There are a great many stables, liveries and private yards tucked away across the flat ground around Longton, and every one of them accumulates. Spring is when it gets dealt with, before the field work starts and while there is still time. Stable yard clearance produces an unusual mix, and a couple of the items involved are not skip waste at all. Our Longton skip hire service covers a fair number of these yards.
The muck heap is a separate matter entirely
This is the first thing to establish, because it comes up every time. Manure and soiled bedding are not skip waste. They are agricultural waste and they fall under a different set of rules from the general clearance, with their own storage and spreading requirements.
Most yards have an arrangement already, whether that is spreading on their own land, a contractor taking it, or a local arrangement with a farm or a grower. If yours does not, that is a conversation to have with an agricultural contractor rather than something to solve with a container.
What we will say is that muck and bedding should not be tipped into a skip alongside the rest of the clearance. It contaminates the whole load, it is heavy once it is wet, and it is not what a mixed waste container is for.
Rubber matting is the heavy item
Everyone underestimates stable matting. It is dense rubber, the individual mats are far heavier than they look, and a yard replacing matting across several boxes produces a serious tonnage from what appears to be a modest pile.
Old matting is also usually soaked and soiled at the point it comes out, which adds to the weight considerably. If you are replacing matting across a yard, tell us that specifically, because it changes the size we would recommend more than anything else on the list. Our page on skip size versus weight limits explains why weight is the limit that bites.
Handle it in pieces where you can rather than trying to move full mats. A single wet stable mat is a two person lift and it will not go into a skip gracefully.
The plastic and the twine
Yards produce plastic in quantity. Feed and bedding bags, supplement tubs, wormer packaging, hay and haylage wrap, and baler twine by the sackful.
Wrap and bags are bulky and light, so fold and compress them rather than throwing them in loose. Loose wrap in an open skip on the flat ground out here will be in the next field by lunchtime, and a skip half full of air is money wasted.
Baler twine deserves its own mention. It tangles, it wraps around anything it touches, and loose twine through a mixed load is a nuisance for whoever handles it at the other end. Bag it or bundle it rather than letting it loose in the container.
Fencing, timber and the treated material
Most yard clearances involve fencing. Rotten posts and rails, old electric tape and its insulators, broken jump wings and poles, and frequently the remains of a field shelter.
All of that timber is treated, and treated timber should not be burned, however tempting a bonfire is on a yard with plenty of space. What was in the preservative comes off in the smoke. It goes in the skip and comes back to us instead. Our guide to what you can put in a skip covers the wider list of materials.
Old post feet come out with concrete on the end of them, which is the heavy element in an otherwise light load. Knock the concrete off where you reasonably can and keep it separate, because clean concrete crushes down and gets recovered while a mixed load does not. Our environmental and recycling page explains what happens to each stream.
Veterinary products and chemicals
Every yard clear out turns up part used containers. Wormers, sprays, treatments, disinfectants, waste oil from the mower or the quad, and old fuel cans.
None of it is skip waste. Sharps in particular need proper disposal rather than going anywhere near a container. Our guide to hazardous waste and why it cannot go in a skip covers what to do instead, and if you are unsure about something specific, put it to one side and ring us before the skip arrives.
Older buildings on a yard raise the usual question too. Corrugated cement roof sheeting on stables, barns and field shelters of a certain age needs checking before anything is disturbed.
Sizing and access
Most yard clearances are bulky, so an 8 tonne builders skip is the usual choice. Where matting or a quantity of concrete is involved, a smaller container on an exchange works better than one large one that reaches its weight limit half full.
Access out here is the usual March consideration. A yard with hardstanding is a simple drop. A field gateway or an unmade track after a wet winter is a different matter, and our drivers will say if a route looks marginal rather than getting a lorry stuck on it.
We cover this stretch of the plain regularly, running Tarleton skip hire and Hesketh Bank skip hire jobs alongside Longton.
Ring us on 01772 364399 and tell us whether matting is coming out, because that one answer sizes the job. Our contact page is there if you would rather send the details over.
