Trash disposal?

[Flopsy]

What do you do with your trash? Right now we have kitchen scraps going to the cats and my FIL takes a bag to throw out every few days at work, but I really want to clean out our back porch and the nursery. We have appliances, tools (keeping those) books,stuffed animals, and even an old car seat stored back there.

Our driveway is too narrow to rent a dumpster (as shown by the water company destroying a tree in our front yard to turn around instead of using the built in turn around) and the fees to have the nearest city come do it are ridiculous. The only things I can think if is burn what can be burned and throw everything else in the existing trash pit on the property, but I was hoping to eventually fill that in.

[EDDIE BUCK]

What I can't burn or bury,I take to the landfill.There is also a Christian church near by that excepts donated items that other folks can use.I have donated TV's and other items that still worked good.Then on Saturday they have a sale for the donated items at a very reasonable price.

I bought a four tube grow light for ten dollars,and my wife bought me two pairs of overalls a buck each.They have some large windows I intend on buying,look out greenhouse. I also got a cordless skill saw.The trick for cutting bamboo for mater stakes.

Also,having a yard sale might tickle your fancy,plus make you a few bucks to boot. LOL,then if anythings left,take those few bucks to boot and hire someone to carry the rest to the dump .Mission Accomplished

[chamoisee]

You sort it.
Edibles go to chickens, pigs or pets.

Compostables get composted. Paper and cardboard can be composted or used as mulch, or you can put them in the next category.

Burnables- paper, cardboard, wood products can be burned. Do not ever ever ever burn treated lumber, nasty dangerous stuff.

Glass can be crushed and used as aggregate for concrete, or if you are into pottery, it can be crushed even finer and used to make cullet glazes. When I buy things in jars, I try to pick items whose jars can be re-used for storing dry goods and spices.

Aluminum and most metal can be taken to the recycling center, where you get various amounts of money depending on what kind of metal it is. Sorting the metal usually helps, also take off plastic and different metals from aluminum, etc. If they have to do this, they pay you less.

Things which someone else might be able to use can be taken to the thrift store or given away via Freecycle. It is surprising what some people want! I was flooded with inquiries when I offered a bunch of old shrunken wool sweaters with holes in them!

Plastic trash, I try to cram it as tightly as I can in some other plastic container. Plastic milk jugs or juice jugs are good for cramming plastic trash into if you rinse them out so they won't smell.

The most helpful thing is to be careful not to buy future trash when you can avoid it! I try to buy brands that are packaged in containers I will reuse. I save yogurt containers (the little ones are for plant pots, quart size with lids are free tupperware), ziploc bags, pint size ice cream containers (the Talenti brand is wonderful for storing other stuff it, cardboard ones are used for planting tomato seedlings), egg cartons, plastic bags (Walmart will take these IIRC but I reuse mine) and probably other stuff I'm not thinking of right now.

[sammyd]

We rent a dumpster. The truck pulls in and picks it up to dump and backs out. No turning around.
We used to burn but the smell was nasty and getting rid of the barrels was a hassle.

[homstdr74]

Originally Posted by sammyd

We rent a dumpster. The truck pulls in and picks it up to dump and backs out. No turning around.
We used to burn but the smell was nasty and getting rid of the barrels was a hassle.

Yeah, same here. For years we burned everything, but where we live that's not always feasible, due to fire hazard, so during the summer we wound up storing (!!) all the stuff to burn in the fall, and that turned out to also be hazardous. So we now rent a dumpster, and, believe it or not, it's full most weeks when the truck comes to empty it out.

[Flopsy]

Originally Posted by chamoisee

You sort it.
Edibles go to chickens, pigs or pets.

Compostables get composted. Paper and cardboard can be composted or used as mulch, or you can put them in the next category.

Burnables- paper, cardboard, wood products can be burned. Do not ever ever ever burn treated lumber, nasty dangerous stuff.

Glass can be crushed and used as aggregate for concrete, or if you are into pottery, it can be crushed even finer and used to make cullet glazes. When I buy things in jars, I try to pick items whose jars can be re-used for storing dry goods and spices.

Aluminum and most metal can be taken to the recycling center, where you get various amounts of money depending on what kind of metal it is. Sorting the metal usually helps, also take off plastic and different metals from aluminum, etc. If they have to do this, they pay you less.

Things which someone else might be able to use can be taken to the thrift store or given away via Freecycle. It is surprising what some people want! I was flooded with inquiries when I offered a bunch of old shrunken wool sweaters with holes in them!

