Neighbors dumping green waste around base of mature trees

Local or communal composting happens in some estates, often setup by the residents as a way to alleviate the load on the brown bin (compost), especially with grass and other bulky cuttings. I think that the concept should be supported and extended nationwide as not all houses with grass areas also have room for a compost heap.

Maybe if you have a problem with the method of composting then you could offer to help formalise the composting so that a constructed composting area is setup using pallets for holding areas and signage etc. It's documented here in the An Taisce booklet:

https://www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/2022-06/an-taisce-compost-booklet.pdf

Additional info here too:

https://compostingireland.ie/resources/

Are you in Dublin?

If so, It is the policy of DCC to leave grass clippings to rot on green areas and verges once cut, including around base of trees and their own contractors are well known for this!

In their spiel about their biodiversity plan they say it encourages nitrogen uptake of grassy areas and is good for biodiversity.

I suggest you bring it up with your local councillor or DCC directly if you have an issue with that.

We have had difficulty getting grass verges cut and I think if the good neighbours that do cut them were taken to task about clippings, there would be no verges cut!

I don't believe leaves or shrub clippings are included as these need to be cut up small and placed in an area dedicated to break down for leaf mould.

As regards your neighbour, its not illegal and is it really bothering you that much, or is the tree suffering?

If it is, bring it up to your local residents committee. Many estates now have areas where leaves are collected for composting but as said before DCC are encouraging leaving grass clippings lying around.

As said above, this has been going on for years with no harm done, to trees anyway.

So you have seen grass clippings ' harming a tree'?

I have never seen that.

Maybe in winter when it is wet and leaves are gone. The neigjbour probably wouldn't be cutting his grass then anyhow.

Any trees around us I see are dry at the base because of the leaf canopy and no harm caused by leaves, grass or anything else.

Wonder are these young trees that op is worried about, or is it the aesthetics?

Ok. Misread that. Fair enough

Thought it was grass clippings from the verge not from their own garden.

Although still don't think as I have posted in reply to MB that it will cause a problem while there is a leaf canopy keeping it dry.

Not very nice though if it is a big pile.

I personally don't see all organic matter as litter in the same way as others do here. Composting in this way has been going on for millennia. I do agree that organic matter being "piled against the tree" is problematic, but placing organic matter onto a border where brambles and probably nettles would otherwise inhabit it and calling it damaging to biodiversity, is a little far fetched. The fact is that once brambles have trespassed onto an green area it's very difficult to maintain that area as over time as they thicken and become more dense as their yearly march progresses.

I don't agree that compost and organic matter can't be part of the local biodiversity - after all it will create an environment which is rich in worms, slugs, snails, woodlouse, and beatles, and these are a source of food for hundreds of local mammals. Composting, unless mixed with protein and cooked food or sweet fruits, doesn't create a stink so isn't an anti-social activity and it isn't overly attractive to vermin - probably no more than you'd have in a standard briary hedge anyway.

There's another facet to localised composting which we need to consider - that being what happens to compost when it's collected at the kerbside. Firstly you're creating significant volumes of heavy waste which must be paid-for by the kilo and then transported to some type of facility. There is considerable energy expended within those steps as the waste is wet and additional processing of that waste by screening, grading, creating windrows and then collecting and packaging and transporting the end-product back to a point-of-sale... never-mind the fact that we don't actually know what really happens any waste in this country - for all we know it's all dumped in landfill. Additionally there is a significant issue with plastic contamination within compost, I know myself that I have bought bagged compost only to find small plastic wrappers, black bin-bag fragments and lego arms within the product, so there's that massive aspect of plastic contamination which is happening where the brown bin is being totally misused. I don't particularly want plastic microfragments in my soil, do you? It's already going to be one of our abiding legacies on this earth, archeologists and environmentalists of the future will be using our plastic waste as a demonstration of how retrograde our understanding of the ecosystem was at this time of great technical progress.

So my guidance from all of this is that the OP should pick their battles carefully. In any community there are multiple opportunities to offend or get onto the wrong side of any number of neighbours, and pitting oneself against the composters by mentioning biodiversity and being concerned about the welfare of the brambles without considering what I believe to be the bigger picture, is wrong. Find a compromise which meets your neighbours needs and desires and work with them to improve the aspects which you find offensive or damaging.

And if anyone asks if I compost at home - the answer is yes, everything except the plate-scrapings are composted in two locations in a suburban garden. Food waste is placed into the brown bin.