Green Waste

Green Waste is another term for Garden Waste with the two synonyms of each other even though the latter tends to be used more in conjunction with Local Authority Collected Waste. It is estimated from different WRAP and DEFRA data sources and often reported as Organic Waste. In total that there is around 10,600,000 tonnes of Green Waste arisings.

Picture of Garden Waste source 123RF.com

Summary

Green Waste is biological Organic Waste that originates from a garden or from a similar origin such as from horticultural activities or parks etc. WRAP figures for Organic Waste suggest that around 6,400,000 tonnes arise from households, and 4,200,000 tonnes from C&I Waste. The proportion of Local Authority collected Garden Waste for England was 3,800,000 tonnes (and is estimated at around 4,600,000 tonnes for the UK as a whole from Organic Waste data).

Types of Green Waste

Green Waste is usually made up of the following:

• Grass cuttings
• Leaves
• Hedge trimmings
• Prunings
• Flowers
• Branches
• Weeds plants etc

Under Simpler Recycling Garden Waste is defined as all organic material from the garden except:

• ash
• full-sized trees
• invasive weeds and species
• soil
• turf cuttings
• waste products of animal origin

MSW Collection Types

Green Waste is collected as part of a Waste Collection Authority Household Waste Collection Service. It can be collected in a variety of ways, sometimes collected co-mingled with Food Waste Food Comingled Green Comingled and is either collected weekly or fortnightly depending on the service offered by the local Waste Collection Authority and the Collection System Design.

Following the introduction of the Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 as amended Waste Collection Authorities are now able to charge for the collection of Green Waste if they wish to do so. This has led to two types of arrangements being implemented across the country for the collection of Green Waste:

• Free Collection or Green Not Charged - Most authorities initially did not charge their residents for the collection of their Green Waste and those that continue to provide the service with no charge/fee, do so either because of a political reluctance to charge and/or a perception that a charge would lead to a drop in recycling figures or a political desire to retain their position as a 'high achieving recycling authority'.

• Charged Collection or Green Charged - Many authorities have moved to a charged system, mainly driven by a desire to recover the cost of collection from those that use it the most, but also due to the perception that free collection leads to an increase in collected waste and a reduction in, for example, home composting.

The design of a Green Waste collection service by a Waste Collection Authority cannot be taken in isolation and must be considered alongside the collection of the Residual Waste, Dry Mixed Recycling and Food Waste collection service (where these individual services exist) as part of a Collection System Design. In some instances, a Waste Collection Authority may choose to only operate the Green Waste collection service over a certain period i.e. between March-November inclusive or indeed choose to suspend the service for the December/early January “Christmas period”.

Green Waste is also handled by the Waste Disposal Authority at a Household Waste Recycling Centre which allows the public to bring their larger quantities of Green Waste to be bulked up for onward treatment.

Bin systems/approaches mighty include:

• Wheelie Bin
• Reusable Sack
• Compostable Sack

Treatment of Green Waste

Green Waste is generally processed via Composting - either Windrow Composting for separately collected green waste, or In-vessel Composting for green waste mixed with Food Waste (although some Anaerobic Digestion systems can process similar mixed materials). If Food Waste is collected with Green Waste, and the Food Waste is classified as Animal By-product Material then the treatment approach must comply with the associated legislation for this material. Both treatment approaches have the objective of producing a sustainable fertilisers/peat-free compost/soil improvement medium.