Plastic trash, I try to cram it as tightly as I can in some other plastic container. Plastic milk jugs or juice jugs are good for cramming plastic trash into if you rinse them out so they won't smell.

The most helpful thing is to be careful not to buy future trash when you can avoid it! I try to buy brands that are packaged in containers I will reuse. I save yogurt containers (the little ones are for plant pots, quart size with lids are free tupperware), ziploc bags, pint size ice cream containers (the Talenti brand is wonderful for storing other stuff it, cardboard ones are used for planting tomato seedlings), egg cartons, plastic bags (Walmart will take these IIRC but I reuse mine) and probably other stuff I'm not thinking of right now.

Most of the trash is my MIL's she has been dead 15 years. Taking stuff to the local landfill is not an option, it's 2 hours away, and it's $80 to enter. Each time you come in. The bigger your vehicle, the more you pay. You also pay for the privilege of recycling.

My driveway and front lawn have no room for a dumpster (and we don't have access to the heavy equipment to create one) unless I use our driveway's turnaround. And I don't fancy backing out of my driveway onto a busy 4 lane highway with no shoulder we already sort most of our trash. For a family of 3 adults at
1 child to generate only 2 kitchen bags of trash a week is better than our city counterparts.

[simi-steading]

I'll have to sort mine... food to the compost or animals.. metal to the recycle center, not sure what I'll do with glass and plastic.. paper I'll burn..

Everything else, I have to buy a sticker to put on each rash tbag, then I have to take it a mile down the road for pickup

[NancyWVa]

I have the same problems, but I started making a run or 2 a week to a church to drop off and usable stuff. Then did a recycle run to town on the way to do other stuff. So I got my mess down a bit then paid a trash man to haul it away in a pick up truck. Other idea I see are people that take it all (empty out) they don't charge a fee but take the usable stuff as the fee. In Berkeley Springs Wv you have to have trash service..........at $13.00 a month but if you cant afford it they dont fine you unless your trash get way out of control.

I have been in Baltimore dealing with my mother house after her death in Dec. I have been here 9 weeks and am so sick of stuff, the auction they took out 2 17 foot truck of stuff, then the veteran's group they took 2 trucks of stuff out, then had 2 pickers come in, now its a make an offer yard sale this weekend, BUT when I get home I will be emptying my house and garage and basement........because it all turns out to be too much ---- in the end. When I get home I plan to call an auction company, then whats left the come and take it free guy. I am so done with junk, believe me the kids dont what anything they cant sell for good money. Sorry just had to vent.

[DEKE01]

Originally Posted by chamoisee

You sort it.
Edibles go to chickens, pigs or pets.

Compostables get composted. Paper and cardboard can be composted or used as mulch, or you can put them in the next category.

Burnables- paper, cardboard, wood products can be burned. Do not ever ever ever burn treated lumber, nasty dangerous stuff.

Glass can be crushed and used as aggregate for concrete, or if you are into pottery, it can be crushed even finer and used to make cullet glazes. When I buy things in jars, I try to pick items whose jars can be re-used for storing dry goods and spices.

Aluminum and most metal can be taken to the recycling center, where you get various amounts of money depending on what kind of metal it is. Sorting the metal usually helps, also take off plastic and different metals from aluminum, etc. If they have to do this, they pay you less.

Things which someone else might be able to use can be taken to the thrift store or given away via Freecycle. It is surprising what some people want! I was flooded with inquiries when I offered a bunch of old shrunken wool sweaters with holes in them!

Plastic trash, I try to cram it as tightly as I can in some other plastic container. Plastic milk jugs or juice jugs are good for cramming plastic trash into if you rinse them out so they won't smell.

The most helpful thing is to be careful not to buy future trash when you can avoid it! I try to buy brands that are packaged in containers I will reuse. I save yogurt containers (the little ones are for plant pots, quart size with lids are free tupperware), ziploc bags, pint size ice cream containers (the Talenti brand is wonderful for storing other stuff it, cardboard ones are used for planting tomato seedlings), egg cartons, plastic bags (Walmart will take these IIRC but I reuse mine) and probably other stuff I'm not thinking of right now.

excellent advice. I only differ in a small way. I do burn treated lumber that is decades old in a big pit. I'm pulling out mostly rotten fence posts that the forest service put in who knows when. It is full of rusty metal bits, but nothing of value to try to recycle. I also burn old barb wire because when it comes out, it is full of vines and mess. The Recycler only pays 1 cent / pound for wire so it is not worth the cost to clean it up enough that he will take it.

My pit is 10 ft deep and when it fills up to about 3 ft from the top, I'll cover it over.

