Disposing of large amount of garden waste

[gdal]

The new garden has some good well established trees and shrubs but has been very neglected for at least 3 years, maybe longer. Very overgrown with all sorts of stuff but mainly brambles and ivy. A bit like Sleeping Beauty’s castle.  I have had a local garden maintenance guy doing some clearing of it but it is I think a lot more work than either he or I had initially realised. It’s about 0.3 acre. 
We are not going to move in for a while, going through the planning, quoting, building phase of renovation which will take 12 months at least. So I don’t live on site but can get there for let’s say a day a week. I can’t do much in the house but I could start doing some of the cutting back and digging up in the garden. Might be nice to do it slowly myself and see what exactly is there. Meet the neighbours, feel useful. Also, I don’t really want to start hacking out thickets in nesting times, but there are plenty of other garden jobs I can do. 
I can keep tools secure on site. 
the question is what’s the best way to get rid of what will be a serious amount of waste? The local recycling centre is quite far, I don’t have or want a big car and given the volume of material this would be a crazy idea anyway. 
Any good suggestions? Best I can come up with is to stack the rubbish and let it settle/compress a bit then get a skip. But I wonder if there is something I’m missing

thank you

[SteamyTea]

Compost it.

Or bury it.

Shred it and take to local recycling centre.

 

But don't set fire to it, that will just piss the neighbours off.

[ToughButterCup]

Take a short cut to sanity. Burn it.  Yes, yes, I know.

I started with all those stars in my eyes about how we were going to be ECOMAX. And five years in, hibernaculars built, Swallows catered for, Bluetits cosy, Starlings swearing loudly from under the facia board, pond fostering midges the size of Lancaster Bombers - I'm *king fed up with eco-sheet. 

 

Its gone on for too long: there's too much still to do, too much to finish, and too much eco-handwringing. And I'm TooFuckingTired.  

 

When all I'm doing is mowing the grass on a Saturday morning, I'll worry about garden waste. I'll have some spare brain capacity then. But during a self-build, just bloody burn it.

[SteamyTea]

8 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

Burn it.  Yes, yes, I know.

As I had to point out to my inconsiderate neighbour once, out of the 6 houses here,  of us had our washing out to dry.

There is a high energy cost to machine clothes drying.

 

NBA Never Burn Anything.

[daiking]

13 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

Take a short cut to sanity. Burn it.  Yes, yes, I know.

I started with all those stars in my eyes about how we were going to be ECOMAX. And five years in, hibernaculars built, Swallows catered for, Bluetits cosy, Starlings swearing loudly from under the facia board, pond fostering midges the size of Lancaster Bombers - I'm *king fed up with eco-sheet. 

 

Its gone on for too long: there's too much still to do, too much to finish, and too much eco-handwringing. And I'm TooFuckingTired.  

 

When all I'm doing is mowing the grass on a Saturday morning, I'll worry about garden waste. I'll have some spare brain capacity then. But during a self-build, just bloody burn it.

???

 

bra-(expletive deleted)ing-vo

 

???
 

this goes for lots of things. You don’t have to make your life difficult all of the time.

Edited April 19, 2021 by daiking

[ProDave]

Burn it.  Choose a reasonably windy but not gale force day to take the smoke away. The worst day to burn it is dead still.  Mid week weekday when it is less likely washing will be on neighbours lines.

 

 

[LA3222]

[ToughButterCup]

36 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

As I had to point out to my inconsiderate neighbour once, ...

 

That's them told then. 

 

Well @gdal, as soon as the wind's right (at a guess, anything from NE to  ENE)  and  @SteamyTea has his smalls on the line  - Burn Baby Burn

[ToughButterCup]

20 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Burn it.  ...

 

Dave! You! ? Bad Man.  (Thank God)

[Olf]

Shred it straight to a skip.

You can chop the stuff first gradually and then rent a shredder and skip for few days only 

When I started dealing with leylandii it took days to cut through it and tens of jumbo bags (and half as many trips to the local recycling centre) to get rid of.

Then we brought cavalry: proper tree surgeons team with petrol chainsaws and a monster shredder - in half a day they did 5 times more than what took me 2 weeks chopping and travels. It cost me, but it was money well spent.

[ProDave]

4 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

Dave! You! ? Bad Man.  (Thank God)

It's what I do with all woody garden waste (i.e. something that will not compost)  But I do wait until a day with no washing on anyones line.

[ToughButterCup]

5 minutes ago, ProDave said:

It's what I do with all woody garden waste....

 

Shhhh, FerGodsSake dont tell the Corn .... donwannaupset'im more than healreadyis

[SteamyTea]

24 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

smalls on the line

I go commando. 

"Wherever you may be, let them dangle free"

[LA3222]

I had 40 leylandii to get rid off, all of them at least 30ft tall.

 

I paid a tree surgeon 600 quid to chop them all down and chop them into 2m chunks. That was it. Over several months I chopped it all up and burnt it all. Even the green, I cut all that to one side and let it dry as much as possible before burning. I burnt the green stuff at night.

 

T'was an epic task but very little cost.

 

 You can see a small section of the offending articles behind the excavator.

[jack]

4 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

But don't set fire to it, that will just piss the neighbours off.

