Garden waste batch incinerator

[johno]

I have a large garden surrounded by Leylandii and will be removing them on a regular basis, however disposing of the evidence is a problem. The green recycling bin only holds half a tree and is emptied once a fortnight, at that rate it will take me years! Not practical to have a bonfire due to layout of garden, but I was told about a home made batch incinerator by a friend. Simply load the beast up, fasten the lid, light it up and away you go. This is not the same as a regular garden incinerator apparently, but I cannot find anything on the web. Any help appreciated. John

[Owain]

Will your council give you extra recycling bins free if you ask? Even better would be a dedicated brown bin if your council has a separate collection of compostables.

Owain

[John]

Your brown bin is our green bin :-)) I have asked for extra but they will not agree. Too far to take it to the recycling centre so that option is out as well.

John

[The Natural Philosopher]

If you have a large garden, hire a chipper and or a chainsaw, and reduce the small sttuff to shreds and the large stuff to logs.

Pile the logs up and use as firewood, or sell as such..and simply leave the small stuff in a pile, or dig a hole and bury it.

It will compost itself.

I managed to dispose of most of a demolished extension, apart from the good bits that I traded as hard core to a farm, for a ton of stable manure..by digging a large hole and burying it. The garden now has a nice rolling aspect and surprsingly, things grow like mad on top of the buried muck.

[John]

As I mentioned in my original post I will be removing them on a regular basis, I don't have the time or energy to do them all in one go. The plan is to remove one or two a week, this would make hiring a shredder/chipper very expensive. I should have pointed out that I am talking about the disposal of the foliage and smaller branches. The larger stuff will be put aside for a later date when we will be reinstating the open fire in the living room. The garden is large but there is no area I would want to bury such a quantity of foliage, I have most of the garden producing food!!

[Andy Dingley]

Saw to 18" or so, then quarter with a splitting wedge or a "log grenade" (these are great for bulk Leylandii). Split one into 1" sticks for kindling, or use the brash.

Burn them in a "guarded" incinerator. It doesn't need to be a sealed box, but it should have some sort of cage to guard against exploding logs. Leylandii is highly resinous and burns ferociously (search back for the E-type Jag story). Load up one log at a time and expect fireworks and sparks. If burning Leylandii in a sealed woodstove, the gases it evolves are flammable. Watch for flare-ups if you open the lid and suddenly allow air in there.

Personally I'd regard this stuff as useful fuel and horde it for camping bonfires (sitting well back!). Most of my camping partners are hippy foresters anyway. If you have to buy something to destroy it, a thin steel dustbin with a chimney is adequate and cheap.

[Rob G]

Yes - I wouldn't recommend it for any form household burning. It is too resinous and consequently flares up/ explodes, plus is likely to deposit tars on the flue.with the hazard of a blocked flue or chimney fire.

If most of your garden is producing food, then there will be areas which have been harvested and will surely be able to take a bonfire. I grow a lot of vegetables too with an area totaling about 25m x 40m under cultivation and always manage the ground in such a way that there is space for a bonfire particularly from now onwards.

Rob

[dennis]

No neighbours? I filled about 4 wheelie bins even after shredding it. Don't underestimate the weight of a wheelie bin full of shreddings and expect an oap neighbour to move it after you have filled it.

[Lobster]

What's wrong with something like:

Not sure what the 'batch' aspect is to what you're seeking (unless it's very much larger, which may be the disadvantage of the above)

David

[John]

As I was explained by a friend a batch incinerator is very similar to a standard garden incinerator, but larger and burns much hotter due to its design, you load it up via the top (pack it tight) replace and secure the lid/chimney and light via a hole at the base. Stand back and watch it go! apparently it burns very hot and produces very little smoke. Looks like a standard garden item will be the way to go and for the larger stuff a habitat pile; sounds too iffy for burning indoors ;-)))

[Owain]

Do you have children who could be taught to weave the branches into wreaths and sell them as christmas decorations?

Alternatively are they far enough from the house you could burn them on the tree, then fell the trunks?

Owain

[Alan]

Works fine - ONCE! After that it quickly rusts away if left outside.

Alan

[John]

No children but I do have neighbours whose garden boundaries mine, don't think they would like me too much if I burned them in situ ;-))))))) (I am not on good terms with them as it is because I keep chickens, but that is another story!!)

The batch incinerator I was described was, according to my friend who I have just phoned, made from an old 45 gallon oil drum with a removable lid/top

[The Medway Handyman]

Unless you spray it with WD40 :-)

[Steve Firth]

Buy one, they're cheap enough.

Oh, also consider re-planting leylandii but keeping them in check this time. They make a really good hedge, better than yew IMO. The only things wrong with leylandii are Daily Mail readers, Guardian readers, radio 4 listeners and other assorted fuckwits who consider "Leylandii" to be pronounced "Antichrist". Keep the height down and trim once or twice a year and you will have a tidy, thick barrier against burglars, stray cats and dogs and your hedge will also filter out noise, dust and pollution.

[Steve Firth]

Leylandii make decent logs, although they burn a bit fast and the branches and foliage make excellent compost when shredded. Why bother burning them prematurely? Cut down, grub out the roots, strip off side branches and shred, then compost the chippings. Leylandii breaks down spectacularly quickly and makes first rate compost.

Take the trunks, saw into sections and burn them over winter, that's winter 2010, not 2009.

[OG]

If you're only going to be burning the smaller stuff, you could probably get yourself a small shredder that will manage what you would otherwise burn. Once shredded, it makes very good mulch/weed suppressor or it can be added to compost heaps.

We got a 2nd hand AL-KO shredder on ebay for about £80 that's seen us well for several years.

[andrew]

This will tend to be smoky, it lacks the basic requirements for a clean burn, the three Ts.

The problem is this sort of thing cannot provide enough secondary air so many products of incomplete combustion are simply vented to atmosphere.

It can be simply modified by the strategic addition of a small centrifugal fan to form a mini air curtain incinerator.

These things need a few minutes to heat up but thereafter as long as the woody waste overages below 50% moisture content they remain visibly clean.

Fresh leylandii foliage will need wilting from 200% moisture content.

AJH

[Tim Decker]

I'll have some of the branches for my pizza oven/self cremator project :)

[Owain]

Maybe if those open air cremations take off ...