Getting rid of garden (green) waste........not so easy as it seems.

[Dave7]

We are blessed (or cursed) with quite large gardens.
I am one of THOSE people who planted conifers 30 years ago. Every few years (in theory) I have them trimmed. This year I needed a metre off the top and the sides needed a haircut.
The result was A LOT of branches.
I needed a large skip..........couldn't believe the cost.......£185 minimum.
Phoned the council........they don't offer that service. I told them "I am quite happy to pay"........they don't offer that service.
So.............
I looked in the local paper and found an ad' for a company specialising in removing such waste. I got the IRC number and checked they were genuine (I bl**dy hate fly tippers).........then phoned them for a quote.
£90.00.
A couple of points..............
The council refusing to help......even at a price..........surely encourages us to use cheap fly tippers.
How can a skip cost £185 but a genuine company can collect & remove it for £90 ??
Finally. If you are tempted........DONT EVER PLANT CONIFERS

 

[vickster]

Whenever I've had tree work done, the contractors have taken away the rubbish as part of the price, never needed a skip

 

[slowmotion]

Round here, all the tree surgeons have those evil machines that turn branches into wood chips. I have no idea what they do with the chips.

 

[screenman]

The skip people pay more to get rid off than the a rubbish removing guys, I had a waste clearence business in Twickenham that I sold on June 27th 1988. The chances of somebody putting just conifer ends in a skip is almost zero, where if the guys load it themselves which will take a few minutes.

 

[JtB]

Just spent several Saturdays cutting back a leylandii in our garden. It's 29 metres in length, 3 metres high and about 1.5 metres thick (after being cut back). Looks quite neat now, but if I leave it for more than a year it starts to look overgrown. Very hard work and as the OP states, not easy getting rid of the cuttings.

 

[classic33]

Round here, all the tree surgeons have those evil machines that turn branches into wood chips. I have no idea what they do with the chips. View attachment 360712

"Green paving", at a cost of course.

Took two tons to the recycling centre in one day. Neighbour wanted rid of them.

 

[ianrauk]

We pay our council (Bromley) £60 a year to collect garden waste fortnightly.

 

[welsh dragon]

We just cut a conifer down at the front of the house as it was far to high. Thank god i have a lot of land. I can get rid of stuff like that easily. Council here doesn't like taking anything anymore. They can hardly be bothered to take normal waste let alone anything else.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Round here, all the tree surgeons have those evil machines that turn branches into wood chips. I have no idea what they do with the chips. View attachment 360712

I keep 3 cubic metres each year for my chickens and for weed suppressant in my garden. The rest (year round) goes to a local estate where it is used for paths, mulch etc. Another tree surgeon I know has an arrangement with a local golf course. The industrial sized guys take it to bio/thermal stations.

 

[Dave7]

Chop the pieces down and put them in the brown bin over a period of many weeks or have a bonfire.

As I said...........IT WAS A LOT...........by the time I finished it would be time to have them cut down again.

 

[Profpointy]

Have a big bonfire then.

Traditional to wait till the neighbours have their washing out before having a stinky fire

 

[Ian H]

We have a triple lock approach: fire, compost and recycle. The local tip is a mile up the road and accepts garden waste (we use builders' tonne bags). We have a large compost bin (which needs emptying). We put what we can through the chipper or the shredder. Other stuff is burned in one of those dustbin incinerators (get a good blaze and you can see the zinc melting off the sides).

The only conifers are yew, so slow growing. I have planted Leylandii in the past–never again.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

We have to pay £2358 for the council to take the waste away. For this princely sum they provide a brown wheelie bin which they are supposed to empty every 3 weeks. They usually fail to turn up on the designated collection day. The bins end up cluttering the pavement for days on end, we often have to record complaints before they will collect. Of course, when they do eventually deign to collect they leave the empty wheelie bins strewn randomly all over the street, we often have to collect ours from outside drives several doors away.
We've now ordered a second brown bin because one isn't enough for 3 weeks worth, 6 weeks if it coincides with us being away on holiday. In a typical display of incompetence they've delivered a second blue bin rather than the requested brown bin. The blue bin is for recyclables so no use at all for garden waste. Another complaint about to be lodged.

 

[summerdays]

We've spent the last 5 years gradually taking out a conifer hedge, a tree or two at a time. The last ones came out in April this year though there are still a couple left elsewhere in the garden but we are gradually getting there. And then some has been seasoned and burnt, and some ended up at a recycling area, we have a couple of those large skip bags

 

[Tim Hall]

We have to pay £2358 for the council to take the waste away. For this princely sum they provide a brown wheelie bin which they are supposed to empty every 3 weeks. They usually fail to turn up on the designated collection day. The bins end up cluttering the pavement for days on end, we often have to record complaints before they will collect. Of course, when they do eventually deign to collect they leave the empty wheelie bins strewn randomly all over the street, we often have to collect ours from outside drives several doors away.
We've now ordered a second brown bin because one isn't enough for 3 weeks worth, 6 weeks if it coincides with us being away on holiday. In a typical display of incompetence they've delivered a second blue bin rather than the requested brown bin. The blue bin is for recyclables so no use at all for garden waste. Another complaint about to be lodged.

Assuming £2358 is per annum, that's £196.50 per month, which sounds like a monthly council tax charge. This covers rather more than refuse collection I would gave thought.