Autumn can produce an extraordinary amount of garden waste in a surprisingly short space of time. One week the garden still looks reasonably tidy; a few windy and wet days later, there are leaves across the lawn, branches on the ground, overflowing borders and a collection of cuttings waiting to be dealt with.
September and October are also popular months for cutting plants back, trimming hedges and getting outdoor spaces under control before winter. All that work leaves another question: what should you actually do with the resulting garden waste?
At Green City Recycling, we provide garden waste clearance across our service area, collecting suitable green and outdoor waste when there is simply too much to deal with yourself.
Don’t Treat All Garden Waste the Same Way
“Garden waste” can describe quite a variety of materials.
A typical autumn tidy-up might produce:
- Fallen leaves
- Hedge trimmings
- Small branches and twigs
- Pruned plants and shrubs
- Grass cuttings
- Weeds
- Dead plants
- Larger branches
- Old plant pots and containers
- Broken garden furniture
- Timber and damaged fencing
- General rubbish that has accumulated outdoors
The first few items are straightforward green waste. Once broken furniture, fencing, plastics and other unwanted objects are added, however, you are dealing with a mixed garden clearance rather than simply a pile of vegetation.
Separating different materials as you work can make the eventual clean-up much easier.
What Can You Do With Fallen Autumn Leaves?
A covering of autumn leaves is perfectly normal, and you don’t necessarily need to throw every leaf away.
Depending on your garden and what you want to achieve, leaves can be collected for composting or used as part of your own garden management. The problem tends to arise when there are simply too many.
Large gardens and properties surrounded by mature trees can generate substantial volumes of leaves throughout autumn. Wet leaves also become considerably less pleasant to handle once they have been sitting in piles for several weeks.
If you’re carrying out a larger seasonal tidy-up, leaves can be gathered together with your other suitable green waste ready for removal.
Branches and Hedge Cuttings Can Soon Build Up
Autumn pruning can leave you with far more material than expected.
A few branches don’t look like much while they are still attached to a tree or shrub. Once everything has been cut back and piled together, the volume becomes much more obvious.
The same applies to hedge trimming. Long hedges can generate a sizeable pile of clippings, particularly if they have grown considerably during spring and summer.
Where practical, keeping branches and vegetation together rather than mixing them immediately with general household rubbish makes the waste easier to identify when arranging a collection.
Compost What You Can
If you already compost at home, some of your autumn garden material may be useful rather than waste.
Suitable garden vegetation can contribute to a home composting system, reducing the amount that needs to leave your property altogether.
However, composting isn’t an instant solution to every autumn clearance. A small compost bin is unlikely to accommodate the results of a major garden cut-back, and many households simply don’t have the space to store large volumes of vegetation.
It therefore makes sense to use your composting capacity for suitable material and arrange another solution for the excess.
Don’t Forget the Non-Green Garden Rubbish
An autumn garden tidy often uncovers considerably more than leaves.
Once summer is over, you might find broken plant pots behind the shed, damaged outdoor furniture, unwanted timber, children’s outdoor items, old containers or rubbish that has gradually accumulated around the garden.
This is where a seasonal tidy can turn into a proper garden clearance.
Take the opportunity to decide what is genuinely worth keeping. There is little benefit in carefully putting a broken chair, split planter or rotten piece of timber back into storage for another winter if you already know it won’t be used again.
Be Careful With Chemicals and Unknown Containers
Garden sheds and garages have a habit of accumulating half-used products.
If your autumn clearance uncovers pesticides, oils, chemicals, solvents or unidentified liquids, don’t simply add them to your normal garden rubbish.
Green City Recycling does not collect hazardous materials such as asbestos, oils, chemicals and medical waste. Certain materials require specialist handling and disposal.
Our Hazardous Waste Guidance explains more about materials that cannot be included in a normal clearance.
Autumn Is a Good Time to Deal With an Overloaded Shed
While you’re clearing the garden, take a look inside the shed too.
If reaching the lawnmower requires climbing over three broken chairs, an unused barbecue and something you’ve been meaning to take to the tip since 2023, autumn may be the time to finally sort it out.
Separate useful tools and equipment first. Then identify anything that can be reused, recycled or disposed of.
If the shed itself has reached the end of its useful life, Green City Recycling also provides a shed removal service for suitable projects.
What About Soil, Rubble and Landscaping Waste?
Not everything produced during garden work is green waste.
Replacing paving, removing an old wall, digging out landscaping or carrying out other outdoor improvements can produce soil, bricks, concrete and rubble. These materials are considerably heavier than leaves and hedge cuttings, even when the pile looks relatively small.
Tell us about heavy materials when requesting a quotation rather than simply describing everything as “garden waste”.
If your autumn project involves construction or landscaping debris, our building and construction waste removal service may be more appropriate.
Do You Need a Skip for an Autumn Garden Clearance?
Not necessarily.
A skip can make sense for some projects, but it isn’t the only way to remove garden waste. With a collection service, you don’t need to have a container sitting outside while you gradually fill it, and there is no skip permit required for roadside loading.
Green City Recycling charges according to the amount of waste that needs clearing, with labour and recycling fees included.
If you’re deciding between the two approaches, our guide to skip hire vs waste collection explains the differences in more detail.
Getting the Garden Under Control Before Winter
Autumn garden clearance doesn’t have to mean stripping everything back and producing an immaculate outdoor space.
Sometimes it is simply about getting things manageable again.
Collect the fallen branches. Deal with the mountain of hedge cuttings. Remove the broken furniture you’ve been walking around all summer. Sort out the pile beside the shed. Keep what can still be used, compost suitable vegetation where practical and arrange responsible removal for everything else.
It means there is less rubbish sitting outside through months of wet winter weather and gives you a much better starting point when the garden begins growing again next spring.
Garden Waste Clearance With Green City Recycling
If your autumn tidy-up produces more waste than you can reasonably deal with yourself, Green City Recycling can help.
Our clearance services cover a wide variety of domestic and outdoor waste, including suitable green waste, branches, unwanted garden items and rubbish generated while reclaiming neglected outdoor spaces.
We are fully licensed and insured, and we continually look for responsible recycling and disposal routes to reduce the amount of suitable material sent unnecessarily to landfill.
Whether you’ve spent a weekend pruning and tidying or finally decided to tackle a garden that has been getting progressively more cluttered all year, contact Green City Recycling for a free, no obligation quotation.