Skip Bins MelbourneThe permit tag

Field 02Council

Skip bins in Boroondara

General information, not legal advice. The City of Boroondara’s skip bin permit page, linked at the foot of this page, has its current conditions and fees.

In the City of Boroondara, a skip on a road or on Council-owned land needs a permit, and only a registered skip bin company can apply for it. A skip on private property needs no permit, and no skip is allowed on an arterial road.

Council
Boroondara
Applies
A registered skip company
Arterial roads
Not allowed
A skip at the kerb, with its corner marksA side view of a green skip bin standing on the road. A yellow strip in an upside-down L shape marks each top corner. A small tag drawn at the right-hand end is the site’s emblem for the permit.

ApplicantThe company applies, not you

Boroondara is direct about it: “Only registered skip bin companies may apply for a skip bin permit.” A resident or owner who needs a skip is told to contact a local company to hire one on their behalf.

The company applies and pays online through Service Victoria. It has to supply its ABN, a copy of a public liability insurance certificate for at least $20 million that stays valid for the whole permit period, and a credit card for paying upfront.

LocationIs your street in Boroondara, and is it arterial?

The permit covers a skip placed in the City of Boroondara only. To check which municipality a property is in, the council’s page points to the Victorian Government’s Know Your Council website.

Boroondara’s page says skip bins are not allowed on arterial roads, but it does not list which roads those are. The City of Monash, which has the same ban, links a VicRoads map of arterial roads among the resources on its own skip page. If your frontage is on an arterial road, that is the first thing to settle with the hire company, because Boroondara does not allow a skip there.

Fees, as at 9 October 2026What the council charges the company

As at 9 October 2026, Boroondara lists a permit application fee of $31 per application and a fee of $31 per day, which its page calls a “skip bin hire fee”. The application fee is not refundable. The page does not say how a company passes these on, so the price you are quoted is the company’s to explain.

SizeThe largest skip the permit covers

Boroondara’s skip bin permit covers a skip of at most 7.5 metres long, 2.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres high. A bigger skip needs a different permit, to use a road or footpath.

The largest skip Boroondara’s skip bin permit coversA box drawn in outline, 7.5 metres long, 2.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres high, the maximum size in Boroondara’s permit conditions.7.5 m long1.5 mhigh2.5 m wide
The outer limits in Boroondara’s permit conditions, drawn as a plain box: at most 7.5 metres long, 2.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres high. Not a drawing of any real skip.

On the skipWhat you should see on the bin

Boroondara writes its permit conditions for the skip supplier, but several of them show on the skip outside your house:

  • Retro-reflective tape, as defined by the VicRoads code of practice for placing waste bins on roadsides, dated January 2001.
  • Lights attached if the skip is not visible in the dark, as part of making sure it is no danger to public safety.
  • The company’s name and phone number on display, and a clean skip.

In the skipWhat goes in, and what stays out

Three of the conditions turn on what goes into the skip and how it is loaded:

  • No food, and no waste that has organic matter in it.
  • The skip is emptied often enough that it does not overflow, and covered if loose material or particles could blow out of it.
  • Waste that will not fit in the skip is not to go into other rubbish or waste bins nearby.

Around the skipThe street, the nature strip and the end date

The supplier answers for any damage to channels, footpaths, nature strips or other council assets, and must tell the council as soon as possible if damage happens. It must keep the area around the skip clean and clear up once the skip is removed. It must follow the permit conditions and the council’s Amenity Local Law, and remove the skip by the permit’s end date.

One condition reaches you directly. The company must make sure that whoever delivers and collects the skip, and the person who hired it, know the permit conditions. The company is also to follow the supplier and driver responsibilities in the January 2001 code, which this site sets out in the VicRoads code guide.

DatesIf the dates change

Changes go through the company, which deals with the council. To cancel, it must contact the council before 10:00 am on the permit’s start date. To shorten a permit, it must contact the council before 10:00 am on the day the permit is to end: on Boroondara’s own example, a Monday to Friday permit ending on Wednesday needs that contact before 10:00 am on the Wednesday, or the full day is charged. Refunds go back to the credit card used to pay. The same contact covers both directions: a refund when the permit is cut short, or extra charges when it has to be extended.

If you think a skip in Boroondara has been placed dangerously, the council asks to hear about it by phone or through the contact form on its skip bin permit page.

ElsewhereOther councils, other rules

Other councils set their own rules. Whitehorse issues permits only to skip bin contractors, and Monash also keeps skips off arterial roads. Who gets the permit sets the ten councils side by side.