Booked collectionsSkip and container exchanges worked from the yard at Worthing

Exchange, standing cycle and on callEntry F1

Three shapes of booking cover almost everything asked for, and the shape is settled before a body is delivered.

A single exchange

A body is delivered, filled by the site in its own time, and swapped once the site says it is ready. The note is raised at the swap, so that the description matches what is actually in the body.

A standing cycle

A container stays on site and is exchanged on a regular visit agreed at the outset. The cycle is set from how quickly the site fills a body, so that the container is not lifted half empty and not left standing over the line.

On call

The container stays on site with no fixed cycle, and the site writes when it is ready. The exchange then falls on the next round reaching that district.

A cycle is reviewed once a site changes what it makes. A joinery shop moving from pallet timber to sheet board fills a body at a different rate, so the cycle is shortened or lengthened rather than left to run on the old figure. In either case the change is agreed in writing before the next exchange.

Exchanges are booked to a morning or an afternoon window rather than to a clock time, because coastal traffic and gate access move the order of a round.

The bodies that leave the yardEntry F2

Each body suits a different kind of load, and the choice is driven by the weight of the material as much as by the volume of it.

• BodyMini skip, 2 yd³

  Volumeabout 1.5 m³

  Placed forSoil, stones and broken concrete, loaded to the weight line rather than to the rim

• BodyMidi skip, 4 yd³

  Volumeabout 3.1 m³

  Placed forGreen waste, plasterboard kept apart, and small strip-out jobs

• BodyBuilders skip, 8 yd³

  Volumeabout 6.1 m³

  Placed forMixed general from a site or a premises, and pallet timber

• BodyMaxi skip, 12 yd³

  Volumeabout 9.2 m³

  Placed forBulky light loads where volume runs out long before weight does

• BodyRORO container, 20 yd³

  Volumeabout 15.3 m³

  Placed forStanding volume on a site with the hardstanding and headroom to take it

• BodyWheeled container, 1100 litre

  Volumeabout 1.1 m³

  Placed forCardboard and dry recyclables at a premises, exchanged full for empty

• BodyCaged load

  Volumevaries with the cage

  Placed forLoose ferrous and non-ferrous scrap kept off the floor of a mixed body

A wheeled container is exchanged rather than emptied at the kerb, so that the premises keeps a clean empty and the full one travels lidded. A skip body goes out sheeted, and the sheet is the reason the fill line matters: a load standing proud of the rim cannot be sheeted, so it is levelled before the arms take the weight.

Where a site makes two streams at once, two bodies are placed, so that each stream keeps its own description and its own note.

The coastal round, west to eastEntry F3

The round is worked as a strip along the coast with one inland spur, and a district sits on the leg nearest to it. The yard on Wiston Avenue sits in the middle of that strip, which keeps the running short.

• DistrictFerring and Goring

  LegWest

  Access notes carried on the run sheetNarrow seafront roads, so a delivery is timed away from the school run

• DistrictWorthing and Broadwater

  LegCentre

  Access notes carried on the run sheetControlled parking, so a bay suspension is settled before a body is delivered

• DistrictSompting and Lancing

  LegEast

  Access notes carried on the run sheetLevel ground on most of the estates, with low cables on the older terraces

• DistrictShoreham-by-Sea and Southwick

  LegEast

  Access notes carried on the run sheetBridge and harbour traffic, so a window rather than a time is agreed

• DistrictFindon and Storrington

  LegInland spur

  Access notes carried on the run sheetReached on a return leg, so an exchange there books a day either side

Work beyond the strip is taken on where a return leg makes sense. The answer given at booking is whether the round reaches the site this week or the next, and that answer is given before a body is promised.

A district is not a timetable. It is the order the rounds are built in, so that a site knows which leg its exchange will fall on.

What a gate needs before a lorry turns inEntry F4

A skip lorry needs room above it as much as room around it, and the checks below are run through at booking rather than at the kerb.

1. Firm and level standing The body is set down and lifted from the same spot, so soft ground and sloping drives are settled before the delivery.

2. Headroom clear of cables and branches The arms rise well above the cab, so the drop point is chosen clear of overhead lines, eaves and low limbs.

3. A straight approach with room to swing The lorry backs to the drop, so a turning space and a clear run of kerb are worth more than a wide gate.

4. A named person to meet the vehicle Someone on site opens the gate and points out the spot, so that the driver is not guessing where the body is wanted.

5. A permit where the body stands on the highway A container on a public road needs the county permit and the lights and markings that go with it, so that placing is arranged before the body leaves the yard.

A container that cannot be reached on the day is written up on the run sheet with the reason, and the exchange returns on the next round in that district. A blocked gate, a parked vehicle across the drop or a body loaded above the rim all produce the same note, so that the record explains the missed exchange.

Access notes stay on the run sheet for as long as the site stays on the round, so that the same problem is not met twice.

What is set aside before the sheet goes onEntry F5

Loading is the point where the description on the note is decided, so a body is walked before it is lifted.

• Plasterboard and gypsum board go into their own container, so that sulphate and biodegradable waste do not travel together.
• Paint tins, solvent, adhesive and oil are lifted out and held for the licensed contractor, so that the load stays within the non-hazardous description.
• Fluorescent tubes, lamps and sealed cooling units are set aside whole, so that nothing is broken open on the floor of a body.
• Batteries of any size come out, so that a cell is not crushed under a load on the journey.
• Loose scrap is caged or bundled, so that it does not spread across the floor of a mixed body and slow the picking line.

Each of those five is either a separate stream or a consignment-note load, and the route for it is the one set out at field G of the note. Where an item is found at the gate, the exchange still goes ahead: the item is held and the route arranged, so that a round is not lost to a single tin.

Once the body is level and sheeted, the note is raised and signed, and the load travels as described. Return to the transfer note, or read the duty of care paperwork.