheaper than the 1,500-litre heavy-duty tilting skip at £4,137.90, and holds 100 litres more — despite being the more mechanically involved product. Do not let that decide it for you, though. The two discharge differently and that is the real choice:
- Tipping rotates the body and throws the load forward and over a lip. Right for emptying over the side of a large container, a wagon or a compactor mouth.
- Bottom-emptying and self-closing drop the load straight down through the base. Right for a hopper or a container directly underneath — and useless if there is no clearance below.
The bottom-emptying skip (SK209Z, £2,695.74) gives the most controlled placement of the lot. In fairness we should say that we publish no capacity, dimensions or weight for it at all — the manufacturer's listing is a model code, a name and a price. If it is the right shape for your job, ask and we will get the figures.
5. Roll skips and mini skips
The heavy-duty roll skip (SKHD08Y, £3,902.82) holds 0.8 m³ at 1,203 × 1,550 × 895 mm and 150 kg, with a 15–20 day lead time — the only product in the range that publishes one. Be clear-eyed about it: at £4.88 per litre it is the dearest capacity on the page, and a 1,000-litre tilting skip costs £496.74 less for 200 litres more. You buy it because it rolls and because 1,550 mm of width suits bulky waste that will not compact.
Mini skips fit under a workbench on three 100 mm nylon castors. Take the 190-litre SK419Y at £1,600.92 — it holds 90% more than the 100-litre model for 19.0% more money, and cost per litre falls 37.4% across the three. The castors are for pulling the skip out from under the bench; a fork truck is still needed to lift and empty it.
Getting swarf and coolant out of the workshop
This is the job most of our skip customers are actually solving, and it has a wrinkle that general waste does not.
Machining wet means the chips arrive soaked in cutting fluid. That causes three problems at once: the skip gets much heavier than its volume suggests, it drips across the floor on the route to the tipping point, and the fluid is usually a separate waste stream from the metal — mixing them can make a recyclable load into a contaminated one and cost you money at both ends.
The drained swarf skip (SK202Y, £1,892.04) exists for exactly this. The internal drain lets the fluid separate and run off before disposal, so the chips go one way and the coolant goes another. If you machine dry, handle packaging or clear timber offcuts, the drain does nothing for you and the plain SK201Y at £1,355.83 is the right buy.
Where fluid is drained off and collected, think about where it lands. Waste cutting fluid and coolant are controlled wastes and are not for the surface-water drain — see our guide to spill containment and what UK law requires, and the spill containment and drum storage ranges for holding it until collection.
The mesh top cage, and why you cannot order one
Light, bulky or wind-blown waste wants containing in transit, and both the heavy-duty tilting skips (580 mm cage) and the mini skips (200 mm cage) list a mesh top cage as a factory-fitted option.
There is no cage variant to select and no published price for one. It is a genuine factory-fit option from GPC, not a stock item you can add to a basket. If you need it, it is a phone call and a quote. We would rather tell you that than have you hunt for a dropdown that does not exist.
Using tipping skips safely
Tipping skips are work equipment under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER): suitable for the job, maintained, and used by people trained on them. Loading them by hand brings in the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. The GPC tilting skip trucks are CE marked and plated by the manufacturer.
The failures worth designing out are predictable:
- Check capacity at the height you will use, not the plate figure. A fork truck's rated capacity falls as the forks rise and as the load centre moves forward. A skip that lifts fine at knee height may not at tipping height over a container.
- Load only when the skip is fully lowered and locked in the carrying position, and check the lock and release mechanism before each use. The lock is what stops the body swinging with a load in the air.
- Keep the load inside the side walls so nothing can fall during travel or tipping, and travel with the load low.
- Design the discharge arc out of the walking route. Nobody should need to pass the point where a skip tips. This is a layout decision, not a training one.
Only trained, competent operators should carry or tip a fork-truck skip. Where a skip is lifted by fork truck, the combination of truck, load and skip should be covered by your own risk assessment and inspection regime. This guide is buying guidance and does not replace a risk assessment or the manufacturer's operating instructions.
Choosing, in order
- Is a fork truck involved at all? If not, a mobile tilting skip is your only option here.
- Which way must the load leave? Over a lip means tipping. Straight down into a hopper means self-closing or bottom-emptying. This decides the type before capacity does.
- How dense is the waste? Use the table at the top to sanity-check gross weight against your truck at working height.
- How much between empties? Then check the price ladder — the steps are not proportional, and 250 litres is poor value against 500.
- Wet or dry? Wet means the drained swarf skip, and a plan for the fluid.
The full range with current prices is at forklift tipping skips, with sub-ranges for tilting skips, self-closing skips, mini skips, bottom-emptying skips and mobile swarf skips. For moving waste without tipping it, see trucks and trolleys, storage cages and pallet trucks. Tell us the waste type, the volume between empties and the truck you run, and we will specify it with you.