Digging in the dirt

The builders filled several skips of rubble and other rubbish during the build. In order to limit what they sent 'away' to landfill in the skips we kept an eye on what they disposed of, especially easily recyclable cans and plastic bottles, timber that we could reuse or burn, and bricks or other hardcore that could be reused somewhere in the garden.

As a result of this we've been left with a huge mound of rubble to the side of the house that has been earmarked to provide a base for the terrace at the rear of the house. With the builders having left site almost a year ago now the mound has become a familiar site as we approach the front door, so much so we've hardly noticed it of late. With the plan to order materials for the terrace before the summer is over, we decided it was time to tackle the mound at the weekend.

We'd hoped that the builders had taken on board our request to segregate waste and that it would just be a pile of bricks, blockwork, tiles and other debris from the cutting the holes into the rear of the house. Unfortunately, when we disturbed the mound during the heat of the weekend the smell we encountered confirmed that wasn't the case. Not that we found any food waste, or worse, in the mound. It was all debris from the house. Mostly it was inert rubble (bricks, broken tiles and blockwork) with some pieces of metal, small amounts of plastic (broken lightswitches etc), none of which would have been decomposing to produce the smell. The two offending items we found though were wood and plasterboard. Both of the latter produce gases as they biodegrade, with plasterboard a particular problem in landfill sites where it results in hydrogen sulphide being produced. Not something we want in our garden, and certainly not under the terrace!

So our afternoon of moving the rubble mound to the rear of the house also entailed a sifting of the waste so that we didn't rebury the offending items. Instead yet another bonfire pile has appeared, the metal recycling heap is larger than it was, and with a pang of guilt we sent the plasterboard 'away' in our black wheelie bin. But at least the mound has diminished and we can now measure up to see what additional hardcore we need to bring in to provide the base for the terrace.