Garden Clearance in London

Garden waste from plants, trees, grass, and other organic matter is an important waste stream to dispose of properly. Although much of the waste generated in gardens counts as organic, compostable, or ‘green waste’, it still requires treating and processing in the correct way to prevent damage to the environment. This is because green waste releases natural gases as it breaks down which can be harmful if the waste is in landfill and mixed with non-compostable materials like plastic.

In London, the amount of organic waste generated from gardens increases in the suburbs, however there is still a fair amount generated in more built-up areas, especially those housing complexes with individual front gardens or shared greens. Leaves, twigs, grass cuttings and fallen branches are among the most common materials collected from garden clearances, and this organic waste can provide a nutrient rich resource for the soil, supporting new growth and used as a soil improver in agriculture and landscaping.

The other most common waste type that is collected from garden clearance is ‘inert’ or heavy waste such as hardcore, gravel, subsoil, sand, and clay. This is produced from landscaping the garden by hand or machine, or if there are building works taking place such as conservatory and extension building or shed installation. This type of garden waste removal can be labour intensive due to the weight of the waste materials and may require a heavy waste skip if there are more than several sacks to remove.

Apart from green waste and heavy ground waste, almost every other type of waste material can end up in the garden, from general litter such as food wrappers to scrap metal from cars and bikes. Because of the way that organic green waste breaks down, it is important to segregate this waste from other types of rubbish, and most borough councils in London offer a garden waste subscription service for around £65 per year for residents to collect trimmings from overgrown garden clearance.

For most people, the local authority garden clearances are not the most economical option if they are not producing large amounts of green waste on a regular basis. Many people undertake garden maintenance only once or twice a year and paying for an annual garden waste subscription does not make sense for them. Some councils provide the option of neighbouring residents sharing the cost of the garden waste bin; however, this could also prove impractical under many circumstances, especially within the local authority limitations for what can be accepted.

At Wayst we provide one off and ad hoc garden waste removal, including garden clearing services and garden rubbish clearance of every waste type. We provide professional garden clearance teams who can do as little or as much as is needed from sorting and segregating the waste in the garden to breaking down branches and other pre-cut green waste, and provide the loading of the garden waste from the garden onto the truck for disposal. Our teams meet the Wayst standards for health and safety, and carry the right tools for the job, including gardening waste bags to clear rubbish effectively and for easy loading onto the van.

Do you need help with garden clearance in London? If so, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

General mixed waste and litter from the removal of garden rubbish can contain both recyclable plastic and residual non-recyclable plastic waste such as food wrappers and clingfilm. Recyclable plastics take hundreds of years to break down if they end up going into landfill and never fully compost, leaving tiny plastic particles in the water and the soil, so it is especially important to separate and treat plastics from garden waste removal. Any pre-cut trimmings and bagged green waste should also be free of all other non-organic materials, as it is transferred to composting sites where it decomposes in warm temperatures for use in soil enrichment and farming.

Garden furniture is also a typical waste type found in garden waste removals and is typically made out of both metal and wood, which is easily recycled if segregated and due to the size and weight the work may involve heavy lifting.

Clearing an overgrown garden may involve cutting, trimming, and digging out plants and weeds, as well as sawing branches into smaller parts to be bagged and transported. As a general guide it will take a team of two people one day to clear a back garden covering an area of roughly 10 square meters, including any loose litter picking, bagging up organic waste, and breaking down twigs and branches to go into green waste sacks. Wayst works with professional garden clearance experts who provide a safe and efficient service for dealing with all types of garden waste including green waste, which we ensure is segregated from other waste streams before transporting it to the appropriate composting facility.

If you have a lot of heavy inert waste in your garden such as sand and soil, then it is more cost effective to hire a segregated waste skip specifically for heavy waste types, however you will not benefit from the labour assistance. Any skip container measuring 8 yards or less can hold soil and other heavy waste materials up to the edge of the sides, and most people find that a 4 or 6 yard skip is appropriate for managing inert waste from an average sized garden.

Garden clearance is normally charged by the hour and priced by the job depending on what needs to be cleared, (normally about £30-35+VAT per hour). When booking garden rubbish removal with Wayst, it really helps our teams when customers send photos and provide rough measurements of the areas that need clearing, as we can give them a far more accurate quote for the removal of garden rubbish and/or overgrown garden clearance. It will normally take two people half a day to clear an area of 5 square meters where trees and plants require uprooting, compared with roughly 1.5 hours to litter pick and bag garden waste, and only half an hour to remove bags and carry out general garden tidying.

Garden clearance prices will vary between service providers depending on how flexible they can be, although you should be wary of companies offering to remove garden rubbish at significantly reduced prices as they may not be following best practice in accordance with Environmental Agency guidelines. You can cross check companies on the environmental agency website by searching the company name or registered company number, to see if they are a licensed waste carrier.

After garden waste is removed from a residential premise it may be taken to a household waste and recycling center (RRC), a privately operated waste transfer station, or an energy recovery facility (ERF). Items such as logs, heavy branches and high-grade wood can be reused by breaking them down into different sized wood chippings for use in landscaping and gardens, or for reprocessing into new products and materials.

Other organic waste such as plants, leaves and grass cuttings are sent to a recycling facility to be shredded and recycled into compost. The shredded material is laid into rows to decompose at high temperatures, where it is more easily broken down by bacteria and other microorganisms. The compost is then measured and graded before being bagged and used in a variety of soil improvement projects.

Garden furniture can either be reused or broken down for recycling.

Residual, non-recyclable plastic waste leftover from garden clearances can then be sent to an energy recovery facility where it is incinerated at high temperatures and used to generate steam which is then fed to the national grid to produce electricity for homes and businesses. The process of deriving energy from waste uses complex cutting edge technology and is aided by using various chemicals to neutralise emissions coming from inside the facility, and to power the facility itself. Many energy recovery facilities are helping to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, and provide thousands of homes with electricity throughout London.