 

It's also just the worst way to dispose of this sort of material.

 

Having lived in places where burning waste is banned, the attitude to backyard burning as a way of disposal in this country makes me feel a bit ill. 

[ToughButterCup]

1 hour ago, LA3222 said:

I had 40 leylandii to get rid off, all of them at least 30ft tall.

...

 

Not a tree to plant-and-forget is it. Before you know it, the world has gone darker than normal, the view has disappeared, the wind never blows and they are full of roosting avians.

 

A mate of mine (tree surgeon) taugtht me how to tame them: wait until they are at least 20 feet tall,  cut the tops out of them and put scaffolding planks across the tops of the pollarded trunks. Let the sides grow. From there you have a safe working platform to trim them - its impossible to see the planks unless you force your way into the canopy.

 

2 minutes ago, jack said:

...

the attitude to backyard burning as a way of disposal in this country makes me feel a bit ill. 

 

But I'll wager that those places provide a decent infrastructure to put such waste to good use.... 

[gdal]

Blimey. 
 

 

[Temp]

Some mini excavators have a blade. Very handy for grubbing up brambles into a bonfire and spreading ashes and levelling ground after. Can also be used to bury things that dont burn.

 

 https://www.hss.com/onecall/p/mini-excavator-1-5t

 

PS: Just dont accidentally set fire to it.

 

PPS: Best rates are over a weekend or long BH weekend.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Temp

[Temp]

If you wait until you have Planning Permission (and have the CIL exemption paperwork done) then you could hire a "man and digger". Should be zero rated for VAT to you. 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Temp

[jack]

2 hours ago, ToughButterCup said:

But I'll wager that those places provide a decent infrastructure to put such waste to good use.... 

 

Not sure, I never had enough waste of this sort to make it necessary to find out.

 

This was in Sydney, Australia, where it's been at least 20 years since you could visit a tip without paying a substantial fee. 

[Pete]

22 hours ago, LA3222 said:

I had 40 leylandii to get rid off, all of them at least 30ft tall.

 

I paid a tree surgeon 600 quid to chop them all down and chop them into 2m chunks. That was it. Over several months I chopped it all up and burnt it all. Even the green, I cut all that to one side and let it dry as much as possible before burning. I burnt the green stuff at night.

 

T'was an epic task but very little cost.

 

 You can see a small section of the offending articles behind the excavator.

Bloke next door to me does a bit of gardening and said he had a load of leylandii mulch that he wanted rid off and I took the lot FOC. worked a treat on top of the soil and was FREE so no complaints from me! The garden centre up the road sells bark mulch and they have a massive pile you fill your bags with. You can see the different types of wood that has been sent through the shredder and a lot of it is Leylandii.

[oldkettle]

I have almost finished dealing with a row of Lawson cypresses along the far side of the garden  (19 of them)  -  only the stumps remaining. Bought a Macallister shredder in Screwfix and it did a good job (well, had to replace it twice). Created a crate out of paving stones and got it all stored. Ordered a second green bin which is just an extra £25 a year, will be done in 2 months. 

 

The only thing I would have done differently in your situation is hire a big beast shredder for a weekend - would be much easier. 

 

I would really not like it should my neighbours decide to burn that much stuff - and frankly I don't see the need as it may well be faster and safer to shred it for a couple of hundred pounds. 

[SteamyTea]

7 minutes ago, oldkettle said:

I would really not like it should my neighbours decide to burn that much stuff

Depends, if you were invited to the party or not.

 

[saveasteading]

Brambles are the worst because they bulk up, are jaggy to handle and won't go well through shredders.

Difficult to burn even.

BUT as you have a decent area of land, if you use a small digger, scrape them up, with 6 inches soil and the roots, make a big pile, chopped and driven over as much as possible and leave them, they will mostly rot down to a fraction of the pile size in 6 months Bury in other compostable material  if you have it. Then it is soil, and useful.

Also you have got rid of most of the roots.

Of course they will grow again, but in a small and controllable area. Depending on ethics and options: Spray until they give in/ turn the pile over/ bury in other compost.

Should not need to burn,  you will feel good about how little harm you have caused, and have a nice pile of soil.

[SimonD]

On 19/04/2021 at 10:03, ToughButterCup said:

Take a short cut to sanity. Burn it.  Yes, yes, I know.

I started with all those stars in my eyes about how we were going to be ECOMAX. And five years in, hibernaculars built, Swallows catered for, Bluetits cosy, Starlings swearing loudly from under the facia board, pond fostering midges the size of Lancaster Bombers - I'm *king fed up with eco-sheet. 

 

Its gone on for too long: there's too much still to do, too much to finish, and too much eco-handwringing. And I'm TooFuckingTired.  

 

When all I'm doing is mowing the grass on a Saturday morning, I'll worry about garden waste. I'll have some spare brain capacity then. But during a self-build, just bloody burn it.

 

It's both funny and sad how it gets to that point. For me it was the proverbial straw of having loads of annoying timber offcuts everywhere. Too little for a skip, a hassle and cost to get a rubbish collection company and anyway how eco is this for a small load of waste? It was too much to take to local tip without being sent to the weighbridge for payment (they've already warned me about this).

 

Garden incinerator won the day and I'm racked with guilt..