How do I get rid of an old bathroom or kitchen?
The direct answer
The mix decides the bin, not the room. If tiles, screed, concrete or brick are going in, the load is mixed heavy waste — a national median of $547 for a 4m³ bin, +$104 against general waste in the same postcode. If it is plasterboard, timber, cabinetry and fittings only, the load is light building waste — a national median of $462, +$18 against general waste in the same postcode. Both measured 30 August 2026.
A bathroom and a kitchen can produce either. Two identical-looking strip-outs, one with the floor coming up and one without, are different waste categories at different prices — and the category, not the size, is the most common thing people get wrong.
The rule: the heaviest material wins
Our waste categories page states it in one line: "Size the bin by the volume of the job. Choose the category by the heaviest thing going in it."
That is the whole decision. It does not matter that the bin is nine-tenths cabinet doors and plasterboard — if the last tenth is the tiled floor, the load is priced on the tiles. The same page names this job specifically as one of the four mistakes that cause a re-categorisation: "A bathroom or kitchen floor booked as general waste. Tiles and a few bits of rubble in a mixed strip-out are fine. A bin that is mostly screed and tile is not."
What each category costs for the same 4m³ bin
| What is in the bin | Category | Median 4m³ price | vs general waste, same postcode | Postcodes with a live price | Typical range (middle 80%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiles, screed, concrete or brick through the strip-out | Mixed heavy waste | $547 | +$104 median | 167 | $523–$694 |
| Plasterboard, timber, cabinetry and fittings only | Light building waste | $462 | +$18 median | 167 | $438–$694 |
| Mixed strip-out material, tiles a minor component | General waste (reference) | $445 | baseline | 170 | $329–$609 |
Mixed heavy waste, verbatim from our mixed heavy waste page: "Measured 30 August 2026 across our live supplier network, the national median price of a 4m³ mixed heavy waste skip bin is $547 (167 postcodes returned a live price; typical range $523–$694), delivered, collected and GST included for a 7-day hire. Against the same postcode's 4m³ general-waste price (median $445) the median premium is +$104 — it was dearer in 156 of 165 paired postcodes and cheaper in none."
Light building waste, verbatim from our renovation waste page: "a load of light building offcuts booked as light building waste a median of $462 (+$18 median against the same postcode's general-waste price, 163 paired postcodes)". Our light waste page adds the part that matters when you are deciding: in 45 of those 163 paired postcodes light building waste is actually cheaper than general waste.
All three rows come from the same capture: 1,485 priced probes across 184 Australian postcodes, captured 30 August 2026, at 4m³ on a 7-day hire with delivery, collection and GST included. They are a measured market benchmark, not a quote.
Which one is your job
Mixed heavy waste — the floor is coming up
Accepted in this category, from our mixed heavy waste page: soil, dirt and sand; bricks, pavers and concrete; tiles and rubble; general renovation and demolition waste; timber and mixed site waste.
A bathroom or kitchen lands here when the tiled floor, the screed under it, the hob of a shower base, a rendered wall or a broken-up stone benchtop is going in the bin. This is the common case in a bathroom, because the floor is usually part of the job.
Light building waste — nothing hard goes in
This is the category when the load is what our waste categories page calls "Timber, plaster, packaging, offcuts": cabinet carcasses, doors and drawers, plasterboard and cornice, skirting and architrave, a laminate benchtop, a vanity, packaging and general strip-out waste — and no tiles, screed, concrete or brick at all.
A kitchen refit where the cabinetry comes out but the floor stays down is the clean example. So is a bathroom where the fittings and the vanity go but the tiling is being overlaid rather than removed.
If the job produces both, run two bins
Most strip-outs are not purely one or the other, and the answer is not to average them. From our waste categories page: "If you have rubble, give it its own bin — two correctly categorised loads are routinely cheaper than one mixed heavy load covering both." What a clean rubble load costs, and the trap that breaks it, is the subject of our brick disposal guide; if the job is also producing excavated soil, see our soil skip bin guide.
If you do run two, tell the trades which bin is which. Cross-loading them is how a correctly priced light load becomes a mixed heavy one.
What booking it wrong actually costs
The load is priced on what is in it, not on what was booked. A light building waste bin that arrives at the transfer station full of tile and screed is a mixed heavy load, and it is charged as one — the mechanics of that are in our guide to skip bin contamination charges: the receiving facility inspects the load on arrival and can reject or surcharge it on the spot.
Our waste categories page counts how often that happens on our own order records: 12 of 338 paid orders (3.6%) in the 65 days to 30 August 2026 carried an "upgraded to…" correction after booking, and 11 of those 12 were upgrades into a heavy or mixed-heavy category. The most common post-booking change on this business is the wrong category, not the wrong size.
Before 1990: stop, do not strip
If the home was built or renovated before 1990, stop work before anything is broken out and have the material assessed for asbestos. Asbestos is never accepted in any skip bin, no exceptions — any asbestos must be removed by a licensed asbestos removalist.
What size, once you know the category
Category and size are two separate decisions. Ours on size, with the measured prices behind them:
- What size skip bin do I need for a renovation? — a 6m³ skip bin suits a multi-room renovation; a single room needs 3m³ to 4m³.
- 4m³ skip bin hire — the size most single-room strip-outs land on.
- 6m³ skip bin hire — for a large kitchen, a stone benchtop, or a bathroom and kitchen going at once.
- What size skip bin do I need for a bathroom renovation?
- What size skip bin do I need for a kitchen renovation?
Then price the category you actually need: enter your postcode for a live price for your address, dates and waste type.