[fishhead]

When you burn some things it creates some nasty poisons. A landfill is a much better option for us and future generations. Otherwise we are just sending the bill to them.

[Wolf mom]

I have a friend that's lame, so every week I drive to her home, put her trash barrel by the curb. In exchange, I can dump my weekly trash in it.

I'm cleaning up my property to sell, so I'm still going to the dump. Here, it's $1.25 a bag, but my stuff is loose - old hoses, etc. so it goes by weight.

I still have old pallets, etc. which will be burned. It's wind season for the rest of this month so the burn pile grows.

The joys of living rural.

[sisterpine]

I am confused? Do you not pay for the privilege of going to the dump for household waste with your property taxes? I know there is a charge both in Tucson and Butte MT for hauling commercial type stuff to the dump (construction and remodeling waste) but just dropping off household and yard trash was always free.

[Karenrbw]

Most small, rural counties just don't have trash service. We don't have a county dump. Ended up getting a dumpster from private company.

[DEKE01]

Originally Posted by fishhead

When you burn some things it creates some nasty poisons. A landfill is a much better option for us and future generations. Otherwise we are just sending the bill to them.

Understood and agree. But when you are pulling out old fence lines with a backhoe, you end up with a big ball of material that is a relatively little barbwire, a few fence posts, and vegetative materiel that is several tons. My dump trailer holds 11 cubic yards and it only takes about 300 ft of old fence row to fill it. I started with over 5 miles of fence to remove and/or replace, so that is a lot of dump loads.

The fence posts have already been burned many times. My farm is in an area that naturally burns every 3 - 5 years. Some of the fence posts started life as 8 x 8s and have burned down to 2 x 2s in some places. The fact that termites are in them tells me there isn't much in the way of poisons left. I think the fence might have been installed as far back as the days of CCC work camps.

[Flopsy]

Originally Posted by sisterpine

I am confused? Do you not pay for the privilege of going to the dump for household waste with your property taxes? I know there is a charge both in Tucson and Butte MT for hauling commercial type stuff to the dump (construction and remodeling waste) but just dropping off household and yard trash was always free.

No, trash service is prohibitively expensive in our area. In the city limits I believe it's covered in their taxes, but we are 15 miles outside the city limits. The last time we looked into trash I think they wanted $60/month plus we would have to pay $300 for the magic trash can. The city has a dump day twice a year for large trash, but we have no way of getting our large stuff into town.

Our county also doesn't have a dump, the nearest one is an hour and a half away in Austin.

[fishhead]

In this area there are places in the area where you can drop off a garbage bag full for $3.50.

[Shawn]

Call the guys at 1-800-got-junk. If there is a service in your area. There will be a cost, but they will take it all away and sort for you. We did this when cleaning out a house for a family member who passed away last fall.

There were there in done in about an hour with what did not already take care of.

[jassytoo]

We do pretty much what everyone has already said. Anything decent is either taken to GW or given away. Reuse what we can of the rest. Compost what we can. Newspaper ( Sunday paper only) I use to start the woodstove. Cardboard is used in the garden. What's left goes to the dump. We go about every six weeks or so. The dump has a minimum fee of $10, but that is a good pickup load. We rarely pay more than that. You can also drop off chemicals, paint etc. and recyclables for free.

[moeh1]

Waste management has dumpster bags at home depot that they just load onto their trucks, any chance you can squeeze one of this in the driveway at the road?
http://www.homedepot.com/p/WM-Bagste...-658/202228840

[Shoden]

1-800-got-junk isn't cheap, at least based on my experience when my wife insisted on hiring them to clean up some stuff from our old house. We were looking at getting rid of an 18 year old TV that still worked, but that we couldn't give away for free on Craigslist and that no place around us would accept as a donation, so it was going to cost $25 to dispose of properly. The rest of the junk could have been hauled to the dump and dropped off for $40, but she insisted on using them instead. Since she was paying, I didn't argue the point, but what would have just taken some time, gas money, and $65 in fees ended up costing her $280.

The appliances you mentioned could probably be sold to a scrap metal dealer, but if you don't have a way to haul them and can't borrow or rent a pickup, you can find guys on Craigslist that will haul that stuff away for free.

You could probably list the books and stuffed animals on Craigslist for free too, but if they're in decent shape, you could donate them to a charity, and then use that as a tax deduction. Of course, then you're back to the transport issue, which would require renting or borrowing a truck. U-Haul or similar does day rentals of pickups and small moving trucks. And one of the main reasons to have a pickup is so friends and family can ask for your help in moving stuff , so if you've got friends or family with a truck in the area, ask them.