Rural Garbage Service Mandatory ..

blueriver · Dec 28, 2007

I think in some areas this service is mandatory, here it is not. My neighbors use burn barrels, trash piles, beds of old pickups, old sheds or a hole that is dug and then later buried. (or any other creative source)

I pay a local company $16 a month and each and every week they pick it up ... GONE ... HISTORY ...

What is done in your area?

jinman · Dec 28, 2007

blueriver said:
I think in some areas this service is mandatory, here it is not. My neighbors use burn barrels, trash piles, beds of old pickups, old sheds or a hole that is dug and then later buried. (or any other creative source)

I pay a local company $16 a month and each and every week they pick it up ... GONE ... HISTORY ...

What is done in your area?

Here, it accumulates around the back porch or up against a fence at some residences.

Actually, there is no mandatory trash collection in our area. Many people burn or bury their trash. About 50% pay for pickup, but it's almost twice as much per month as yours with only one pickup per week.

dooleysm · Dec 28, 2007

We recycle aluminum cans, milk jugs, newspaper, and clear glass. We take diapers (2 kids in them, ugh), metal cans (we don't use many), large plastic bottles, and other non-burnable stuff to the dumpster at the inlaws' shop. We burn junk mail (with plastic inserts/windows), cardboard, and some plastic (shrink wrap, frozen veggie bags, things of that nature).

I've been trying to reduce the amount of stuff we burn and keep it mostly to cardboard/paper. I have been meaning to look into a small dumpster or other trash pickup, but haven't gotten around to it. There is a recycling dropoff close by, but to have everything separated I'd need scads of trash cans. Maybe I'll get to that point some day. I've found that the older I get, the more I care about the environment, and how I leave it.

blueriver · Dec 28, 2007

dooleysm said:
We recycle aluminum cans, milk jugs, newspaper, and clear glass. We take diapers (2 kids in them, ugh), metal cans (we don't use many), large plastic bottles, and other non-burnable stuff to the dumpster at the inlaws' shop. We burn junk mail (with plastic inserts/windows), cardboard, and some plastic (shrink wrap, frozen veggie bags, things of that nature).

I've been trying to reduce the amount of stuff we burn and keep it mostly to cardboard/paper. I have been meaning to look into a small dumpster or other trash pickup, but haven't gotten around to it. There is a recycling dropoff close by, but to have everything separated I'd need scads of trash cans. Maybe I'll get to that point some day. I've found that the older I get, the more I care about the environment, and how I leave it.

The enviroment thing is really something we should all become more involved in. The worst thing I hate about garbage, my dog knows where the neighbors burn pit is, not all things get burned completly and he brings home some real treasures!

I have one neighbor, down wind so to speak that has a ditch/draw that he slings everything into, I often wonder after a good rain where does that all go?

Chuck52 · Dec 28, 2007

We pay about the same as Blueriver for our trash pickup, and the company gets a real bargain with us. We started recycling when we lived in town, largely due to my son being the president of the highschool environmental club, but it was pretty convenient because the city made it so with curb-side pickup. When we moved out of town, we continued even though it now means I have to haul it all into town to one of the places where the city has bins set up. The glass, metal and plastic all go together, and the paper products are separate, so it is still fairly easy to do because two of the places I can take it are beside the two super markets we frequent. I make a run about once a week, with the stuff in plastic clothes hampers in the trunk of my car. Takes only a few minutes to dump it. The trash company almost always only gets one bag of trash from us. I don't know how effectively the recycled stuff is handled, but the great majority of it is said not to go to the dump, though some always will, of course. I expect that the metal is easiest to find a market for, though the Chinese seem to love American recycled paper.

Chuck

Redbug · Dec 28, 2007

Here in SC it is optional. Sometimes, I think that is good, since quite a few people are poor and cannot afford another bill. Other times I think it is bad, since people throw trash everywhere around here. It's a cultural thing I believe...

The counties have recycling/dumping stations set up in different parts of each county. County residents just go to them and dispose of their stuff for free. Big things...you go to the landfill for free.

I think the local trash company picks up for around $20 a month. Still a good deal. I am cheap...I take my trash to work and use their dumpster. That's an unwritten work benefit. My retirement benefits do not include trash disposal...so in a few short years I will be visiting the dump station every couple of weeks.

chh · Dec 28, 2007

Defintely optional around here. The county has a constant battle with illegal roadside dumps. Many people still burn trash, I get a pickup once a week for about $20 with 2 cans max a week allowed.
I can tell you where all the trash in the ditch/draw goes after a rain blueriver. Right out in the middle of one of my hay meadows.

I have one of those neighbors too.

lopezian · Dec 28, 2007

Around here most folks haul their own trash and recyclables to the transfer station in town. From there it gets hauled on a boat to the dump on the mainland. Because everything has to go out by boat, costs are pretty high, about 9 dollars for a 42 gallon can. Recyclables are free, and there is even a "take it or leave it" where you can drop off things like clothes, old mowers, construction supplies, etc. - anything someone might be able to reuse. We call that "the mall" because it is the closest thing we have to a mall around here. It works well except for the folks who take things not for their own use, but to sell on ebay.

There is a regular trash pickup service available but I don't know anyone who uses it. I imagine it would be quite expensive.

Podunkadunk · Dec 28, 2007

Being rural, we have to pay for pickup. They'll take regular household garbage, but not carpet, old computer monitors, mattresses, etc...you get the picture. You have to take that stuff to the landfill yourself, but the fee is less than cheap...about 5 bucks for a 4x8' trailer load.

So, most of the rednecks use that stuff as landscaping. It's a mess riding by some of these people's trailers.

Podunk