Proper Garden Hose Disposal

Today we're answering a very important series of questions with somewhat scary ideas hidden in them. We're talking about proper recycling etiquette, how to get creative with old hoses, and more.

So what's on the docket today?

Today's Topics Include:

• Can you bury a garden hose?
• Can you use a garden hose for the sprinkler system?
• Can you bury a leaky hose?
• What can you use an old garden hose for?
• How can I hide the hose in my yard?
• How can I hide my outdoor water hose?
• What to do with an old garden hose
• What can you use old garden hoses for?
• Can old hose pipe be recycled?
• What do you do with a broken water hose?
• Can you put a rubber hose in the recycle bin?
• Can you throw a garden hose away?

Let's just get into things, there's no sense in wasting time.

Hose Disposal, Burying, & Recycling

Let's start with the most commonly-asked question this time around - can you bury a garden hose? Then we can move on to the more niche questions, like if you can bury a leaky hose, or if hoses are recyclable.

Let's get going!

Can You Bury a Garden Hose?

And we're starting out strong with a "well... maybe" answer to the question above. While you absolutely can bury a garden hose, there are a few things to keep an eye out for. But first, we need to ask - why would you want to bury a garden hose?

Well, there are a few reasons. Some people have loads of land, and if you're one of them, you already know where I'm going with this. Trying to drag a 50-foot hose along your multi-acre property is not only a hassle but just plain inefficient! So many people try to get a bit of ingenuity in the mix and bury their garden hoses in stretches to the most common places they're needed.

So if this sounds like you, what should you consider before deciding to bury hundreds of pounds' worth of garden hoses?

The Considerations:

• Temperature:
  • If you live somewhere where the winters are severe (especially if the ground freezes deeper than a few inches), you’ll want to avoid burying your garden hose.
  • Hoses break when frozen, and if buried, they can’t be brought in for the winter. This will result in a leaking hose underground – which is no good.
• Soil Condition:
  • If the soil in your property is especially rocky or compacted, you’ll run into issues. Not only will the burial process be much more difficult, but you’ll run a bigger risk of your hose getting damaged by rocks as it moves underground.
• Wildlife:
  • Rodents love two things – chewing on things and running water. If you have mice, rats, racoons, or other rodents around, consider the damage they could cause to a buried hose before doing the burying.

Can You Use a Garden Hose for the Sprinkler System?

Not only can you use a garden hose for a sprinkler system, but it's an incredibly common budget solution for people who want a healthy lawn. Setting up a professional-grade sprinkler system is frustrating, time consuming, and expensive - you know what isn't?

A garden hose and cheap hose-system sprinkler. That's right! They make sprinklers specifically for garden hoses.

So how do you get this set up? Easy! Follow these steps and you'll be up and running in no time:

1. Find a garden hose – preferably an industrial (high-pressure) hose.
   • Not all hoses are created equally – check out our article on garden hoses & water pressure for more information.
2. Grab yourself a digital watering timer from your local hardware store, along with a sprinkler head like the one linked above (wink wink, nudge nudge).
3. Figure out where you want the sprinkler, run the hose from your tap to that location, and screw the nozzle onto your hose. Now, turn on the water after attaching your meter (usually a matter of threading it into place as per its instructions).
4. That’s it – seriously. You’re done.

Can You Bury a Leaky Hose?

Yes, you can bury a leaky hose, but no - it's not recommended. This is for a few reasons. First off, burying a leaky hose is an excellent way to waterlog a stretch of your property. This will result in, essentially, marshland popping up in your back garden.

Second, water is expensive, and burying a hose that leaks water is a great way for a shockingly-large water bill. Finally, though - why would you do that? There's no reason to bury a leaking hose other than being too lazy to properly dispose of it - which we'll get to soon, you mark my words.

The same goes for "soaker" hose s, which are essentially garden hoses made with pinholes already in them . Soaker hoses are generally used for agriculture to water large stretches of crops at once - but again,burying them is an outright bad idea .

What Can You Use an Old Garden Hose For?

Garden hoses are great when they work, but when they eventually fail, you're stuck with a long piece of rubber. So what the hell should you do with it, just throw it out? Well, no. If you can avoid trashing your old hose, do so - just don't recycle them (again, we'll get to that soon).

