POLL - What do you do with waste and why - Forum

I'd like to build up a picture of how LJN members process wate

1) Leave it on site to decompose or burn. Building waste left in pile or buried

2) Remove in van/trailer and take to tip/waste processors

3) Chip/shred and leave on site

4) Chip/shred and remove

5) Remove from site and dispose of down shaggers lane

6) skip

I think it would be useful to know totals of who does what and why.

For me it is a mixture of 1,2 and 6 as i dont have a chipper and never go down shaggers lane. I find skips to be prohibitively expensive, but have to use them for building projects. Larger properties usually burn it whereas the smaller ones want it removed (green waste bins dont hold an awful lot). Only two of my clients actually bother to make compost. I need to promote this i think.

I make a point of environmentally friendly disposal of my business waste, so a mixture of one and two here. One customer has the grass clippings spread along the hedge bottoms and in a 'wooded area' at the bottom of the garden, anything else goes in his incinerator for him to burn.

Several customers compost whats suitable.

I normally remove all waste created and for extra charge, some extra green waste created by certain OAP customers who like to do their own borders and flowers (a kind of green waste disposal service).

Now I run a bigger van, I have room in the back for a days waste, so the trailer lives in the yard as a kind of portable skip, only taken out when it needs emptying or for big hedge trimming jobs.

Careful organisation means that my compact ride on will fit in the back of the Transit, avoiding the annoying situation of having to do a 10 mile round trip to the waste site at Organic Recycling at Crowland with a only half full trailer just because the ride on needs to be used.

A friend of mine takes any logs or scrap wood for his wood burner and a farmer has any clean hardcore or soil.

All scrap metal gets collected up and weighed in.

Replies

Dan Frazer Gardening August 10, 2011 at 9:17pm

1. Put it in green bins on domestic jobs

2. Charge domestic jobs extra to remove it if there is too much for the green bin (e.g. larger hedge trimming jobs or tree removal) and take it to a compost facility nearby, pay to dispose of it there

2. Include waste disposal charges in my annual cost for commercial work - almost all commercial work sees me remove any waste arisings and dispose at one of the two local compost facilities

I have a couple of good facilities to take wast to. The cost is not bad so with my 10x5 trailer I don't ever feel the need for a chiper. The labour time spent chipping the waste would outweigh the cost saved by just taking it unchipped even if it means two trips instead of one. I need the trailer emptied regularly as I use it for the ride-on and other machines on occasions.
Philip Blair August 10, 2011 at 9:21pm

Hi Stuart.

I end up removing most waste except for smaller lawns where the customer has a green waste bin. Everything else goes to our local council tip, its free. Living on a farm, the odd load of grass clippings does end up in the manure pit for spreading on the fields later. I have a large 10' * 6' tipping trailer and can fill it most days.

Phil
andy @Doughty Garden Maintenance August 10, 2011 at 9:28pm

i would steer clear of 'shaggers lane' if i was you LOL!!

Pretty much the same as dan above, Take it to a large recycling plant if its big waste, small stuff goes in the customers "brown bin" as it is round here.

Really annoys me when you see stuff fly tipped in lay bys, my father-in-law had a large conifer cut down by a so called tree surgeon, I found it dumped in a lay by near a job of mine 3 miles away! and he paid a cost for removing the waste!!
Adam Pilgrim August 10, 2011 at 9:36pm

I make a point of environmentally friendly disposal of my business waste, so a mixture of one and two here. One customer has the grass clippings spread along the hedge bottoms and in a 'wooded area' at the bottom of the garden, anything else goes in his incinerator for him to burn.

Several customers compost whats suitable.

I normally remove all waste created and for extra charge, some extra green waste created by certain OAP customers who like to do their own borders and flowers (a kind of green waste disposal service).

Now I run a bigger van, I have room in the back for a days waste, so the trailer lives in the yard as a kind of portable skip, only taken out when it needs emptying or for big hedge trimming jobs.

Careful organisation means that my compact ride on will fit in the back of the Transit, avoiding the annoying situation of having to do a 10 mile round trip to the waste site at Organic Recycling at Crowland with a only half full trailer just because the ride on needs to be used.

A friend of mine takes any logs or scrap wood for his wood burner and a farmer has any clean hardcore or soil.

All scrap metal gets collected up and weighed in.
PRO

Paul @ Ashgate Garden Care August 10, 2011 at 9:51pm

1.Green bin
2.Take to local waste disposal facilty
3. Leave for the customer to dispose off.

I only do maintenance so only have green waste.
Chris Auld August 10, 2011 at 10:28pm

Timber over 4" in diameter is given to a local nursery to use as firewood

Branches under 4" are chipped and given to local nursery to be sold as woodchip mulch

All other green waste removed in trailer and dumped in farmers field

Soil, stones, brick rubble, old fencing, etc. disposed of by skip
Neil Petrie BSc Landscape Mgt August 10, 2011 at 11:11pm

Green waste disposed of in a variety of ways: large gardens disposed of on compost heaps, piles in far flung corner or on pile for burning.

Small domestic customers: green waste wheelie bins

Large domestic/commercial: waste transfer station over weigh-bridge

Often use skips too for landscaping jobs and large clearances where too many trips with caged trailer is inefficient use of my day. Cost it into job obviously.
Lawnman August 10, 2011 at 11:21pm

Same here

Paul @ Ashgate Garden Care said:

1.Green bin
2.Take to local waste disposal facilty
3. Leave for the customer to dispose off.

I only do maintenance so only have green waste.
Richard@www.seasons-garden.co.uk August 11, 2011 at 7:54am

All waste is left/disposed of on site via:

Cclient's compost heap/bin

Shredded

Emptied into green waste council bins or bags

All other larger waste is skipped.

I stopped taking waste away some while back as was not enough profit in it for the effort/time involved.
PRO

Stuart @ Eco Garden Maintenance August 11, 2011 at 8:06am

Thanks guys. I will let this thread run for a week and try and do some sort of analysis - nothing fancy mind. Its a shame some sort of revenue cant be made out of waste disposal for people like us.