If you are eco-conscious, you’re probably interested in reducing your carbon footprint for the planet. A great way to do this is to learn about the ways you can properly dispose of your residential yard waste. While you know about reusing and recycling household items, you may be at a loss about what to do with your yard waste. Fortunately, there are several tips and tricks you can use to help the planet by handling yard waste properly.
Use Compost Trash Bags for Yard Waste
If you need to gather your yard or garden waste for disposal, you may want to consider using compost trash bags.
Compost trash bags are usually made with organic plant material that will break down along with the waste in the bag. This is an eco-friendly option to handle big jobs. Compost trash bags can be bought online or at home improvement stores.
You may be able to find a community collection site for yard waste. Some cities and towns may have bi-weekly or monthly collection sites. Compost trash bags can be used and collection sites make for easy disposal.
Consider a Compost Pile for Yard Waste
Instead of removing yard waste, it’s possible to reuse it in a way that will give back to the environment, like building a compost pile.
Compost piles are a good way to naturally get rid of yard waste. If you garden or want to further separate your food waste such as eggshells and coffee grounds, composing is a great option.
By adding yard waste to your compost pile, you will be able to use an effective, eco-friendly waste management method.
The Best Compost Set Up
There are several ways you can set up a compost pile. The easiest and most effective is to build or purchase a large wooden crate that is at least three by three feet.
The wooden crate will hold all of your compost materials, such as grass clippings, branches, leaves, certain types of food waste, dirt, and more. Ideally, you want to set up your compost pile as far away from your house as possible, so the backyard is often a good choice.
How to Speed Up Your Compost
A compost pile works by gradually breaking down organic material into nutrient-dense soil that you can repurpose in other areas of your yard or garden.
In general, it usually takes about six to 12 months for any waste put into a compost pile to break down sufficiently. You can speed up your compost pile by ensuring that the pile is kept moist. Diversifying your compost can also speed up the process, as food waste will all cause faster decomposition.
Try Safe Burning
You may also want to try safe, controlled burning as permitted by your county.
Burning yard waste can be a convenient method of removal if you don’t have a compost pile and can’t arrange for a bulk pickup.
If you’re trying the safe burning method, be sure to look up the best way as to minimize your impact on the environment.
The ash from burned yard waste will have essential nutrients that can benefit any plants you have in your yard. You can add the ash to a compost pile, spread it through your garden, or mix it into the soil for indoor plants.
Leave Grass Clippings Alone
One of the biggest activities that generate a large amount of yard waste is grass clippings from mowing your lawn.
Many lawn mowers are built with an automatic collector, such as a bag attached to the lawnmower. This may not be the best way to handle your grass clippings. Grass clippings are a good source of natural nutrients, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
You can use the nutrients that come from the decomposition of your grass clippings to encourage the growth of new grass. For optimal results, taller grass should be mowed over twice and clumps of grass should be raked over to reduce damage to your lawn.
Reuse Yard Waste
If composting isn’t your thing, you can also think about reusing certain types of yard waste.
In particular, there are two ways that you can reuse wood. You can use a wood chipper to create mulch for your garden, flower beds, or children’s play areas.
Larger pieces of wood can be reused as firewood for your fireplace or bonfire. You can even use small to medium size branches as kindling.
Panhandle Pick-Up Rules
It’s important to know the rules of your residential waste service.
Using compost trash bags may only be an option if your residential pickup service offers the removal of yard waste. If your residential pickup service does not offer this option, then you may need a different solution for handling waste from your yard.
Why Roll-Off Dumpsters Are a Good Idea
At Panhandle Dumpsters, our regular trash pickup does not support the removal of yard waste and it is against the policy of the trash collection service to throw yard waste away with regular trash.
That said, one of the best options to remove yard waste from your home is to rent a roll-off dumpster, or schedule a bulk pickup.
Both of these options are a good way to get rid of large amounts of waste at one time. You can even organize a neighborhood cleanup project to remove waste from the neighborhood and make the most of your roll-off dumpster. This can be a good option to use after storms or the winter, which is typically when larger amounts of yard waste are produced.
Getting rid of yard waste is a little more complicated than sorting other types of rubbish. While it’s easy to separate food waste from recyclables, getting rid of yard waste often has special rules from your residential trash pickup service. Some ways you may handle yard waste can include creating a compost pile, finding a community collection site, or reusing your yard waste for your garden.
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