Getting rid of garden waste?

Chris_121

Never had a garden, cut my grass for the first time the other day, and now I have 5 bags of grass. 
I would be fine to pay for a brown bin however, from what I read you can't just pay for the bin and that's it, they charge you a yearly fee to get rid of your garden waste. 
All the recycling centres near me are shut down too.
What do i do with all this grass? will I get in trouble for putting it in my green bin? are there alternative places that usually take them? Or a way to pay for the bin one off and have them collect it like they do my usual rubbish? does it count as littering if I scatter it over a woodland area?
Thanks 

DD265

It's possible to leave the clippings on the lawn: https://www.lawndoctor.com/blog/grass-clippings-for-lawns/

You shouldn't scatter the waste elsewhere - it can be dangerous to various animals.

Many councils, my own included, are not currently collecting garden waste; you'd need to see what the specific situation is with yours. Do you have the option of starting a compost heap/bin?

Farway

How large is your garden? As above, you could just leave the clippings on the lawn. Or spread thinly over borders for the worms to sort out but compost heap is better bet.

yes you will be in deep poo for putting it in your green bin, at worst the bin will never be emptied until you remove them from it

I have to pay for my green waste, annually, but as you will find out now you have a garden there can be a lot of it at times, tree prunings and the like

Chris_121

It's medium sized, not too big or small, I just took a while to get a lawn mower so the grass got very long before I cut it. It seems scattering it over the lawn is the best option, I don't really know about a compost bin, the garden is just grass for now as I moved in and this whole virus thing started, so not done anything with the garden. 
As for scattering it over the grass, how long does it take to de-compose or will I always have loose grass kicking up when I walk over it? 
thanks 

SootySweep1

Hi
Could you set up a compost heap ?
Jen

Chris_121

SootySweep1 said:

Hi
Could you set up a compost heap ?
Jen

Having not had a garden before I am not really sure what I would do with a compost heap, how long would it take for the grass to turn to compost, does it smell? and what exactly do I do with the compost it produces?  I know these questions probably sound stupid on a forum about gardening but if it saves me 40 quid a year i'm interested. 

Thanks. 

-taff

Grass will compost into quite nice stuff but it will need cardboard [browns - browns are something which composts more slowly and it balances out the squidgyness of green which are more juicy...] too. For a compost area, you don't need a bin, you can just make a heap,  but it looks nicer if it's contained somewhere. You can use the compost on any borders, beds etc that you have.Layer it up, clippings, cardboard etc, then either leave it alone for a year or turn it regularly and you'll have compost within six weeks. You can also put in any green kitchen waste, eggshells, veg peelings, egg boxes etc....

You do need quite a bit of 'brown' with grass otherwise it'll compost into layers and take a lot longer to break down. And no, it doesn't smell.

Soot2006

Before we moved I had a beautiful large lawn, mowed weekly with clippings left in situ. Functions as a very fine mulch and means the lawn always looks good.  You'd be paying a lot more for a "one off" brown bin than the yearly cost though. Lawns need cutting a lot and a well-managed compost heap is a beautiful thing. But if you haven't got space for that, then in most places brown bins are about £50-70/year and well worth the investment.

Ganga

Also do not forget that now you have started cutting/mowing your lawn/grass you will probably need to do it every other 2/3 weeks through out the summer so it is not just one lot of cuttings to get rid of

SootySweep1

Hi
If you google compost heap you'll find lots of guidance on setting up a compost heap.
Have you got an "out of the way" bit to your garden ? You can buy compost bins or it can just be a heap or you can make one out of pallets etc. It needs to be on earth not concrete.
It needs a mixture of different types of garden waste, veg peelings etc. Grass cuttings are very wet so you need to include dryer types of garden waste / cardboard.
The resulting compost goes back into your garden so something for nothing !
Jen

-taff

It doesn't matter if it is on concrete, the worms wlll find a way in. It'll get covered in brown goo though [ alhough if you can collect that stuff, it's an excellent plant food.