Burying bricks won't bother the ground one bit. Here is the US there is a market for used bricks. People cut them in half for wall coverings. Or make paths outdoors.

Lol. Are you sure you aren't a builder?

You have the exact right thought process for it.

I’m an electrician, so I’m happy to have a go at doing bits. But this is my first go at doing any proper building work. I’ll be digging out footings at some point, so I’ll have plenty of soil to cover the rubble piles

In the US they call that 'clean fill'. Doesn't rot or attract insects. Perfectly safe to bury.

If you take the top soil of any new build garden, it's full of rubble.

Nothing "wrong" with doing it. Just a little bit cowboy.

I'd save them and use as a sub base material for exterior paths, shed bases. That sort of thing .

To add on to this, if you just want to get rid of them throw up an ad on Craigslist. Somebody's going to have a use for them.

Filing the pond, probably not an issue..... I would stay away from raised features though. If you(or anyone) ever decides in the future to remove them, it will be a pain in the butt to deal with.

The shed will be done at some point and need a new base, along with a summerhouse etc, so I’ll have plenty of use for the old bricks. I believe the mortar is no good though as hardcore because it is basically sand though, whereas hardcore needs to be more solid bits? The mortar being buried under grassy bits will be a big help though

That’s future me’s problem haha.

I’d only be talking about raising the garden up about 1-2 bricks high and getting it completely flat and re-turfing it. Probably barely notice it

Can usually pick up free hardcore from gumtree or marketplace from someone else getting rid of stuff if I ever needed more

You could always just dig the pond deeper and put it all there too.

I hope future you doesn't get mad at past you. :)

I've seen several times, too, when they are building a new neighborhood around here they dig a pit and put up a sign saying "concrete washout". They wash out concrete mixers, dump concrete rubble, etc. They then cover this it and it gets paved over as a road or made into a lawn in a common area or something.

https://www.codot.gov/programs/environmental/water-quality/assets/images/concrete-washout-good4.jpg/@@images/image

I’d still have to find somewhere to put the stuff I dig out the pond, although at least that would be soil rather than rubble

Depends on what state you're in. I forget the exact language, but the state I'm in has a mandatory form you have to fill out when you sell that has a whole section on "buried rubble used as fill material". Doesn't matter the amount, next homeowner digs a hole to plant a tulip bulb and runs into a some chipped concrete and brick, and I didn't disclose it.......and if you do disclose, most buyers will make you remove it. Unless you're way out in the sticks and no one's going to care about a pile of brick in the back of your 40 acres.

Which led me to....every trip to the dump include 4-5 milkcrates full of chipped concrete, tile, and brick tipped into the construction waste dumpster. Took a few months, but beat the hell out of paying for a few dump truck loads.

Why not just put them out front with “free” so that someone who needs bricks for a project can take them for you and all you have to do is leave them there?

A few reasons not to bury construction:

-it leaks into your ground water

-if you ever want to use that area of the yard for something else then you have to dig it up

-planting a garden or getting things to grow in that area will be difficult, including anything that roots.

-you could use that rubble to build something wildlife and nature will love

-future you won’t remember exactly where you buried it to dig it all up

-even if you don’t dig it up a future homeowner will have a massive pain of a project

https://dontdrinkthewater.silvrback.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-burying-rubble-in-your-backyard

That’s all good info thank you. In all honestly, most of it will be the old mortar which is basically sand, and the old bricks I will try and use for actual building projects.

If it’s just mortar, put it in a bag and throw it away. You are making more work for yourself by digging and burying.

It’s quite expensive to get rid of rubble, hence the whole reason for the post

In the US most states and the EPA recognize that concrete, bricks and broken blocks from foundations are inert enough to be used as clean fill or crushed and used as aggregate.

Back in the eighties my parents garden was tiered using rubble from their house renovation and topped off with a foot or two of top soil.

There's now an incredibly lush and vibrant garden so it doesn't seem to have done any harm.

When I was a teen I built a pond in the garden and even though the rubble had been buried under soil for over two decades there were still voids and cavities in the rubble so it might be prudent to compact the layers as you go to maximise how much you can dispose of.

