If an old garden pond is removed or the pond liner is replaced, the old liner must be disposed of somewhere. You can find out what you have to consider when disposing of it and where and how to dispose of the old film correctly in our article.
How do you properly dispose of old pond liners?
Pond liners made of PVC should be treated and disposed of as hazardous waste as a precaution, while environmentally neutral EPDM and PE liners can easily be taken to the recycling center. Pond fleece, pond basins and pond bowls can also be disposed of at the recycling center.
Remove pond liner
When removing a pond, it can sometimes be difficult to even get the pond liner out of the pond.
After you have cleared the pond, it is often advisable 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 the film much easier to remove. You can easily dispose of the pond sludge that has accumulated on the film in 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 bottom or to be able to continue using the pond fleece under certain circumstances.
Contaminants in films
Basically, you have to distinguish what type of film it is when disposing of it. There are three types of liners that can be found in a private garden pond:
- PVC films
- EPDM films
- PE films
PVC films are extremely problematic when it comes to disposal. EPDM films, on the other hand, are much less problematic to dispose of. This also applies to PE films.
Dispose of PVC film
Older foils can sometimes even contain very toxic heavy metals (cadmium, lead), newer foils are usually not quite as toxic.
If you didn't buy the film yourself or don't know exactly about the pollutant content, you should treat the film as hazardous waste as a precaution.
Dispose of EPDM films and PE films
Both EPDM films and PE films are environmentally neutral and can even be recycled. Both types of film can easily be taken to the recycling center. Quantities such as those generated by a private garden pond are always accepted there.
Dispose of fleece
If you want to dispose of pond fleece, you can also take it to the recycling center. It is also not considered hazardous waste and can easily be handed in and partially recycled later.
Tip
You can usually also hand in pond basins, pond bowls and other linings at the recycling center.
