What counts as garden waste
Garden waste disposal is simple once you know which kind of waste you have. Green waste is plant material that will rot down. It is composted after collection, so it has to be clean. Plenty of what comes out of a garden is not green waste at all, and putting it in the wrong place can mean a bin is left unemptied or a load is turned away. The split usually looks like this.
- Green waste: grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, prunings, leaves, weeds and dead plants.
- Woody waste: branches, logs and stumps, which may be too large for a garden bin.
- Usually not green waste: soil, turf, stones, rubble, plant pots, fence panels, decking and sheds.
Composting at home
A compost bin or heap costs little and keeps the goodness in your garden. Mix soft green material such as grass and weeds with drier, woodier material such as chopped prunings and dead leaves, and turn it now and then. Composting suits steady, small amounts. It will not cope with a whole hedge in one go or with thick branches, and it takes time to produce anything usable.
Fallen leaves can be bagged or piled on their own to make leaf mould, and woody prunings break down much faster if they are cut small first. Leave cooked food out of the heap. Persistent weeds with roots or seed heads are best kept out of a slow, cool heap as well, since they can survive and spread when the compost is used.
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Send a photo on WhatsApp and we will confirm a clear price before we load. Guide prices start at £155.
Council garden waste collections
Many councils offer a garden waste collection from a dedicated bin, and it is often subscription based. Collections may pause or run less often over winter in some areas. The bin is for green waste only, and crews can refuse one that contains soil, rubble or plastic bags. Check your council's website for what is accepted, how to sign up and whether extra bins are available.
Taking garden waste to the recycling centre
Household waste recycling centres generally accept garden waste from residents and send it for composting. Expect to empty bags into the green waste container, since plastic sacks cannot be composted. Sites often have separate arrangements for soil and rubble, sometimes with limits on how much you can bring, and rules on vans and trailers vary. Several car trips with wet cuttings is hard work, so this route suits a boot load or two more than a full clearance.
Why a bonfire is a poor choice
Burning garden waste is tempting when there is a lot of it. Green and damp material smoulders and produces heavy smoke, which can drift into neighbouring homes and gardens and across roads. Bonfires can cause a nuisance, councils discourage them, and a council can look into complaints about smoke. Painted or treated wood, plastics and household rubbish should never go on a fire. Composting or collection is the better answer.
Soil, rubble, sheds and fencing
Landscaping jobs produce heavy waste that a garden bin is not meant for. Soil, turf, old paving, concrete and broken slabs are best kept in their own pile, away from green waste, so each can be reused or recycled. Brick and concrete are commonly crushed and reused as aggregate. For this kind of load, hardcore waste removal is the service to ask about.
Old fence panels, decking and sheds are usually treated or painted timber, so they should not be composted or burned. Wood that is collected is commonly chipped for reuse or energy recovery, and a wood waste clearance deals with panels, posts and pallets. A shed has to be taken apart before it can be moved, and the base may need lifting too. Our shed removal page covers that job.
Tree work is a separate case. Thick branches, trunks and stumps are heavy, awkward and too big for most garden bins. If a tree surgeon does the cutting, ask whether taking the waste away is included in the price. Waste produced by a trade is business waste, and the person removing it should be a registered waste carrier.
Bigger garden clearances: skip or licensed collection
An overgrown garden can produce far more than the bin or the car can handle. A skip works if you have a drive to put it on and time to fill it yourself, and one placed on a public road normally needs a council permit. Our guide to skip hire versus man and van compares the two. The alternative is a licensed collection, where a team does the carrying and loading. Whoever you pay, check they are a registered waste carrier on the Environment Agency's public register.
Our garden clearance team collects from the garden itself, does all the lifting and loading and tidies up afterwards. Guide prices are by load size and start at £155, and we confirm a clear price before loading. Quotes are free from photos or a description. To get an accurate one, tell us the following.
- Roughly how much there is, counted in bin bags or bulk bags.
- Whether soil, rubble or timber is mixed in with the green waste.
- How the garden is reached from the road.
- Anything that needs dismantling first, such as a shed or a run of fencing.