Skip Bins MelbourneThe permit tag

Permit tagTen councilsRead 9 October 2026

Skip bins on Melbourne streets, council by council

Each of the ten Melbourne councils read for this guide has a skip bin permit for a skip on the road or on council land, and in most of them the skip company applies for it, not the person hiring the skip. This guide reads each council’s own page and sets out what it asks of the skip.

A guide to skip bin permits in Melbourne’s councils, published by Dotto from the official sources listed at the foot of each page. The City of Melbourne is not covered here.

Councils read
Ten
Usually applies
The skip company
Not covered
City of Melbourne
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.

The short answerUsually, the skip company applies

If the skip can stand on your own driveway or land, Boroondara, Glen Eira, Monash, Whitehorse and Banyule all say no permit is needed. Whitehorse adds that a skip on private property must still be kept in good order.

Once it has to go on the road, or on council land such as a nature strip, the permit is in most of these councils a job for the skip company. Boroondara says so most plainly: “Only registered skip bin companies may apply for a skip bin permit.” Whitehorse issues its permits to “skip bin contractors – not residents”, and in Kingston the permit “must be obtained by a bin skip company”.

Two councils in this guide read differently. Banyule’s page tells “you” to apply and does not limit the permit to a company, and Stonnington’s page does not say who applies.

Yarra, Monash and Whitehorse each say the permit’s cost is built into what the skip company charges you.

Who gets the permit, in each council’s words

Where a skip cannot goStreets the permit does not reach

Some councils name roads, or kinds of road space, where a skip may not stand:

  • BoroondaraNo skips on arterial roads.
  • MonashSkips are prohibited on arterial roads.
  • StonningtonNo overnight skips in Chapel Street, Commercial Road or Toorak Road between Rockley Road and Punt Road.
  • BaysideNone on North Road, from where it begins to its intersection with the Nepean Highway.
  • YarraNone in clearway, no stopping, loading zone or disabled parking bays.

Where the ordinary skip permit does not fit, some councils have another. Yarra asks for a road or footpath occupation permit for a laneway or any spot that restricts access. Boroondara asks for a permit to use a road or footpath for a skip bigger than its size limit. Monash says an Occupy Roadway Permit may allow a skip where its skip permit is not appropriate.

The corner marksWhy the corners are yellow

The yellow marks drawn on this site come from a VicRoads code of practice on placing waste bins on roadsides, dated January 2001. Its appendix sets out retroreflective tape in an upside-down L near each top corner of a bin, so that an approaching driver can see which way the bin sits and where it stands.

The code, dated January 2001, calls itself a set of guidelines and lists its endorsers as VicRoads, LGPro, the Municipal Association of Victoria and the Victorian Waste Management Association. Boroondara, Yarra, Port Phillip, Stonnington, Glen Eira, Bayside, Monash and Whitehorse all point to it in their permit conditions or advice.

What the January 2001 code asks of the supplier, driver and hirer

Six fieldsRead the tag one field at a time

Each guide on this site fills in one field of the permit tag: who applies, then the councils in turn, then the code they point to.

Before the skip arrivesQuestions for the booking

When you book, ask the hire business whether it is registered with your council, who will lodge the permit and when, and where on your street the skip will stand.