Please do not to put any Japanese
Knotweed in your garden waste recycling bins as we cannot risk
contaminating the compost produced from the garden and
food waste we collect.
Bioganix, the company that turns all our garden and food waste
into compost, cannot accept Japanese Knotweed at its high-tech
treatment facility at Parham as the process may not completely kill
off this highly resistant plant. We therefore have to insist that
people do not put any of this offending plant in their brown
bins.
What is Japanese Knotweed?
Japanese Knotweed was introduced to the UK as an ornamental
plant during the 1800s. It is commonly found today along railway
lines, riverbanks, roads and footpaths, in graveyards, on derelict
sites or anywhere that it has been dumped, dropped or
deposited.
Although Japanese Knotweed is not toxic to humans, animals or
other plants, it is very invasive and may cause structural damage
to buildings, paving or roads. The plant grows pretty much
anywhere, from field edges to sand dunes, through asphalt and out
of lamp-posts, and has grown spectacularly across the country even
though it has no seeds and grows only by pieces of the plant or
root system being transferred.
Japanese Knotweed forms dense clumps up to three metres in
height. It has large, oval green leaves and a stem that is hollow
and similar to bamboo. Usually in early spring (although it can be
later in the year) the plant produces fleshy red tinged shoots.
These can reach a height of 1.5 metres by May and three metres by
June.
This plant can grow as much as 2 cms per day and will grow in
any type of soil, no matter how poor. Towards the end of August
clusters of cream flowers develop and then produce seeds that are
sterile. The plant dies back between September and November.
How to identify Japanese Knotweed (new window
PDF 473KB)
Control of Japanese
Knotweed
The best advice on how to deal with the plant is to use
herbicides or to dig it out but to be very careful to ensure that
all its roots are removed. These roots may go to a depth of 3
metres once the plant is established so it is best tackled as soon
as it is seen. Further advice can be found on the following
websites:
NetRegs (new window)
Japanese Knotweed Alliance (new window)
Disposal of
Japanese Knotweed
Disposing of the remains are itself a problem as the
NetRegs website (new window) advises that
any bags or skips containing Japanese Knotweed or polluted soil
should be covered to avoid spread along public highways, and
that the disposal site should be warned in advance that it is
being delivered there.
Japanese Knotweed can be taken from a household garden to the
household waste recycling centres (new
window) at Foxhall, Felixstowe or Leiston, for disposal
free of charge, if it is double bagged and placed in the skip
for general waste.
For further advice you can call Suffolk Coastal Services on
01394 444000 or email
scsltd@suffolkcoastal.gov.uk