How to recycle garden waste: A complete guide

Posted 1 month ago

Understanding how to recycle garden waste helps households across the United Kingdom reduce landfill use, cut methane emissions and create useful compost. It also helps maintain a tidy garden to show off to your friends and family when they visit. 

This guide covers all the best methods for recycling garden waste, including composting and using green bins. It will also highlight the best skips to help with recycling your garden waste. Whether you’re clearing leaves or completing a garden renovation, knowing how to recycle garden waste can save you time and money whilst helping the environment.

What is garden waste? 

Garden waste is biodegradable materials from gardens or large vegetation areas. Garden waste does not include food waste or any hard materials found in the garden, such as stones and concrete. Garden waste typically includes:

• Grass cuttings
• Leaves
• Hedge trimmings
• Twigs and small branches
• Plants, flowers and weeds

After carrying out regular maintenance work or larger renovations, you may find you have a mountain of garden waste waiting to be dealt with. But how do you recycle garden waste? Let’s find out.

How to recycle garden waste at home

There are several methods to recycle your garden waste at home. These include composting, using green bins and visiting a waste transfer station. There’s also the option to use a skip.

Composting

Composting at home is an ideal way to recycle your garden waste, as you will feel the benefits of doing so yourself. You can compost a wide range of materials using a compost bin or a heap in a sheltered area in your garden.

Those materials can include grass cuttings, leaves, plant trimmings and flower heads. Leaving over a period of time (with regular aeration) will produce nutrient-rich compost, which you can use for your plants.

Council’s green waste collection service

Most councils across the country offer a garden waste collection service. The collection is not covered by council tax, and more than 70% of councils charge for this service. Usually, the bins are collected fortnightly or monthly, depending on your local authority and the time of year.

To find out how to recycle garden waste in your area, check your local council’s website to ensure you are complying with the rules, but accepted items generally include:

• Grass and hedge trimmings
• Leaves
• Small branches
• Dead plants, weeds and flowers

Waste transfer station

A waste transfer station is a location where users can dispose of garden waste and other recyclable materials. The staff at the waste transfer station will then sort the materials into larger containers. Those containers are transported to other environments where they will be recycled.

Our Potters Bar Waste Transfer Station handles over 25,000 tonnes of waste annually, with more than 90% of the collected waste recycled. We accept all vehicle types containing garden waste. To find out how to recycle garden waste at your nearest waste transfer station, check out our locations.

Using a skip for garden waste

When considering how to recycle garden waste, a skip might not be the first option that comes to mind, but it’s an effective method. If you’re carrying out a garden renovation or completing a significant project, hiring a skip helps prevent the garden waste from piling up and getting out of control. In relation to smaller garden jobs, a 4-yard midi skip is ideal for grass cuttings, hedge trimmings, and other small tasks.

If you’re undertaking a large garden project, such as removing a hedge, we recommend using a builder’s skip to be on the safe side. Going a size bigger is usually cheaper than having to order a second smaller skip later. It’s worth remembering that garden waste can be unexpectedly bulky. Check out our guide on what you can and can’t put in a skip during garden maintenance.

At Hurleys Skip Hire, we’re here to support you with professional, reliable skip hire for garden waste. Need help getting started? Contact us today, and we’ll help ensure you fill your skip responsibly.

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