grass clippings?

[Hank Fletcher]

Just thought I'd throw this out there, because now that I've recently bought my own house, I also have to mow the lawn again!

Where I live, compost material is collected every two weeks, so we put everything from banana peels to lawn clippings in a big (roughly 1m cube) plastic container and wheel it out to the curb for pickup. When I mow the front lawn, I empty the grass into the container (about three bags full - hey, isn't there a song about that?).

What blows me away is how much heat the cut grass in the container generates. After a day, it's well over 50 degrees Celsius inside the container, and the grass is almost too hot to keep your hand buried in it. That's pretty incredible considering the nights in June around here still get to below 10 Celsius. I guess there's a lot of insulation from the grass outside for the stuff closer to the middle?

Seems to me that this would make a cool science project if you could somehow turn the heat energy into electricity. Admittedly in might not be a lot (although like I said, it's a whole lot more than I expected!), but it certainly would be enough to power, for instance, a bright LED light on top of the container. That way, when the container is put out by the road the previous evening to pick up, it's easily visible to motorists. Just an idea, and anyone who's willing to explore it is welcome to take it as their own.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The composting action generates heat, if you go to where it's processed they will have heat sensors monitoring the process to keep an eye on how it's doing.

 

[mneary]

Composting also generates lots of of methane, which they are hopefully capturing.

 

[ericgibbs]

hi Hank,
In the Portsmouth area of the UK, we cannot put 'garden waste' of any kind in the re-cycle bin, only cans, plastics and paper.
[no yellow page phone books, they cant get the yellow dye out], and a long list of Do's/Dont's.

They used to collect garden waste with the weekly waste, but now we have to take all garden waste to a central composting site in the area.
They say its more 'green'....... its just cost cutting.
Can you imagine all the pollution from our cars as we tote the garden waste back and forth.

The local council have 'refuse bin police', who randomly, actually go thru our bins to see that you are not cheating,
if so, you have to pay a fine!.

The latest refuse bins are fitted with micro-chip ID's, they are going to start scanning the bins, on the collection lorry,
so we will have to pay a charge proportional to refuse weight.

 

[Hank Fletcher]

We have the inverse here: separate collection for garden/compost and household trash, but we have to take our recycling to central locations. The central location thing isn't so bad here, because the drop-off bins are kept in the grocery stores' parking lots: you're going there anyway, just drop your recycling off when you pick up your groceries. Everything's recycled here except for glass, which kind of took me by surprise. The reasoning is that it's relatively benign landfill, but to me it's just an indication of a market that hasn't been exploited here yet. The glass industry in New Brunswick has never kicked off the ground, as my Dad can attest. They tried to build a fibreglass plant here in the early 1980s, but had to close it 6 months later because no one would show up for work (they all buggered off during moose hunting season!). But I digress...

As to your garbage police, England always seems to get fussier than over here when it comes to regulating the public. I noticed when I was there last that there were just starting to add greater road tax to folks driving larger vehicles in urban areas (part of the reason being greater polution, part being greater obstruction to visibility). How's that going? Seems like a good idea to me. Minivans are still all too popular around here: they're cheap, they block the road, and they seem to invariably be driven by the worst drivers on the road. Sorry, I'm biased on that 'cause I got clipped by some minivan jackass making a right hand turn once. Maroon seems to be the worst colour, by the way. But I digress again...

 

[ericgibbs]

hi,
Glass 'bottle banks' have been a fixture for some time in our shopping centre car parks, green, brown and clear having separate chutes.

The 4 by 4 drivers are being hit hardest, in London they are paying more per year to park outside their owns houses than smaller car owners.

I think what irritates many small car drivers and pedestrians are the 'roo' or 'bull bars' on some of these 4*4 cars.
You dont many kanagroo's on British streets.
When they collide with a car or pedestrian the damage to the smaller car can be major.

There are plans ahead to fit GPS units to all vehicles and we will charged for the mileage we drive,
they say the 'vehicle tax' [£180pa for a car] will be dropped, I believe that when it happens.

In the UK its the 'white van' driver thats got the reputation for bad road habits. [ usually Ford Transit drivers].
Do you have 'road rage' in the US.?

I expect all the members who have white vans are now going to jump up and down on me!

At least now in the UK they have banned the use of mobile phones in cars whilst driving.

We have more security and surveillance camera's than any other country.

 

[Hank Fletcher]

Do you have 'road rage' in the US.?

I think they invented it. By they, I mean L.A. and Detroit, the latter being where I personally saw the first instances of pathological driver anger starting in the early 1990s.

I expect all the members who have white vans are now going to jump up and down on me!

I seem to remember that, too. Especially what I would call a small, white Ford pickup with a large rear storage compartment. Those were popular around Belfast and completely blocked off narrow streets. Given the insane pace of traffic in downtown London and the necessity for complete visibility at all times to keep things running smoothly, I think they're right to put punitive size restrictions on vehicles.

At least now in the UK they have banned the use of mobile phones in cars whilst driving.

We've got that in Ontario, although it's never enforced. It falls under the umbrella of safe operation of a vehicle. Very irritating... why do they all come out whenever I'm five minutes late trying to get somewhere?

We have more security and surveillance camera's than any other country.

Orwell's 1984 is becoming less science-fiction and more a factual tour guide to Britain everyday.

 

[Hero999]

We have green bins in our area for garden waste.

I think this is all pretty silly though, providing your garden is big enough you really shoud have a compost heap.

Composting does give off a lot of heat, I've heard that it's even possible to cook food in a hay oven!

 

[ericgibbs]

We have green bins in our area for garden waste.

I think this is all pretty silly though, providing your garden is big enough you really shoud have a compost heap.

