# Forum Home Renovation Landscaping, Gardening & Outdoors  Best way to get rid of soil in Sydney?

## paddyjoy

What's the best way to get rid of 1 ton of soil in inner Sydney. Am I best just paying the money for a skip?

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## BaysideNana

Before paying for a skip, you could list it on Gumtree and Trading Post then these sites as well..... Free Dirt, Clean Fill, Top Soil | Need Dirt Crazy Domains  
Also join your local Freecycle.org group 
I've been selling/giving away heaps of excess stuff on Gumtree these last few weeks, it's amazing what people want.   
Good luck  :Biggrin:  
oops....that last one should have been <http://www.fillwanted.com.au/>

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## Markt

I've found a skip bin to be the easiest and cheapest way to get rid of it.  I've can recommend Dial a Dump as being cheap and their drivers always happy when they turn up.  Otherwise I've used Skip Hire - Skip Bins / Bin Hire for Rubbish & Waste Removal - Bookabin and have had no problems booking the bin.

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## barney118

depends on how much you need to get rid of, advertising on gumtree,ebay or work bulletin boards can also help. If you have a trailer you can do a bit a a time, or have you thought outside the square and possibly need to level off some areas around your place as you will be surprised how much you can get rid of spreading it around.

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## Moondog55

A tonne isn't much; a medium sized raised garden bed will use that much easily and good soil is expensive if you have to buy it back.

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## paddyjoy

Thanks for the tips, I'll see if I can off load it for free first otherwsie I'll have to get a skip. 
Unfortunatley our garden is only 7m x 5m and I have allready done the raised veggie garden trick so spreading it out isn't an option. Unless it spread it out over the neighbours land ;-)

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## Moondog55

I know what my dad would do, he'd grab old shopping bags and put a couple of kilos in each rubbish bin in the street until it was all gone, take a while though

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## barney118

> I know what my dad would do, he'd grab old shopping bags and put a couple of kilos in each rubbish bin in the street until it was all gone, take a while though

   :Laughing1:  I have heard many of stories like this. 
I stored about 8T of bricks and dirt under my pool deck, and a friend (from kids school) got a retaining wall filled with 7T of rubble and a couple of dirt for free, you would be suprised who would take good soil. 
On my latest dig, I managed to get rid of 2 x 4T to friends, and when I was dumping a load they had visitors whos dad need to fill in 2 septic tanks close by ( I got rid of another 16T) sheer luck !, then a neighbour took 1/2 a T for his backyard cricket pitch (and asked for more) and a bloke at work took 2T for the church vegie gardens. All up I saved about $800 in dumping/hrly rate fees.

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## manofaus

i will take it if you will deliver it to Scone in the hunter valley......haha

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## paddyjoy

If I had a truck you'd be in luck, wouldn't mind a weekend up your way!

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## Pulse

> i will take it if you will deliver it to Scone in the hunter valley......haha

  I need 1m3 in Scone too, to fill in mum's old leaking spa, batch lot?
Cheers
pulse

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## simopimo

Another vote for Freecycle. I got rid of many pavers and bricks, although I haven't been patient enough to try to get rid of soil this way. If you're under time pressure, usually a skip is the only way to go.

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## ratdog

> What's the best way to get rid of 1 ton of soil in inner Sydney. Am I best just paying the money for a skip?

   Send it to Perth.  Nothing but Sand over here

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## wolfbunny

I'm intrigued how do you measure soil into weights? I get square and cubed but weights? Surely its far more simpler to state the cubic size of the soil? Rammed soil/earth is heavier than loose soil. Clay soil(I think) is heavier than loom sandy soil!
for the record I've got clay based soil, more than I need and cartage would kill me so at the moment I can't use yours paddyjoy lol

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## Bloss

> I'm intrigued how do you measure soil into weights? I get square and cubed but weights? Surely its far more simpler to state the cubic size of the soil? Rammed soil/earth is heavier than loose soil. Clay soil(I think) is heavier than loom sandy soil!

  For most purposes a range of likely weight is all you need eg: loose fill soil will usually weigh between 1000-1200kg/m3 and compacted soil around 1500-1700kg/m3. Not sure what is used now, but to go the other way I've always used: for sand and soils multiply m3 x 1.3 and for gravel/ pebbles, road base, scalpings or other denser products multiply m3 x 1.8. That is at the top end so allows safety factor in estimating loads. 
Remember that most soil will have air voids and if saturated then water simply replaces the air (m3 of water is 1000kgs) - most soils are denser than water.

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