Disposal of wood shavings

[jay]

  How do turners dispose of their wood shavings in the uk . I have moved to West Sussex  permanently after a 40 yr absence so now generate a fair ampount of shavings  .Where I was living the waste was acceptted by the municipality at £50 / ton. Thats a lot of shavings so it was very cheap to get rid of .  any guidence would be appreciated . 

[Martin Lawrence]

  Find your local allotments they always had mine for their compost heap.

Cheers Martin.

[bodrighywood]

I post on freecycle locally and they get picked up for gardens, chickens etc. No good for horses mind if there is walnut in them as that's poisonous to horses.

Pete

[Twisted Trees]

Local council accepts them as garden waste, so I subscribe to that which also gets me a wheelie bin that is connected directly to my extraction via a cyclone. I also have a list of people who want clean safe shavings for things from chickens to model railway making, so if I clean up, then cut a single safe species I sweep that up and phone them to come and collect it.

Another use though she hasn't wanted them for a while is a local potter, she used them to line her kiln and fire the clay, she and the model maker preferred the longer shavings from bowl cutting, chicken keeper and gardeners preferred spindle shavings which had a higher proportion of short chip style shavings.

Sometimes I also make fire lighters from them that is quite popular, but requires me to be in the right mood.

[Les Symonds]

A neighbour who has a pet goat and a few chickens takes the odd bag, but only when I've been using "safe" timbers. The rest amounts to about 7 large sacks a week, gets collected by a lady who uses it for bedding for her ponies.
In return I get a few eggs and sacks of manure for the garden
Les

[Valkrider]

The people with woodburners locally to me like the larger shavings as they put a couple of handfuls in along with the small logs to get them going. I never have any issues getting rid of them a queue at the door. I put them in the small plastic sacks that I get my water softener salt in. So gets rid of two lots of waste in one go.

[John Plater]

With a foot in both camps, my understanding is that shavings for horse bedding need to be dust extracted and softwood rather than hardwood. Also, again with a foot in both camps, my shavings along with the odd screw and chuck key (  ) go on the muck heap to get composted and put back on the land. I have been able to give bags to potters for specialist firings but not of any significant amount.
ATB John

[Bill21]

Mine go in garden waste bin.

[BrianH]

A 3" layer of shavings in the bottom of a newly emptied wheely bin will soak up liquids which escape from the trash to follow and then fall out with the next emptying, keeping the bin itself clean, if a little dusty.
Brian

[julcle]

My Local Council here in S. Wales won't accept them as garden waste. My bin men refused to take the wheelie bin a little while ago so I rang the council to complain and they said quite right you have to put them in the general waste bin. I feel sure their brains must be shredded just like what's in the bin.  --  Julian

[Twisted Trees]

My Local Council here in S. Wales won't accept them as garden waste. My bin men refused to take the wheelie bin a little while ago so I rang the council to complain and they said quite right you have to put them in the general waste bin. I feel sure their brains must be shredded just like what's in the bin.  --  Julian

Think you need to do as Brian suggests and put 3" into every bin in the street 

[julcle]

Yes indeed Pete, our bins go through a transfer station for further separation and then leftovers are dried and incinerated for power generation so there is very little waste in the end. According to our Council "Wales may be a small country, but when it comes to recycling, we punch way above our weight. We’re already the third best recyclers in the world, and now Torfaen Council is backing the Wales-wide movement to make us first." Well there we go !!!

[michaelb]

I am in North Wales and the shavings can be put into the Garden waste bin, it is then composed by the council,  you can take your own bags and collect as soil improver or if you have a small trailer they will load it up (all free)  this was prior to Corvid   .. No wonder Wales is the best for recycling in the UK and no 3 in the world hopefully we will be number 1.   

[willstewart]

They make excellent path coverings for allotments - they stay reasonably clean and dry.  They will compost eventually if necessary but paths may be a better use.

[fuzzyturns]

All my shavings go to my wife's horses and she can't get enough of them. I don't use a lot of walnut, and so far the horses have been smart enough not to eat the shavings (why would they? It has no nutritional value at all and is dusty as heck). The shavings are used for bedding, and it seems to work perfectly fine.