Strategy for disposing of fresh cut garden wast? - Best brand/type bag to bag up waste?

[kettlejim]

The garden of my refurb project is completely overgrown with weeds, shrubs of different varieties and some hedge type plants which have overgrown and have woody stems - and myself and my helper are going to start clearing it

I've got a builders skip but I'm worried that with all the bulk from the vegetative matter it could bulk out the skip to a level where it's going to fill it up

Is it possible to fairly easily burn all the fresh vegetational waste on a bonfire or will it be difficult to burn this freshly cut matter because of having too much moisture in it do you think?

Bags for containing the vegetable matter
What is the best type and brand of bag to collect this vegetable matter. I bought some rubble sacks which are thick but they're too small and the green garden bags from Wickes just looked too thin and a twig or stiff stem would rip it and the contents would then end up in my car

 

[JohnD]

Compost heap

if you have a lot of woody material you could invest in, or buy, a large, powerful shredder.

The results of both these approaches can be used as a mulch if you can't be bothered to dig it in.

Depending on the country you are in, your local council may offer a periodic collection of a garden waste bin.

 

[kettlejim]

Compost heap. if you have a lot of woody material you could invest in, or buy, a large, powerful shredder.

That's a very good idea. I've got access to a shredder I could borrow. So would you then take the shreds and put them in the skip or would you try and burn them on a bonfire do you think?

 

[JohnD]

I would put the shredded material on the compost heap.

If woody, it will take longer to rot down as a mulch.

I have used woodchip horse bedding as a mulch, and it takes around a year, with larger chips remaing after the worms have taken the small stuff.

If you have a lot, you can layer it six inches deep round your shrubs and larger plants, it will suppress weeds and rot down. It may encourage useful wildlife like hedgehogs and slow-worms. It is mostly gone by the time you are ready for the next year's planting.

Green material like grass cuttings packs down very fast, but looks better dried or composted and turned before use.

Grass cuttings or green waste mixed with chopped woody material gives a balanced compost and accelerates its breakdown

 

[Tigercubrider]

My local authority charges £70 for a brown garden waste wheelie bin, or £1 per paper sack.
I have a cheap shredder and it's amazing what bulk is saved once shredded, so I use maybe 20 bags a year if I am going for it.
You could sprinkle the shredded stuff as a top dressing but it depends on content.

A mate bought a powerful shredder because a gardener wanted too much to remove a hedge and trees, shredded into a big builders bag and saved a fortune, But you'd need a big one.
I've found allowing stuff to dry makes it easier on my machine - so a few days in the sun first before shredding.

Have a go with the borrowed one and consider a weekend hire of a bigger one

 

[kettlejim]

My local authority charges £70 for a brown garden waste wheelie bin, or £1 per paper sack.

So you mean one of the brown garden waste wheelie bins are being charged £70 to dispose of? Have you ever paid £70? That's nothing short of scandalous if you ask me

I have a cheap shredder and it's amazing what bulk is saved once shredded, so I use maybe 20 bags a year if I am going for it.
You could sprinkle the shredded stuff as a top dressing but it depends on content.

Thanks for the suggestion - I will collect the more twiggy type of material and take that back home to be shredded - and it sounds like that would greatly help condensing the bulk if it goes to the skip

Have a go with the borrowed one and consider a weekend hire of a bigger one

I'm definitely going to give that a go

I would put the shredded material on the compost heap. Depending on the country you are in, your local council may offer a periodic collection of a garden waste bin.

Yes mine do offer a brown garden waste wheelie bin collection once every two weeks so I'll use that as well

 

[JohnD]

Yes mine do offer a brown garden waste wheelie bin collection once every two weeks so I'll use that as well

use it for the stuff that will not easily compost

 

[SFK]

brown garden waste wheelie bins are being charged £70 to dispose o

£40 per year by my council --- bin collected every two weeks, so about £2 a collection.

 

[just pumps]

That's a very good idea. I've got access to a shredder I could borrow. So would you then take the shreds and put them in the skip or would you try and burn them on a bonfire do you think?

Place the shredded green bits in a bag, place bag inside a trouser leg and go for a walk Jim, stopping to shake a leg every now and then, nobody will notice!

 

[mikeey84]

I invested in some woven plastic sacks for tip trips with green waste. They tend to last a Yr or 2 if looked after, and can be reused.

Called woven rubble or woven polypropylene sacks or bags

 

[pcaouolte]

Wilko do these for £2.50. Reasonably sturdy, they last a few years. https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-square-garden-bag-125l/p/0299016

 

[Tigercubrider]

£65 for brown wheelie bin fortnightly collections
Sacks are now £1.10

 

[kettlejim]

£65 for brown wheelie bin fortnightly collections
Sacks are now £1.10

So that's charged "per fortnight"?? That's not something I've heard of before - of all rubbish that's the most easily type of rubbish to be disposed of as it's organic, natural and nontoxic

 

[JP_]

Pile it up, let it dry, burn it.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Collections are every two weeks