This is what my dad told me he did years ago in his first house. Said he built a wall and lobbed every single bit of rubbish he had into it. Everything from rubble to an old motorbike. Topped it off with soil and had a nice tiered garden once he was done.

I don’t want to be chucking any old shite in though as I’d like to at least consider the environmental impact if there was one. Hence why I won’t be burying plasterboard

Pop a couple of bricks in a carrier bag, leave it by the front door, when you go out take the bag and just 'forget' it on the bus etc, in a couple of months all your bricks are gone and the local neighbourhood has an interesting mystery to chat about.

Or I could stick pairs of googley eyes on the bricks and scatter them around the village as ‘rubble pets’.

just take it to your local brick and mortar store

Sell those bricks on Etsy.

I'm doing the same thing sort of with some old concrete rubble. Making a small hill/mound for a raised herb garden. If you want to get really fancy, you can use that sort of stuff for a base for cob structures like benches or pizza ovens etc. Just be aware that thing may settle wherever you bury. The brick will degrade with time and whatever you cover it with will fill those voids. Common sense thing you probably thought about, but it's worth noting.

How much are you getting rid of? Can't you just take it to the local tip?

Also if you put an advert on Facebook or similar for free hardcore someone will take it.

I'm glad I scrolled to the bottom for this

It’s £3 per rubble bag, and the nearest tip I can use is over 30 mins drive away. Will be a lot of rubble over the course of the job, enough to fill a large skip probably, but will be over the next couple of years, so actually getting a skip is no good. Hoping to get rid of bits of rubble as and when I can

My grandparents did this, but ended up not doing a very good job and there was a noticeable hump about a foot higher than the rest of the grass in the backyard where they buried everything for the next 40 years.... so just make sure you've got a plan to make it look nice and don't get lazy.

Could you slowly drip it into your council bin collection? I've got rid of quite a lot of stuff by adding a bit into my black bin over the course of time.

As a bonus it forces you to cut down on other waste to leave a bit of room for the "extras".

Where I live people offer it up as clean fill and other folks will take it away to fill in old fish ponds in their yards.

I don't see any problem with this, and it's quite common in building new construction to plow under this sort of debris.

If the structure is pre-1970, I would NOT bury any bricks that have been painted, as it is likely lead paint

The thinking is that you don't want to bury things that are actually toxic, or will breakdown and become toxins, or collapse and create a low spot in your garden over time (I buried a hay bale once, I can still see the low spot in the yard). Bricks, mortar, concrete rubble don't have these problems.

I’m not sure about in the UK, but here in the US we have lots of places that will take your brick/mortar for free. They recycle it by crushing it down and selling it. It’s worth seeking out if that exists near you. Look for places that sell crusher run or aggregate.

And as others said, if you list it for free pickup, you’d be surprised at how much others may have a use for it. Try a buy nothing group for your area on Facebook

They don't bury this. They scoop it all up and haul it to a landfill. That picture you have of the washout, should also be lined with plastic sheeting because wet concrete is hazardous.

I reuse brick/mortar/rubble as fill or in low-stakes mortar just like you’re suggesting. Good idea if you ask me 😎

I did that in my old property, but where I live now we don’t have wheelie bins, they send out plastic bags for your waste and you just leave them on the side of the road for collection. The bags aren’t very strong so risk it getting spilled all over the road or not collected at all.

I mean, I do get rid of little amounts, but it’s hardly worth it. Would take me the best part of 30 years to get rid of it that way

I do see people advertising hardcore (that’s what we call that stuff in the Uk) for free on things like fbook marketplace. But it’s available in abundance, so it’s not that often people actually need it

When we put in a garden in our back yard, it was full of brick and mortar (an old pathway or patio that they broke up and buried)

If it’s per bag, fill large bags.

I drive 30 minutes to dispose of rubble because it’s better than burying it.

Saving a bag in the corner of your lawn for when you do rubble will probably be unoticeable, but digging up your yard or a permanent hole to bury rubble will fuck up future plans. Don’t let lazy dictate your actions.

They have a limit on bag sizes at the tip