Paper leaf bags

[LouisFerdinand]

Do you use paper leaf bags?

 

[La Garden]

No bags, all leaves even twigs end up in the garden.

 

[Chuck]

I will never understand why folks insist on raking and getting rid of leaves. It makes zero sense both economically and enviornmentally. It takes work to rake and bag. If one doesn't have a compost pile or a garden, it is MUCH easier to just mow the leaves a couple of times. These mowed leaves will break down and become fertilizer/compost rapidly

 

[roadrunner]

I've never bought these bags, but I do have quite a collection from going around neighborhoods and collecting bagged leaves for my yard. They are very durable, much more so than you'd expect from paper bags.

 

[Chuck]

I've never bought these bags, but I do have quite a collection from going around neighborhoods and collecting bagged leaves for my yard. They are very durable, much more so than you'd expect from paper bags.

Isn't it nice for all those folks to rake and bag leaves for you? I have never seen these paper bags. Will they compost like regular paper?

 

[Sean Regan]

The problem with leaves, is that you can have too many of them.

For me it's 50/50 half get blown to the back of the borders and allowed to rot down. The other half end up in the "green bin."
Some leaves like those of rhododendrons, don't rot down neither do those from our bamboo, so these are collected and go in the green bin.
We've no room for a composter.

 

[LouisFerdinand]

Isn't it nice for all those folks to rake and bag leaves for you? I have never seen these paper bags. Will they compost like regular paper?

@Chuck, Several years ago City Hall offered the people the advantage of taking their leaves which had been placed in paper leaf bags. The bags do decompose.

 

[Chuck]

@Chuck, Several years ago City Hall offered the people the advantage of taking their leaves which had been placed in paper leaf bags. The bags do decompose.

Then that is a lot better than having those black plastic bags rot and fall into pieces.

 

[roadrunner]

Yes, those bags do decompose, but it takes a long time (not saying that's a bad thing). They don't just fall apart when wet -- very tough.

 

[Chuck]

Yes, those bags do decompose, but it takes a long time (not saying that's a bad thing). They don't just fall apart when wet -- very tough.

How big are these bags? And are they cheaper than black plastic bags? I have about 1,764,501 beer cans that I need to take to the metal yard and sell. I suppose they can be reused?

 

[Sean Regan]

Here in the UK the local council are reasonably well organised.

We have different wheely bins supplied by them for different type of refuse.

Black bin. plastic, glass, metal. (emptied four weekly)
Blue bin, paper and cardboard (emptied four weekly)
Green bin, garden and food refuse (emptied weekly)
Grey bin, non-recyclable refuse (emptied bi-weekly) This bin is only half the size of the others and sometimes I have to compress the contents to get it all in, despite the fact that we have one of these in the kitchen where you can compress the household rubbish.

But we only put stuff in plastic sacks in the grey bin.



Some refuse collectors who are actually employed by councils can be a bit picky as to what goes in what bin. But as long as you don't take liberties, our collectors just get on with the job as they are "contracted out" and are probably on "time and finish," so won't waste their time arguing the toss with householders.

These collections are free, well the charge is part of the council tax. They did start charging £30 extra for the green bin for a couple of years, but this has stopped now.

We have a local authority owned refuse site, where you can take stuff down in your car. There are separate windows for the same types of refuse. But other cages for TVs, Fridges and domestic appliances, wood, clothes and metal. What can be recycled gets done.
Locally, they are free to use, but some councils charge householders a fortune to use this sort of facility.

 

[Sheal]

I live rurally Sean so there's no recycling pick up for garden refuse.

I have no where to put the leaves in my garden and there are far too many to leave on the lawn. Mowing them up is not an option as by the time they fall the lawns are too wet. I usually burn them but with frost early this year they froze solid and wouldn't burn. I've had three sessions raking leaves and they have filled a total of 12 builders bags which I take to the tip for recycling.

 

[roadrunner]

How big are these bags? And are they cheaper than black plastic bags? I have about 1,764,501 beer cans that I need to take to the metal yard and sell. I suppose they can be reused?

I don't know which is cheaper, between paper and plastic bags, since I get both by picking up yard waste from around my neighborhood -- I'll never need to buy bags again

The paper bags are rated at 30 gallons and they will stand on their own as you load them up and you could easily use them time after time for taking cans to the recycling center.

 

[LouisFerdinand]

Here there is a compost site. People can take the paper leaf bags of leaves/weeds there.

 

[Logan]

I will never understand why folks insist on raking and getting rid of leaves. It makes zero sense both economically and enviornmentally

They should be removed from public footpaths, when it gets frosty they turn very slippery.
I don't get leaves in my garden and I've been collecting them from the road up the road for my hedgehog houses that I've built at the back of my back garden.
They don't get collected by the council they just leave them in the gutter to pile up and block the drains.