Linky for avoidance of doubt: The skip hire alternative - the HIPPOBAG. | Hippobag.co.uk

Looking for a bit of first hand experience on these (or any similar Companies.)

Looking to do a house clearance over the next couple of weeks and it seemed to me like it would be a good alternative to a skip, but two questions I'm hoping someone can answer:

1) Do they collect on time? Website says within 5 days of ordering collection, but I've heard this may not be true. Terraced house on a back street so don't want it sat there for weeks.
2) How narcy do they get over waste disposal? Its a house clearance so its going to be a mixed bag (bdum-chh....) Everything we plan on chucking is excluded from their website's prohibited list, but I've witnessed skip companies empty skips on the street if there's something they don't like.

Given the location, I know that if we leave it out for more then a few days it will be full of fly-tippings one morning. So if they can't collect promptly the prohibited items will likely become a problem....

Any advice/abuse welcomed.

They do have a tendency to fray or rip at the seams if you drag them around...Oh and I have seen one with broken straps..

I've heard of them but never used them though so I can't say. Is it worth looking in your local paper and finding a local rubbish collection firm? They are usually one or two man bands with a truck or a van. If what you have will fill a hippo bag, surely it won't cost much for them to take it away. If you do ring some one up, first ask for a quote, then haggle!

Whatever you do, good luck.

Originally Posted by rgjbloke

I've heard of them but never used them though so I can't say. Is it worth looking in your local paper and finding a local rubbish collection firm? They are usually one or two man bands with a truck or a van. If what you have will fill a hippo bag, surely it won't cost much for them to take it away. If you do ring some one up, first ask for a quote, then haggle!

Whatever you do, good luck.

...and make sure they dont just dump it in woodland.

had to laugh the other day though there was a good quality pristine white toilet still in wrapping sat in a woodland clearing in a very remote place! no other rubbish at all. should have taken a photo for the manufacturers catalogue!
i cant vouch if the rabbits, foxes and deer have worked out how to use it yet!

I've got one in the shed, I use it for all my tree cuttings and dump in the local tip, they don't say anything and it's one big fuck off bag!

Originally Posted by jack-daniels

I've got one in the shed, I use it for all my tree cuttings and dump in the local tip, they don't say anything and it's one big fuck off bag!

I haven't used one but I just looked at their website and saw they do three sizes now. The one I was talking about is what's now their small bag. It holds a cubic meter. At £65, that's an expensive bag for tree cuttings etc but I suppose not bad if they are taking a load of rubbish away for you in it.

The small Huppo bag is basically a jumbo bag, the same size bag that the gear comes in if you ordered a ton of sand, pea shingle, ballast or whatever from your local builders merchants. Prices at the moment are around £40 for a jumbo bag of gear. Do shop around for the best deal!

The difference is that your local builders merchants will deliver your aggregate in the jumbo bag which after you have used the material, you then keep the bag so it's kind of free. So if you have any projects you keep putting off that need some building sand or whatever, order the gear and you can keep the bag.

Alternatively, look around a few skips. Builders are always throwing them away.

Hippo bags are an expensive solution and 1 cubic metre is not a lot to fill. I recently did a house clearance after a bad tenant and filled an 8 cube skip with no problem along with the wheelie bins and a couple of tip runs with the discovery. If you can borrow a van then its cheaper to load it all up yourself and take it to a waste recycler, this is a lot cheaper than a skip, its just that most people cant be arsed. Waste and recycling is big money these days mate.

I've seen these and they look rather expensive. Wouldn't take much to fill one. For £65 you could hire a van for a couple of days and just go to the tip. That would be my recommendation. Oh and get some spare builders bulk bags by asking around.

Originally Posted by skids

Hippo bags are an expensive solution and 1 cubic metre is not a lot to fill. I recently did a house clearance after a bad tenant and filled an 8 cube skip with no problem along with the wheelie bins and a couple of tip runs with the discovery. If you can borrow a van then its cheaper to load it all up yourself and take it to a waste recycler, this is a lot cheaper than a skip, its just that most people cant be arsed. Waste and recycling is big money these days mate.

hi i brought one yesterday of the middle size, they are cheaper than a skip as you have to have a council permit to have a skip on the public highway. just leave it somewhere where the lorry can get within 4 metres of it so that it can be collected, they are designed for a one time use only. i hope to do a garden clearance this weekend luckily the garden is big enough to take it at the front of the house. so no need to worry about the public highway, just make sure everything is broken down, anything metal just leave out for the pikies burn the wood and shrubs. there is a weight limit i believe where 25% of the waste can be rubble if im correct but this would need checking. the normal builders bags are about 6 quid from builders merchants. i plan to get the worst of the rubbish in the hippo bag and not time restrianed like a skip can be. the rest will go in black sacks for the bin man. i hope this helps.

They're a complete con. I bought the largest size and barely got a dismembered Latvian child prostitute into it, there is no way you'll get a hippo to fit in one, ever if you cut it's feet off.