But there are plenty of applications to give your old hose a second life, such as:

• Soaker hose for gardening
  • Punch a few small holes in your hose, attach it to the tap, and run it around your garden. Watch as it waters it all without effort on your part!
• Hangers, handles, and cushioning
  • You can repurpose a stretch of undamaged garden hose as a handle, hanger for light items, or even cushioning over a rope to make lifting heavy objects a bit less of a pain.
• Tool blade guard
  • Slice lengthwise along your hose and put it on your saw’s blade to provide an impromptu safety cover.
• Doorstop
  • Put a little bit of hose in that one door that always slams in your home to protect your ears (and door frame).
• Protect growing trees with supports
  • If you have supports around a tree, they can grow into the tree over time. To avoid this, wrap your rope, chain, or other support with a length of hose to protect the tree.

At the end of the day, there are so many applications for old hoses. If they're damaged, you can cut those sections out, and if they're pristine, your options are pretty much limitless.

How Can I Hide the Hose in My Yard?

Having a hose in your garden is super useful, but it's not the best look. If you're trying to class up your garden, try out these ideas to disguise your hose in any yard:

• The obvious one
  • Buy a green hose instead of brown, black, or yellow and it’ll naturally blend into your lawn.
  • You can also buy a transparent hose to accomplish this same task.
• Coloured tape and/or paint
  • Use a colour of tape or paint that you enjoy and go bonkers on that hose. For bonus points, turn it into a family craft activity and let the kiddos go wild while you relax in the shade.
• Cover the hose in a thin layer of mulch
  • If you’ve got mulch in your yard, scoop it over the hose during summer and wrap up the hose when winter rolls around to keep it nice and safe.
• Bury it
  • As mentioned above, burying hoses is both entirely possible and practical, depending on your property.
• Use raised plant beds
  • Not only do raised beds make gardening drastically easier but they can be used to sneakily disguise a hose in its natural habitat.
• “Storage furniture”
  • Unsurprisingly, this problem has become so common that garden furniture manufacturers have created a number of benches and chairs with storage inside. Coincidentally, you can hide and store your hose in these pieces of furniture.

How Can I Hide My Outdoor Water Hose?

To hide your outdoor water hose, take a peek at the above options. You can bury it, disguise it under mulch, or even paint the hose to make it stand out as art (or blend into your lawn).

Can Old Hose Pipe Be Recycled?

No, old hose pipe cannot be recycled. This is for a few reasons:

• It’s a “Tangler”
  • In recycling, things like hoses, ropes, chains, and electrical cords are considered “tanglers.” These items gum up machinery, tangle equipment, and can actually cause safety hazards for the workers in the recycling centre.
  • Not-so-fun-fact: Garden hoses are considered in the top five most problematic contaminants, and are the third most expensive item in a recycling facility to decontaminate.
• While made with recyclable materials, you’d need to personally strip each individual component to do so.
• Recycling a rubber garden hose can result in a hefty fines in many areas for this exact reason.

Most importantly, though, it's a really crappy thing to do - take care of your things and properly dispose of them; don't make them other peoples' problems because you're lazy.

What Do You Do with a Broken Water Hose?

There are plenty of things to do with a broken water hose! You can use one of the many potential secondary uses mentioned above, just toss the sucker, or repair it. If you'd like to repair your hose, check out our garden hose repair guide for some handy tips.

Can You Put a Rubber Hose in the Recycle Bin?

No, as discussed above, you cannot put a rubber hose in the recycle bin. This is for a number of reasons, but most importantly because it's nearly impossible to recycle, causes expensive issues for the recycling centre, and can actively cause danger for those working in the centre.

Can You Throw a Garden Hose Away?

Not only can you throw a garden hose away, but you actually should . As discussed above, garden hoses are technically recyclable but cause so many issues in recycling centres that you can actually be fined for doing so (in some areas).

Instead, you should try to repair your hose, find alternate uses for it, and if all else fails, throw it in thegarbage bin.

Conclusion

All in all, the proper disposal of your garden hose is vital to both your mental wellbeing and the safety of recycling centres worldwide. That's not to say they don't have other uses, though - a "dead" hose can still support young trees, keep blades safe, and provide a number of other uses for creative homeowners. So can you bury a leaky hose?

No! Please, don't do that - and remember -do not recycle your garden hose .