If an old garden pond is removed or the pond liner is replaced, the old liner has to be disposed of somewhere. In our article you can find out what you have to consider when disposing of it and where and how the old film is disposed of correctly.
Old pond liner can contain many pollutants
Remove pond liner
When removing a pond, it can sometimes be difficult to get the pond liner out of the pond at all.
After clearing the pond, it's often a good idea to simply chop the liner into pieces with a spade to make it easier to remove.
You should definitely remove the pond sludge beforehand. This makes it much easier to remove the foil. You can dispose of the pond sludge that has settled on the foil without any problems on the compost, it is purely organic waste.
When replacing the pond liner, you will sometimes have to be a little more careful in order not to damage the pond floor or to be able to continue using the pond fleece.
pollutants in films
Basically, when disposing of it, you also have to distinguish what type of film it is. There are three types of foil that can be found in a private garden pond:
- PVC foils
- Foils made of EPDM
- PE foils
When it comes to disposal, PVC films are extremely problematic. EPDM foils, on the other hand, are significantly less problematic when it comes to disposal. This also applies to PE films.
Dispose of the PVC film
Older foils can sometimes even contain very toxic heavy metals (cadmium, lead), more recent foils are generally not quite as toxic.
If you did not buy the film yourself, or if you do not know exactly what the pollutant content is, you should treat the film as hazardous waste to be on the safe side.
Dispose of EPDM foils and PE foils
Both EPDM foils and PE foils are environmentally neutral and can even be recycled. Both types of film can be handed in at the recycling center without any problems. Quantities such as those incurred in a private garden pond are always accepted there.
Dispose of fleece
If you want to dispose of pond fleece, you can also hand it in at the recycling center. It is also not classified as hazardous waste and can easily be handed in and some of it can be recycled later.
tips
You can usually hand in pond basins, pond shells and other linings at the recycling center.