Composting does give off a lot of heat, I've heard that it's even possible to cook food in a hay oven!

hi hero,
I do compost at home, the 'softer' organic items, but its organics like tree/shrub prunings etc, I have disposal problems.
I have tried shredders, they are OK for some items, but dont shred Ivy prunings, unless you want ivy everywhere.
The local council said I was allowed to have a bonfire, to get rid of the garden rubbish providing I stick to the local regulations,
not to burn off before 7pm.

It seems ironic I can pollute the air with smoke and drop fire ash all over my neighbours property, release lots of CO2,
but I cant put it in my bin, because its not 'eco green' ???

Talk of double standards, there seems to be no coordinated plan in the UK, that considers the effect of these peice meal changes
local council introduce.

There is talk the household rubbish bins are not going to be collected every week, but every two weeks.
At this time the rat population of the UK exceeds that of humans!

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

There is talk the household rubbish bins are not going to be collected every week, but every two weeks.

We already have this! - we've had black wheelie bins for years now, and were emptied weekly, but they now empty these once a fortnight. At the same time they gave us green wheelie bins as well, these are for garden rubbish and cardboard, and are collected the opposite weeks to the black bins.

As well as those we have blue boxes for glass and tins, and plastic bags for newspapers - both of these are collected by a recycling company.

 

[ericgibbs]

We already have this! - we've had black wheelie bins for years now, and were emptied weekly, but they now empty these once a fortnight. At the same time they gave us green wheelie bins as well, these are for garden rubbish and cardboard, and are collected the opposite weeks to the black bins.

As well as those we have blue boxes for glass and tins, and plastic bags for newspapers - both of these are collected by a recycling company.

Lets hope someone from Portsmouth Council read your post!.

In Fareham, just 400mtrs from me, they have a similar system.

As I said, there is no coordinated scheme for the country, just piece meal!

It inspires confidence

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

As I said, there is no coordinated scheme for the country, just piece meal!

Each council is independent, but has to follow the government guidelines, basically if they don't the council will get fined. How they actually implement the scheme is up to them.

A friend of mine lives in Mansfield, over the border in Nottinghamshire, they have something like SIX seperate recycling boxes.

He was watching them be collected the other week, and they were just throwing them all in the back of the same bin lorry - he asked how they seperated them again, to be told they don't - it all goes in landfill, but having the seperate boxes for the customers meets government legislation.

 

[simoin]

it's been done before, but there is no reason you could not do it again. Energy/Heat from compost. There is not a lot of detail or discussion on how turn the heat to energy but I am sure there would be other articles out there to do this.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1980-03-01/The-Genius-of-Jean-Pain.aspx

 

[Hero999]

It seems ironic I can pollute the air with smoke and drop fire ash all over my neighbours property, release lots of CO2,
but I cant put it in my bin, because its not 'eco green' ???

Your garden waste is carbon neutral as all the CO2 will be re-absorbed when your plants grow again. Putting it in the green bin is not carbon neutral as fossil fuels are required to transport it to the composting plant.

The other gasses like CO, sulpher and nitrogen compounds are a problem though.

 

[philba]

Do you Brits have mulching mowers? Mine grinds the clippings quite fine and then deposits them back into the lawn. No thatch to worry about and no clippings. Even if you don't have a mulching mower, composting it yourself is great because a layer of well processed compost in the garden is a great way to keep the weeds down and contribute to the soil health.

By the way, compost isn't totally Cneutral as it does give off some methane but it's way ahead of hauling it to a central composting facility.

 

[ericgibbs]

Do you Brits have mulching mowers? Mine grinds the clippings quite fine and then deposits them back into the lawn. No thatch to worry about and no clippings. Even if you don't have a mulching mower, composting it yourself is great because a layer of well processed compost in the garden is a great way to keep the weeds down and contribute to the soil health.

By the way, compost isn't totally Cneutral as it does give off some methane but it's way ahead of hauling it to a central composting facility.

hi phil,
I do/always have composted all my 'soft' organics, grass, leafs and kitchen [uncooked veg waste], its the prunings from the trees and shrubs I have to haul to the composting centre.
Also there are certain types of weeds which are difficult to kill off in the composting heap.

hi hero,
As I have to burn off the hardwood garden refuse, then the CO2 is released, the alternative is a 4mile drive, say monthly to the compost centre.
Just think of the car pollution when you multiply this by all the gardens in my city!. The wood ash gets put back on the garden.

 

[Hero999]

CO2 and methane that comes from the composting or burning of vegitation don't count providing the biomass is allowed to regenerate. It's carbon neutral because all the carbon released in to the amptmosphere is reabsorbed by photosynthesis when the plants regrow.

The environmentalists that bollock on about methane being released from farming are talking rubbish, not onlly because it's carbon neutral but also because the natural vegitation that would be there would be producing methane anyway.

 

[things]

In the UK its the 'white van' driver thats got the reputation for bad road habits.

well here in australia it's the "white van" that's going around picking up kids

 

[upand_at_them]

And the heat generated is necessary to break down the material. Without all that heat it would take much longer to generate compost. Which is why composting bins are usually black.

Mike

 

[philba]

hi phil,
I do/always have composted all my 'soft' organics, grass, leafs and kitchen [uncooked veg waste], its the prunings from the trees and shrubs I have to haul to the composting centre.
Also there are certain types of weeds which are difficult to kill off in the composting heap.

You are well ahead of most. I have about 4 acres so we just pile up any woody waste and once a year rent a chipper. we use the chips for garden paths and other mulch. So, not totally green but then we have nice looking paths!

On the noxious weeds, I just leave them in a small pile and pull any sprouts.