Kitchen Garden Forum

How do you get rid of broken greenhouse glass?, I have just come back from the allotment, spent most of the morning picking up glass, 3 big panes and 1 small pane off 2 greenhouses broken with the wind this past couple of days. I have no transport to take it to the tip.

Bren

Safety goggles, hammer, gloves, box.
Wear 1 use 2 and 3 in 4 to smash glass into smaller bits then add to your home bin or to a bottle bank.

Well my greenhouse got walloped by a chunk of corrugated steel that probably travelled 30 metres thorugh the air before it crashed into my greenouse I have enough broken glass to fill five or six plastic stackerboxes, I have been breaking it up and it will go to the tip in the glass recylcing bin so I guess Bren somehow you need to get it there. Round here the bottle banks or the kerbside recyling collection wont take broken glass so do check Bren, most recycling centres have a skip for broken glass.

Incidentally I think that I have lost about twenty panes of 24" square glass, the alluminium frame even split, but as I said yesterday in another posting, people died in those winds so really material things don't matter at all in comparison.

Speak to the council refuse/recycling department about it. They ought to be able to arrange to collect it on the right day by arrangement but you will have to get it to the gate or kerbside and in something strong like a cardboard box so that it is safe to handle.
Can you get it home first, it might be easier for them to collect as domestic rubbish.
We sometimes take our clean sheet glass offcuts to the local glass shop to put in their skip.
Allan

I've had one window broken by vandals. We get a skip up at the plots so I'll just hold onto the glass until then or take it home a little at a time.

I am going to replace my broken glass with some plastic products from diy plastics (diyplas.co.uk) an internet company, they look reputable but it would be interested to get a view of anyone that has used them before, I am loathe to put glass in as this windy weather is becoming a persistent problem, and I don't want to have to replace it all again. Any other sources / idea's / suggestions??

I'm still searching Compo. Haven't found anyone cheap and reputable yet.....

I had a semi rigid UPVC greenhouse which was supposed to be safe, tough, shatterproof etc and it was total PANTS! Every time the wind blew a bit another piece would break and end up in someone's garden. I ended up using so much tape to hold the panels together it was cheaper to throw it out and buy a proper one. I now have two glass greenhouses and would never go back to anything else.

Well, Chantal if you saw what had happened to my greehouse, and how exposed the lottie site is, you would not put glass back in my empty frame!! But yes glass is the best and easiest to use material in most settings

I have a cunning plan and being keen not to waste anything, I am going to move my Greenhouse frame and bolt it to my very sturdy shed on one side and the 8' concrete site fence posts on the other side, then clad the bottom in feather edged timber board, and above that a mix of opaque plastic screwed onto the frame with self tappers and rubber washers and then I will have to place a wire mesh wrapper on top because the kids throw stones for entertainment, and I suspect that even with plastic they will find heavier items to pierce or crack the plastic. This they do of course because they are little darlings.

So when I have done all that I might get around to sowing some seeds in it, and when I have done that. We have the manure delivery!!

I have recently organised a delivery of manure from the local young farmers, gawd bless em!! Having just become chairperson, I am determined not to spoon feed the plot holders, so have said that in the true spirit of sharing the first trailer load is mine!! After that they can negotiate their own delivery time.

And then after that..............the manure will have to be spread, and a million and one other jobs......for veggie gardeners the spring starts in tne new year I reckon.

Compo

After all that Compo, what will the light transmission ratio be and is there much leaf-fall in the vicinity?

No leaf drop at all, it's a very exposed site, so plenty of light from all angles, I may use some clear plastic in the roof to increase light in the winter, but I had to shade it quite heavily last summer because of the heat, why the leaf drop question?

Compo

My gh is near a hazel and the gutters block, I dread to think what it would look like if I had chicken wire over it to catch the leaves.

A compost heat perhaps.

Thanks for your replies, I may have to use goggles and hammer as Peter suggested, but I can't take it home as I have to catch 2 buses, I can't leave it by the kerbside either as the allotments are a good walk in from the road, they are private owned so we seldom see any of the committee members.I thought about digging a deep trench and burying it.
Bren

Bren NO NO NO please do not do that, imagine taking on that allotment in the future and deciding to dig a trench for organic waste and finding your glass, which will not break down for goodness knows how long.

Get some breadbaskets or old plastic stackerboxes and ask your local authority to collect it for recycyling, if they won't then PM me with their details and I will write them a letter, which you can then print off and send to them.

PLEASE DO NOT BURY IT!!!

Please do re-cycle any glass via your Council's recycling system/s. If nithing else, it counts towards your LA targets which eventually means you get more money, so please do transport it to your nearest collection system.

Obviously paper, plastics, tins and anything else counts too, but glass is the biggest contributor.