I have a big garden in the middle of a forest, (in France) part of which is mine too. So I have a heap in the forest for anything I can't compost, such as rose prunings and bindweed roots. I have 6 compost bins, another heap behind the wall at the end of the flower garden for weeds, a manure heap for the horses, 2 leaf piles for mulch and I go to the tip with old broken garden tools and machinery. I used to burn woody stuff but the French gov. have forbidden bonfires, drat them.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Most goes on my compost heap but the council gets anything that would take more than a year to break down such as rose prunings and fat ivy twigs. Anything else, I keep. I never put soil in the bin as that cannot be replaced. I would never trust council compost as you don't know where it's been
Be super organised and divide into piles for shredding, composting etc.
I'm pretty do much the same as others. I compost everything I can easily - but no teabags as too much plastic in them, no rose/big hedge/ prunings. I am considering getting a chipper as I would rather not send much off to the council except noxious weeds and I have v few of those. I try and keep as much tree wood clippings as possible and use it for wood stove kindling; leaves for leaf mulch. We have just gone over to a 'pay for' council garden bin system from hessian bags. It's a pain in the butt; the bin is too small and rose cuttings etc too unwieldy to fit (hence the desire for a chipper). Most gardening neighbours on my street are now doing trips to the dump instead of having a bin. #Take Britain Back(wards)
We have a 70' back garden and not much at the front, so our strategy is: - kitchen waste and small amounts of garden waste in an easy-to-access compost bin - bulk garden waste in a second compost bin that's tucked out of the way (e.g. when we go through and trim lots of shrubs etc) - two large plastic crates to store any additional/woody waste and take them to the tip (~1 trip per year)
The council collect garden waste for an additional charge, but it feels expensive considering how infrequently we would use it.
We are provided with a small caddy which you line with biodegradable bags for our kitchen waste (strictly no meat products) These go in the brown bin with any garden waste. This is collected fortnightly along with the blue bin for paper, cans, bottles etc. Heck we can even recycle small electrical items (irons, toasters etc) in this blue bin. Then there is the black bin for everything else and collected alternately with the others. I find we generate very little "black" waste. No charge for this. I have a small garden and no room for a compost bin but then I probably wouldn't have enough waste to compost.
Be super organised and divide into piles for shredding, composting etc.
250 square meter garden, about 5 square meter in the northwest corner is an area for compost heap, mulch, grass sods, bigger trunks and stumps et cetera. I love that area. I usually build up a pyre of uncompostable waste and have a bonfire every other month or so, which luckily we can do where we live. Ashes get reused. Only things like celandine, ground elder, oxalis corniculata, spanish bluebell and other rampant spreaders go in the compost bin (actually not always -- sometimes on the pyre), and I have mild reservations about that. I'm not convinced that the famed recycling centre compost heat always gets rids of them.
Be super organised and divide into piles for shredding, composting etc.
Grass cuttings mostly go to the tip; too many to compost but I add the odd barrowful to the compost bins now and again to get some moisture going. Little branches are shredded and composted or used as path material or mulch. Bigger branches are burned in the stove. Non compostable food waste goes in the dog. This week-end, after the bogland clearances, we had a bonfire. There was just too much to do anything else.
Be super organised and divide into piles for shredding, composting etc.
I have a couple of compost heaps which I use for grass, peelings and annual weeds. Small woody twigs and such I make into piles around our boundary for wildlife. Perennial weeds and large woody stuff go on a bonfire. Leaves are collected into a chicken wire cage. As for council collections we have a fortnightly grey bin collection for household waste and a fortnightly collection for recycling. Plastic bottles No.1 and 2, cardboard, paper, glass, tins and aluminium drink cans and textiles. During the winter I use some of the paper for lighting fires and bones get added when the fire is nice and hot. The chickens also help out with recycling kitchen waste.
Feeling quite lucky after reading others posts about extra charges, lack of bins and infrequent collections.
Our green bin which takes garden and food waste is collected weekly Mar-Oct, and fortnightly over the winter months. There's a choice of two sizes for all the recycling bins 140 or 240 litres and you can get extra bins if needed at no extra cost.
Manchester council supplies households with these wheelie bins, all included in your council tax.
Grey: general household waste = landfill. Blue: paper/cardboard = recycled. Brown: glass/cans etc = recycled. Green: garden and food waste = composted. We also get the kitchen caddy with biodegradable bin liners.
I have a very small garden, no room for a compost heap.
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I would never trust council compost as you don't know where it's been
Ive got a metre square for compost, a leaf pile and a plastic completed on the go.
signed up for council collection but it’s only one wheelie bin per fortnight, so I foresee a bonfire in my near future.
Im also converting branches into weaved fence, and old wood into planters. But it’s time consuming.
- kitchen waste and small amounts of garden waste in an easy-to-access compost bin
- bulk garden waste in a second compost bin that's tucked out of the way (e.g. when we go through and trim lots of shrubs etc)
- two large plastic crates to store any additional/woody waste and take them to the tip (~1 trip per year)
The council collect garden waste for an additional charge, but it feels expensive considering how infrequently we would use it.
No charge for this.
I have a small garden and no room for a compost bin but then I probably wouldn't have enough waste to compost.
Little branches are shredded and composted or used as path material or mulch.
Bigger branches are burned in the stove.
Non compostable food waste goes in the dog.
This week-end, after the bogland clearances, we had a bonfire. There was just too much to do anything else.
Our green bin which takes garden and food waste is collected weekly Mar-Oct, and fortnightly over the winter months. There's a choice of two sizes for all the recycling bins 140 or 240 litres and you can get extra bins if needed at no extra cost.
Manchester council supplies households with these wheelie bins, all included in your council tax.
Grey: general household waste = landfill.
Blue: paper/cardboard = recycled.
Brown: glass/cans etc = recycled.
Green: garden and food waste = composted.
We also get the kitchen caddy with biodegradable bin liners.
I have a very small garden, no room for a compost heap.