Hi all, I'm looking for a littile advice; I'm trying to weigh up the pros and cons of investing in a shredder for managing garden waste.
At the moment I bag up (builders bags) quite a bit of garden waste, hedge cuttings from garden clearences, winter tidys etc. etc. which is disposed of at the local council tip; the cost for this is passed on to my customers. It's a bit time consuming filling the bags, often cutting down the waste first, before we fill them.
Would somthing like an Eliet Maestro Shredder make life any easier, would shredding the waste before bagging it save any time? I'm looking at the Maestro as this will fit in the van, and affords better access to gardens.
I know some gardeners sell the mulch or dispose of it in the customers garden, realistically I cant see this happening that often, so I'll still be charging the customer and visiting the tip.
As background, I'm a one man one van band with an employee who works for me 2 days a week.
Many Thanks
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We have the major shredder and we chop it up and stick it on customers compost heaps, works well for us and the machine has never let us down in 10 years!
Thanks, I guess the smaller maestro could do the same job, albeit slower?
I was in the same predicament recently and was recommended a major 4s, I did enquire about the others but was told that they would break my heart, I got a good deal on the major 4s and my intention was to run all cuttings through it however after pushing small clippings through it for a day I’m not sure it is of much benefit in that scenario, however I have used it to reduce larger waste and it is fantastic. The accessibility is a great point as I find chipping the waste beside where it falls is great as it reduces a lot of trips from the back garden to front if you can chip it into a bin and then take the bin to the van to empty it if nessescary. And it’s great to be able to go and price large pruning jobs, small tree prunes, removal of small trees or bushes without thinking ‘that there would be 2 hours work and another 3-4 hours across 2 dump runs to dispose of the waste.
yes the major 4s doesn’t have in feed rollers or can get through the waste as quickly as the tow behind machines which I have used in the past but I am glad I bought it, and while I do not use it everyday I still feel it is an invaluable piece of gear
hope you can relate this to your situation to try and help you make the right call!
Many thanks. Great info, good to here first hand experiences. Do you think the Maestro would be up to similar levels of activity as the Major 4?
I can’t comment as I only seen it in a showroom but Drop eliet an email and ask them for a demo on both , I asked for a demo on a prof5 and the major 4 one Sunday evening and a sales rep rung me on the Monday morning! They seemed very happy to give me a demo of the two models, unfortunately after that the process slowed down but I’m based in NI rather than the mainland which I would blame for that!
Major’s can be picked up 2nd hand ex- hire at a reasonable cost. Quick service and at worst new blades (or old ones rotated) and into use. Can be loaded on ramps via side door across baulkhead thus secured easily. No sticky out bits to easily break or damage. Generally bullit proof commercial Honda engine.
I have only used the major so can’t comment but would imagine it’s either slower or can’t chop as big stuff, agree with the comment about it working on big stuff...
i have used the major about 10 years ago onley used it twice then left it in the guarage it was quicker to load the trailor and take it to the bonfire than shred it
it was top heavy so a pain to get into the garden then it was rubbish on leafy thin things about ok on woody stuff the owner had a go with it and it ate half of his rake shaft that he used to push it in with as far as i know it still sits in the guarage unused
Thanks David, good to know. This is my concern; I'm not changing my trips to the tip routine and I'm not convinced a shredder will quicken the process up.
I'd have serious reservations that it will quicken the work. Hire one out first for a week or two . It's the best stress test you can give it. The elites are very good machines. Iv debated buying one but now realise its quicker to load it all in a trailer and dump the lot. I have a 8x6 tipper with 1m high mesh sides,that cost less than the elite.
Best of luck
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