Trash question

Charly · #1 02/25/10, 07:19 AM

Was wondering what you folks do with your trash. Do you have a trash service or do you burn everything? I'm sure you compost your fresh fruits and vegs, but wondering how you handle the rest? Also, what type of set up do you have to keep the critters out of it?

Thanks.

fantasymaker · #2 02/25/10, 08:01 AM

We put ours 96 gallon rolling carts. then we pick up the trash from about 100 neighbors and haul it to the trasfer station.
We run a disposal business.

Minelson · #3 02/25/10, 08:11 AM

We burn. Whatever doesn't burn well I keep in a separate bag and take to town on gabage pickup day at work. Mostly glass, metal, large plastic containers and used cat liter.

Charly · #4 02/25/10, 08:12 AM

Very funny fantasymaker. I surely won't be doing that any time soon

Charly · #5 02/25/10, 08:14 AM

Minelson, when you burn, do you have a burn pile of some sort or do you burn in a barrel? Sorry to be so dumb about this.

paintlady · #6 02/25/10, 08:17 AM

We don't have trash collection out here so we burn what we can. The cans, glass etc we take to a local dumpster. They used to have recycling out here but did away with that about five years ago. We burn in a barrel.

fantasymaker · #7 02/25/10, 08:51 AM

We have been told by the IL state EPA that its illeagle to burn trash anywhere in the USA due to a federal EPA rule.
Still many people Burn thier trash. I just dont get it ,why put up with a smoldering pile of stink? I guess the reason it really dosent make sence to us is that we make the trash containers available free to our customers and will pick up however much they set out at the same rate. The other day we had a pickup truck heaped full sitting next to one of our cans.

Micheal · #8 02/25/10, 09:10 AM

Have a trash/recycle pickup once a week here. It's mainly for the stuff we want to get rid of.
Any personal type papers and unwanted mail (CC offers, etc) are burned, either outside or in the wood stove - dependent on weather and time of year. I also compost the veggie peelings, coffee grounds, etc; most anything that hasn't been in contact with or contain any oil or grease.......

foxtrapper · #9 02/25/10, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fantasymaker

We have been told by the IL state EPA that its illeagle to burn trash anywhere in the USA due to a federal EPA rule.

Your regulators are either confused themselves, or misleading you. Federal EPA has not issued any rule or law creating a nation wide ban on trash burning. With the exception of the reservations, under FARR (Federal Air Rules for Reservations), open burning and trash burning is left to the state and local jurisdictions to determine.

This is not to say the the federal EPA approves of, or endorses, trash burning. Quite the contrary.

blooba · #10 02/25/10, 09:20 AM

Burn= paper,cardboard,wood
Compost= food,paper,grass/leaves
Reuse=whatever you can
Trashman= about 1 bag every 2 weeks but the bill is $20/mth for 2 bags alot of my neighbors use church/local dumpsters instead of trashman(with permission). I am trying to get it down to 0 trash and just some recyclables though since they have free recycle bins in town.

Backfourty,MI. · #11 02/25/10, 09:22 AM

We have a 96 gallon rolling can too for trash pickup but we burn what ever we can, we have a Burn barrel.

tamilee · #12 02/25/10, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charly

Was wondering what you folks do with your trash. Do you have a trash service or do you burn everything? I'm sure you compost your fresh fruits and vegs, but wondering how you handle the rest? Also, what type of set up do you have to keep the critters out of it?

Thanks.

WE have had MANDATORY trash pickup for several years. We compost the fruit and veggie waste and leftovers go the dogs or chickens. We burn the cardboard but I want to learn to compost this. We have a can recycle pile but since only visitors (houseguests) bring in cans the pile is small. We use very little in the way of products with glass containers. I'd like to recycle what few steel cans we have but that is NOT available in this county. We have one of those county provided trash cans and in windy conditions or when a racoon ventures around we tie the lid shut with rope.

Minelson · #13 02/25/10, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charly

Minelson, when you burn, do you have a burn pile of some sort or do you burn in a barrel? Sorry to be so dumb about this.

Not dumb at all! I was asking the exact questions when we first moved rural. I never in my wildest dreams thought that there were places that didn't have garbage pick up! LOL
We have done it several ways. At the last place we lived at we had a couple of burn barrels out back that we used. It helps to drill some holes in the sides to keep the air moving to keep it going. We would also throw a piece of wire fence on top to keep anything from blowing out.
Where we are now we have a small pit and a large pit. The small pit is closer to the house and used for mostly for household. It's about 5 x 5 surrounded by cinder blocks only 2 high. I put wire fencing (2x4 holes) around it to keep the goats and the dogs out of it. Our big one is HUGE. I think it used to be some kind of a silage thingy. It's about 10' deep and 30' long. That is where we put the big stuff when cleaning all the junk out...old fencing, lots of icky wood and stuff. We had big fire with that...it was scary!

This is what it looked like after...
Trash question - Homesteading Questions

I wish I had a picture of it before we burned...it was piles so high!
We also have a cement circle where a silo used to be that we burn on sometimes...mostly old icky hay...or a moldy bale that I come across.

Minelson · #14 02/25/10, 10:14 AM

I found a picture of our smaller burn pit
Trash question - Homesteading Questions

Charly · #15 02/25/10, 10:29 AM

Thanks so much for the information folks and for the pictures. That helps a lot. I'm not sure what is available in the area we will be moving to. Just thinking ahead.

Rickstir · #16 02/25/10, 11:19 AM

We recycle glass, metal cans by taken them 100 miles to St. Louis when we visit the inlaws. We crush aluminum cans and donate them to a group that sells them and gives the money to fight cancer. We run vegies and fruit through the chickens then compost the manure. We burn the rest in a burning "barrel" which is a square box of angle iron with expanded metal on the sides/bottom/top and very heavy lid if you let it hit you in the head!

ronbre · #17 02/25/10, 11:33 AM

our son and i share a trash container, and neither of us fill it up as we tend to be really careful of our trash..but curbside recycling would help a lot, we don't have that here.

we can burn some things and i shred some paper and cardboard and use as mulch

Callieslamb · #18 02/25/10, 11:47 AM

we have a trash company that comes weekly. We have a rolling HUGE trash can to store it in. I compost almost all kitchen scraps - unless it is too cold to go out. Large unusable items - broken boards, large limbs - etc - we burn.

Alice In TX/MO · #19 02/25/10, 01:12 PM

Leftovers = dog food
Burn= paper,cardboard,wood
Compost= kitchen prep scraps,paper,grass/leaves
Reuse=whatever you can
Trashman= about 1 bag every week

Charly · #20 02/25/10, 01:13 PM

Ok, now another question along these lines. Seems like I should be able to think this through, but I guess I'm just dumb city folk at this stage in the game.

Do you line your inside trash can with plastic trash bags or what? How often are you burning? What do you do with it 'til then?

Thanks folks.