Tree Guard Disposal

[Commando]

Any advice on disposal of tree guards. I tried the council recycling centre....”More than my jobs worth that....that’s commercial waste that is”

About 250 plastic guards in total.

Clearly don’t wanna burn/bury!

Thx Craig

[Stere]

Dunno must be millions of theese across UK littering the countryside always amazes me how people just turn a blind eye to them when you see 1000's strangling hegdes and trees and many just blowing around on floor amongst tree planting schemes.

 

I  stick them sometimes  in the domestic black bin   in small batches not ideal....

 

There is a company that takes them if you pay:

 

Farm plastic waste

WWW.AGRI-CYCLE.UK.COM

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Agri.cycle primarily carry out farm plastic waste recycling. We also process tree guards and spent shotgun...

 

Was a thread about them before....

 

 

I'd like to know a source of eco ones if you can get them anywhere....

 

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by Stere

[scbk]

30 minutes ago, Commando said:

 

Any advice on disposal of tree guards. I tried the council recycling centre....”More than my jobs worth that....that’s commercial waste that is”

About 250 plastic guards in total.

Clearly don’t wanna burn/bury!

Thx Craig

 

Is there any life left in them? Give them away for re-use?

[Guest Gimlet]

40 minutes ago, Stere said:

I'd like to know a source of eco ones if you can get them anywhere....

 

http://www.ezeetrees.com/

Edited December 28, 2019 by Gimlet

[Stere]

No good for shorter trees though...

 

 

Eucalyptus canes interesting

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Stere said:

I  stick them sometimes  in the domestic black bin   in small batches not ideal....

I'd do the same

 

Anyway haven't recent studies abroad come out against tubes as an aid to establishment?

 

Locally we no longer have the rabbit problem we did in the 60s and 70s and the stalkers seem to control Roe.

[Guest Gimlet]

As a hedge layer I hate the things. Apart from the hassle of disposal you've got to laboriously unwind each one before you can start cutting. The so-called UV-degradable ones are nothing of the sort. I'm removing those from a hedge that was planted 15 years ago. Every one is still very much intact, just brittle, making it even harder to remove in one piece.

 

They also encourage rot and fungal infections with certain species, particularly crab apple, and they inhibit base growth. 

  

[Commando]

Is there any life left in them? Give them away for re-use?

Unfortunately not, all stretched and split, should have been removed years ago. These ain’t the spiral tree guards, these are the corrugated plastic green ones.
It makes me mad, the trees were planted under EWGS so I guess with a view to improving the planet yet recycling centres won’t take the guards. Surely the guards used in these schemes should be required to be eco-friendly and easily recycled?
The recycling centre manager said he could take a few but not 200+. TBH that made me madder! He suggested I take them to commercial tip and weigh them in for landfill, 20 miles each way ffs.

[Squaredy]

7 hours ago, Commando said:

Unfortunately not, all stretched and split, should have been removed years ago. These ain’t the spiral tree guards, these are the corrugated plastic green ones.
It makes me mad, the trees were planted under EWGS so I guess with a view to improving the planet yet recycling centres won’t take the guards. Surely the guards used in these schemes should be required to be eco-friendly and easily recycled?
The recycling centre manager said he could take a few but not 200+. TBH that made me madder! He suggested I take them to commercial tip and weigh them in for landfill, 20 miles each way ffs.

The owner of the land surely should meet the cost of disposal?   To do it properly you will have to register as a waste carrier and take them to a commercial waste disposal site.  As long as you can charge for time etc this seems OK.  Actual landfill charge will be minimal.

 

The bigger question is why are they still used so extensively?  In the last 7 years I have helped the Woodland Trust plant around 100,000 trees in my area and yep you guessed it they almost always have the guards.

 

When I say ‘helped’ my involvement was just storing and handling stakes tree guards etc - not real work!

[Jake Andrews]

It’s a shame that the disposal of guards are not accounted for when applying for funding or even a woodland management plan. It’s sickening to see this so often.