Burning things

[91redford]

Hi everybody, first off i really like these forums and have learned a lot from what everyone has to share, i live on a small 15 acre farm, it's at the end of a road and i share that with 2 other families, 2 of us have weekly garbage pickup, but the 3rd just uses a burn barrel, used to be once in awhile now everyday, i don't have a friendly relationship with them, also don't want to cause trouble. but the stuff they burn....the smell overtakes the area outside the house & is noxious, got to be plastic and who knows what. so how would you handle this knowing the local fire chief is longtime friends with the family, which has been in the area for like 100 years. thanks for any advice! and, oh ya, what do you burn and what do you smell your neighbors burning?

[greg273]

Idiots burning trash (and leaves) is just part of living in the country, from what I've learned. If it got too bad, I'd tell them it ain't neighborly to fumigate your neighbors with burning garbage.
There are probably laws regarding open burning in your county or township.... might want to familiarize yourself with them.
Good luck!

[jwal10]

We have one here that burns in an outdoor furnace, some days the smoke hardly gets off the ground, nasty stuff. He used to do it in an open burn on the ground. Fire department put a stop to it when they found he was burning adult diapers. I think he still does....James

[fantasymaker]

Hows the Sheriff get along with the Fire Chief?
I bet its just a old habit hard to change if they have been there 100 years.

[Big Dave]

Wait till it burns you property or their house down. I did now they are gone and all is peacful. Took ten years for them to do it.

[Alice In TX/MO]

We have a burn barrel. Only stuff that goes in it is paper products. The other stuff goes out to Waste Management.

[Minelson]

We burn everything but cans, glass, heavy plastic and cat litter. But we have no neighbors. There is no garbage pick up here. Everyone burns. If it's that bad then I would just go tell him it's blowing right into your house and ask him to please watch the wind direction before burning.
Easy peasy... bring over a 6 pack of beer when you go talk to them.

[91redford]

the idea of their carelessness burning my property is a concern, not now because it's raining so much but in the summer it could be a problem, i agree the burn barrel is for paper the plastic needs to go somewhere else. thanks for the responses! stop the toxic burn!

[SilverFlame819]

Goodness.

My family burns their trash, BUT... Inside each house, there are two garbage cans. One is for burnables (paper, cardboard, etc), and the other is for NON-burnables (plastics and whatnot)... The ONLY things that go into the burn barrel are paper and wood-based stuff. They make sure they have a whole pile of stuff in the barrel to burn before they light it, they they burn it all at once, get a big metal pole, and STIR it to make sure everything is burnt, and then they douse it. There is no issue with fumes, and no big smoldering clouds when the stuff is dying out.

Your neighbor... Ugh... I have no good advice on this one.

[Old John]

We take the paper & cardboard to the Recycle Center, along with the cans & glass.
The actual trash we haul to the same place and pay $2 a bag for disposal.
We compost all we can.
We do not have a burn barrel. But we have a bonfire every Fall to dispose of tree & shrub trimmings. We sit around the fire with a few friends and drink a few beers or a little Mead.

[Rick]

You could offer to accept the nasty trash for your trash pickup.

Maybe they'd agree to burn twice a week?

Take a peace offering (rolls cake etc.) for the dinner table, and a bag for some nasty-trash.

[haypoint]

Down the road, a few years ago, a couple neighbors were fueding.
The property line ran at a funny angle from the road to the lake shore. The houses were built straight with the road, not the side lot line.
The new neighbor put out a long dock. Old Bill saw that this dock was cocked towards his property. He wanted the dock moved. New neighbor refused. Old Bill ran a plasttic rope along the property line, then extended it out over the water. The rope ran diagionally across new neighbor's dock. No one actually has property rights out into the water.The offending rope was removed. The dock wasn't.
Old Bill found a Maytag wringer washer and set it on his property, near the property line. I guess his toilet didn't word. He's make his daily deposits onto news paper and place them in the washer. Then place the lid over it. When he had an ample quanity and the wind was the correct direction, old Bill would light it afire.
Well, old Bill is dead now and the new neighbors have moved away. Glad it didn't escalate to the dead pet and shattered windows stage that these things often do....

[macmad]

We have 28 acres that we use as recreational property. When down there, we burn all our paper products in a burn barrel. Not large quantities, and no one close enough to bother.

The other stuff we take to a friends a couple of miles down the road that offered their trash dumpster for us to us.

[Molly Mckee]

Burning trash has Been against the law in WA state for over 30 years, mostly because it's one of the causes of forest fires. I would check the laws in your state to see if what the neighbor is doing is even legal. If not I would talk to the neighbor and ask him to watch the weather if he is going to burn . Here the fine starts at 1000.00, one of our neighbors got fined because thr DNR happened to come up the road for some other reason.

[Hollowdweller]

First love your steal your face stained glass. I have a similar one but longer with a rose in the middle.

Second we have pickup but we have one neighbor up the hollow does the same thing. We live in an OLD house and it goes right thru the walls and all we can smell is stinking plastic.

Garbage pickup is required here but so far we haven't turned them in. It is very inconsiderate though.

[Vickie44]

Here we burn every 6 or 8 weeks, what do you think they are burning that they do it every day ?

I agree with poster above , go over with 6 pack and ask them to mind the wind direction.

[flowergurl]

It'a bit more than inconsiderate, it's affecting your health and theirs.
Have you any idea how many toxins are thrown into the air when burning plastic at low temps?
I live in town and i had a neighbor who burned all waste in a barrel instead of using trash pick up. He said he couldn't afford it. The city said burning was okay if they got a permit from the fire chief.
I gathered my data and went to the city council and demanded all burning of plastic be stopped right away. Otherwise, I would hold the city responsible for the clean up of toxins spread by this practice.

http://www.co.la-crosse.wi.us/health...ingbarrels.pdf

[simi-steading]

This is something you're not going to win... Long time families and friends.. you're the new kid on the block... Even if you ask nicely, you're probably going to end up being the bad guy...

As a thought, I was told by the local trash company where I just bought a place, that if I don't get trash service from them, the DNR will eventually make it around to find out how I am disposing of my trash (I could haul it off) because a lot of people bury their trash on their property, and that isn't legal.. neither is burning it..

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by Vickie44

Here we burn every 6 or 8 weeks, what do you think they are burning that they do it every day ?

I agree with poster above , go over with 6 pack and ask them to mind the wind direction.

Yes that is what I would do.
I am lucky though I have no one that close to me and I burn Everything that is burnable, I have a nice burn barrel and I really use it.

[nickvree]

Maybe offer to split the cost of a dumpster with the 3 families; might be cheaper than pick up, and may stop them from burning so much... doubt it would work but who knows.