The short answer
For one trailer load, a tip run is usually cheapest if you have a trailer, a towbar and the time: Knox Transfer Station charges $154.00 for a level small trailer of general waste. For a bigger job, a skip saves the trips and the double handling: it’s delivered, you fill it over a few days, and the price includes the tip fees. Rubbish removal suits a job where nobody can do the lifting: a crew loads it, and the price depends on the volume.
Tip run: what a trailer load costs
Transfer stations in the east charge general waste by the load or by the tonne. A level small trailer, the usual 6x4:
Tip prices for a small trailer of general waste, 2026–27
| Station and load | Published price | Who publishes it |
|---|---|---|
| Knox Transfer Station, small trailer, level (up to 6x4) | $154.00 | Knox Transfer Station operator (GST included) |
| Knox Transfer Station, small trailer, heaped (up to 6x4) | $230.50 | Knox Transfer Station operator (GST included) |
| Coldstream, small trailer, level (up to 6x4) | $165.00 | Yarra Ranges Recycling Services (GST included) |
| Coldstream, small trailer, heaped (up to 6x4) | $247.00 | Yarra Ranges Recycling Services (GST included) |
| Montrose, 6x4 single axle, level | $165 | Montrose Transfer Station (GST and levy included) |
| Montrose, 6x4 single axle, heaped | $190 | Montrose Transfer Station (GST and levy included) |
| Whitehorse centre, ute, van or trailer | $407.00 per tonne, minimum $125.00 (up to 300 kg) | Whitehorse City Council (levy and GST included) |
Each station’s own price as at 1 July 2026, checked 22 October 2026; they measure loads differently, so these aren’t a range. Larger trailers cost more, and tandem trailers are weighed at Knox and Coldstream.
No trailer? Melbourne Trailer Hire in Oakleigh South publishes $78 a day for a 6’ x 4’ single-axle box trailer, lock included (GST not stated). By our arithmetic, that plus one level load at Knox comes to $232 (the trailer price doesn’t state GST), before fuel, your time and a second trip if it doesn’t all fit.
Monash’s fee page gives the scale: a 6’ x 4’ trailer filled level, 1.8 × 1.2 × 0.45 m, is about 1 m³. By our arithmetic, using Monash’s measure, a 4 m³ skip holds about four level trailer loads. Opening hours and what each station takes: tips and transfer stations in the east.
Skip bin: what the price covers
A skip’s price covers delivery, the hire period, collection and the tipping, so there’s one figure to compare. Published prices in the east start at $290 for a 2 m³ skip of general waste (ASAP Bin Hire) and $470 for 4 m³; Yarra Valley Skip Bins publishes $595 for a 4 m³ light mixed load up to 1.0 tonne. Hire periods are usually 3 or 4 days.
A skip suits a job that takes more than an afternoon: a renovation, a garage or house clear-out, or a garden overhaul where the rubbish builds up as you go. It also suits heavy waste, which a trailer can carry only a little of at a time. Every size and price is on skip bin prices.
Rubbish removal: how it’s priced
Rubbish removal operators send a truck and a crew who load it for you. Easy Rubbish Removal, a Melbourne-wide operator, for one, prices by the cubic metre: “From as low as $99” per cubic metre, excluding GST, with a minimum job of 2 m³ ($198 excluding GST) and no call-out or labour fees listed, on a page updated in February 2026. Ask whether tip fees are included.
It’s the quickest option and the one where you lift nothing, so it suits a job that has to be cleared in a day, heavy furniture with no one to carry it, or a property you can’t be at. Ask what the price includes, whether heavy or renovation waste costs more, and where the load will go.
Whoever takes it, it has to go somewhere legal
EPA Victoria says that if you hire a skip or a waste removal contractor, “it’s your responsibility to know the contractor is taking your waste to a place authorised to accept it”, and that you can be fined for using a business that illegally dumps it. Waste carried away for a fee counts as industrial waste, so the duty applies to rubbish removal as much as to a skip.
If you do the tip run yourself, take it to a transfer station or landfill authorised for that waste. A pile left on the nature strip without a booked hard rubbish collection is dumping.
Why tip prices keep rising
Every tonne that goes to landfill in Melbourne carries the state’s landfill levy: EPA Victoria’s metropolitan rate is $177.19 per tonne from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, up from $169.79 a year earlier. Tip prices, skip prices and removal prices all build it in; Whitehorse and Montrose say theirs include it.
Common questions
Is it cheaper to hire a skip or go to the tip?
For one load, the tip is usually cheaper if you have a trailer: Knox Transfer Station charges $154.00 for a level small trailer of general waste. For several loads, add up the trips: by Monash’s measure a level 6x4 trailer holds about 1 m³, while a 4 m³ skip is published at $470 for general waste (ASAP Bin Hire), with delivery, collection and tipping included.
How much does a trailer load at the tip cost in Melbourne’s east?
For a level small trailer of general waste: $154.00 at Knox Transfer Station, $165.00 at Coldstream and $165 at Montrose, all including GST. Heaped loads cost more: $230.50 at Knox and $247.00 at Coldstream.
How much does rubbish removal cost?
It depends on the volume. Easy Rubbish Removal, a Melbourne-wide operator, publishes from $99 per cubic metre excluding GST with a 2 m³ minimum (page updated February 2026). Ask for a fixed price for your load, whether tip fees are included, and whether heavy or renovation waste costs extra.
How much does it cost to hire a trailer?
Melbourne Trailer Hire in Oakleigh South publishes $78 a day for a 6’ x 4’ single-axle box trailer, lock included; it doesn’t say whether GST is included. Add the tip fee, fuel and your time.
Do I need to check where a rubbish removalist takes my waste?
Yes. EPA Victoria says it’s your responsibility to know the contractor is taking your waste to a place authorised to accept it, and that you can be fined for using a business that illegally dumps it.
Where this information comes from
The rules and prices on this page come from these published pages, checked on 22 October 2026.
- Knox Transfer Station: gate prices · Transfer station gate prices as of 1 July 2026, GST included
- Yarra Ranges Recycling Services: Coldstream gate prices · Transfer station gate prices as of 1 July 2026, GST included
- Montrose Transfer Station: fees and hours · Operator fees as of 1 July 2026, GST and landfill levy included
- Whitehorse Recycling and Waste Centre: items accepted at a charge · Council fees 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, including levy and GST
- City of Monash: Recycling and Waste Centre accepted items and fees · Council prices per cubic metre, 2026–27, GST not stated
- Melbourne Trailer Hire: box trailers, single axle · Trailer hire business, Oakleigh South: daily and weekly rates, GST not stated
- ASAP Bin Hire: Bayswater skip bins · Skip hire business, Kilsyth; main “Our skip bins” table (the page also shows a second, different price guide), GST not stated
- Yarra Valley Skip Bins: skip bin hire prices · Skip hire business, Dixons Creek (Yarra Ranges); price table by size, waste and weight limit, no visible date, GST not stated
- Easy Rubbish Removal: how much does rubbish removal cost · Melbourne-wide rubbish removal operator’s prices, page updated 18 February 2026, excluding GST
- EPA Victoria: home renovation waste · State regulator guidance, updated 17 December 2024
- EPA Victoria: understand your waste obligations and duties · State regulator guidance on industrial waste, updated 9 April 2026
- EPA Victoria: duty of persons involved in transporting industrial waste · State regulator guidance on section 135 of the Environment Protection Act 2017, updated 28 October 2024
- EPA Victoria: waste levy · State regulator levy rates, updated 20 May 2026
- EPA Victoria: report illegal waste dumping · State regulator page, updated 8 September 2026