How do you all dispose of your hedge trimmings?

[Rosemaryandlavender1]

We have lots of large hedges going most of the way around our garden aswell as the front garden
This weekend they have all been trimmed front and back and we now have three huge bags full of hedge trimmings and one grey bin.
The bin is only collected fortnightly so even if we were to keep re-filling it the waste would stay in our garden for quite some time.
Its far too heavy for us to pick up and take to the landfill and neither is our car big enough. I was wondering what everyone else does
Thank you

@CJ0374 it's abit odd though as the other side of our garden on side is a public footpath and we had a letter from the council instructing us to trim the hedges on the outside.
Both houses on either side got the letter. It didn't mention that it shouldn't be done right now

They are still huge hedges they have just been neatened. The reason it's alot is because there's so many of them all the way round.
And I still have plenty of birds in the garden and I can still here them in the hedges when I go out

I have this problem too. It's multiple tip runs, asking if I can use neighbours bins if they have space or paying somebody to do a tip run for you. I wouldn't expect to pay more than £50 for that.

Thanks if I found someone who would do it for £50, I wouldn't hesitate to have them take it

One of the lovley neighbours who has been here for alot longer knows some of the local gardeners who also collects waste, and she has kindly said she will ask for me
Thanks all

"Yes, there is a ban on cutting hedges between March and August (or was until the end of 2023 when the regulations lapsed) but that only applies to subsidised or protected agricultural land. The regulations protecting hedgerows in the countryside don’t apply to hedges in or marking the boundary of gardens."

https://protectthewild.org.uk/campaign/illegal-to-cut-a-hedge-in-spring-yes-and-no/

We just chuck it under the hedge.

We have a special mulcher on the mower, so mowing them with that on throws it off to one side, so we just mow so that it gets thrown under the hedge itself.

If it is too little to put the mulcher on the mower, we just rake it under the hedge.

We have around 400m of mature laurel around our garden and maintain half of it on both sides, so it is no mean feat and far too much like hard work to take it to the tip.

@Rosemaryandlavender1 I know you have found a solution but those bags are huge. We have 1/3 tonne bags which are far more manageable and we can get 3 in the car at once. Lots of people have commented on them when they see us using those at the tip (they go in garden trimmings) and they are still lugging a 1 tonne bag. Ours were off ebay and the best thing we bought for garden trimmings.

We’ve lot of hedge and big shrubs, was such a pain to chop up the trimmings and cart to the tip, I mean lots and lots of bagfuls. Four years ago invested in a chipper, what a revelation. As we trim or prune the stuff goes straight through the chipper, and the bucket is emptied straight onto the compost or else used as a mulch. Game changer. So much quicker than chopping and bagging up. And therapeutic feeding the machine and seeing it chewing everything up.

You can put hedge trimmings on grass and just push your mower over them, that’ll chop them into a manageable size. It obviously doesn’t help with the weight though.

And you can get extra strong gardening bin liners in supermarkets. Or those blue IKEA bags are pretty strong.

OP, DEFRA rules only apply to farmers and a few other specific businesses/land areas and not to domestic gardens, so don't worry about that.

Spent £150 on a shredder and use the shredded stuff as mulch.

Start a compost heap and put them in.

I put them in the once a fortnight green bins, takes ages but you eventually get there

The DEFRA rules referred to by a PP mostly apply to hedgerows on agricultural land. There are several exemptions to those rules one of which is:
Boundaries of a private garden The hedgerow is within the curtilage of a dwelling house. Or the hedgerow marks the boundary of the curtilage of a dwelling house (this applies to both sides of the hedgerow).

So they don't apply to residential property hedges.

In answer to your original question. I would have bagged it in bags that were liftable and fitted in the car. Ask any neighbours if they have any space in their garden waste bins for the next few weeks. And decant it in to smaller bags that are liftable and will fit in your car. Over the course of a few weeks you should manage to shift most of it.

Next time, tell whoever is doing the cutting that it needs to be in smaller lighter bags, or they need to dispose of it themselves.

You can trim your hedges, yes. But should you avoid doing it during nesting season if you can? Also yes! It isnt just about birds nesting, which are more visible, but pollinators too. We are so reliant upon nature for our own survival, and yet are so quick to dismiss their needs and do what suits us because it is quicker/easier

You’re allowed to cut them but recommended not to. The Act making it an offence to disturb a nesting bird includes “recklessly” disturbing them, in other words, disturbing them because you haven’t spotted the nest

The clue here that this doesn't apply to domestic gardens is the bit about grass leys and sowing OSR!

However - can hedges in domestic gardens be cut nesting season : yes unless you are disturbing nesting birds.

SHOULD you cut hedges in domestic gardens during nesting season: try not to too much. Even of there aren't any active nests big bushy hedges are wonderful hiding places for small birds that are really struggling at the moment, some are great for pollinators and insects that are food for the birds, and nearly all of them help create highways and shelter for small mammals.

@Scrowy Thankyou for being yet another poster telling me this! Yes, I clicked on the wrong link about nesting birds and that particular advice doesn't legally apply to domestic settings.

We just put in green bin over time but council have an option to buy more green bins, bin is free and £50ish per year for extra collection.

It's only our first year in the house and have never had a garden with hedges before so I didn't know about any of this and neither did the gardener mention.
However, now that I have been made aware on here I will keep it in mind for future.

I was commenting more to those fervently saying to go ahead and trim regardless, and to get the information out there, not to make you feel bad. Once we know better, we do better, and all that!

Congratulations on the new house!

@Wizardcalledoz thank you 🥰