How to Use a Garden Incinerator

by DoItYourself Staff

what you'll need

Garden incinerator
Debris from your garden
An old newspaper
Some small, dry twigs
Container to dispose of the ashes

A garden incinerator is the easiest, tidiest, quickest and most efficient way of getting rid of your garden rubbish like leaves, debris and hedge trimmings. A garden incinerator is generally made of galvanized steel and is either cylindrical (like a trash can) or square in shape. It consists of a kiln (where you burn the rubbish) and a series of holes in the lower section of the incinerator to provide ventilation.

Before buying a garden incinerator, you should make sure that your house doesn't lie in a smokeless zone and that you are allowed to burn rubbish in your yard. In fact garden incinerators may create nuisances with their smoke output, so you should only use them when there is no wind.

Step 1 – Heat Up the Garden Incinerator

First line the bottom of the incinerator with crunched-up newspapers and put some small twigs on top of that. Before actually lighting the incinerator, make sure that the ventilation adjustments at the bottom are open enough. Without good ventilation, your fire will keep dying out. Light it and give it a bit of time to heat up. You can then add some bigger branches. Make sure you place the garden incinerator somewhere safe where fire accidents won’t happen easily.

Step 2 – Insert Your Debris

Now put your garden rubbish into the rotary kiln, which you should generally keep at 1,800 degrees F. The debris will burn into ashes. Make sure to keep the lid closed to maintain heat stability.

Step 3 – Remove the Ashes

Before trying to remove the ashes, make sure the fire has died out and the ash has cooled. If you want to turn the fire down, use the ventilation adjustments to shut off the air and put out the fire. Transfer the ash into a separate container for further disposal or treatment. You can take it to a land dump or else use it for your own gardening needs–ash from garden materials makes a good fertilizer.

To transfer the ash from the garden incinerator to the bin, tip over the incinerator and pour down the ash. (This is easier with the cylindrical incinerators).