Trash Disposal

[Mrwurm]

How is this a related topic? That's easy; I use the tractor to haul out the trash!

Those of us living out in the country generally have a wider variety of 'Stuff' to dispose of. In the old days, folks would just haul the old couch to the back forty. A broken down wreck was parked in the woods.

Yesterday I cleaned out my camp-fire pit and dumped all the ashes in the woods (Related Topic Alert with the FEL.

So, what do you think. What should be dumped? What should be hauled away? And if you do haul it away, where the heck do you take it?

 

[RobS]

<font color=blue>In the old days, folks would just haul the old couch to the back forty. A broken down wreck was parked in the woods.
</font color=blue>

We've got one of these "old timers" down the road from us (in a new house no less). Bugs the cr&p out of me but I understand that's one of the freedoms associated with rural living. For us, we'll have weekly trash pickup just like those civilized city folks. We also recycle and compost so our weekly trash isn't too bad. No curbside recycling pickup but I believe the local landfill has recycling dropoff for free.

Ashes, if from a wood fire such as a campfire or brushpile are great for the garden. The old couch, Goodwill if it's still serviceable otherwise I'll haul it myself to the landfill. Same with the broken down wreck. Shoot, you can actually get a few bucks at the scrapyard for those old broken down wrecks.

Maybe our forefathers used their land as a dump but I chose not to use mine that way. Follow the more modern tenets of "reduce, reuse and recycle". That which is pitched should go to the appropriate place (landfill), not on my property or along anyone's road /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Mrwurm]

"not on my property or along anyone's road"

Yep, someone dumped a refrigerator alongside the road just down from my place. I was happy to see it gone one day. I don't know who came and got it but I'm glad.

Here's something interesting. My neighbor has an old car (1970's t-bird) that he swears he is going to fix up one of these days. Well, the township has been threatening him with notices to get it off the property (2.5 acre lot). The funny part is that the neighbor next to him has a large assortment of old farm implements including an old thresher and a rusty tractor in her front yard. Apparently this is seen as art and as such is not a problem for the township.

"One mans art is another mans treasure", right?

 

[beenthere]

As long as you have the FEL, you can do as I do with that trash that cannot be set out at the curb (old barb wire, couch [after burning], etc.) for pick-up, and that is to dig a hole and bury it. So much to-do is made about small quantities of trash which is as solid a landfill as the stone from the stone quarry. Now garbage, oil-based products, poisons, and the like are not things that I will bury. I don't like to see things just dumped and left in a surface pile, as they reduce natures aesthetic gift of nice scenery. Those that trash their property just encourage the law-makers to come up with a rule that contols them, when a little discretion and effort can keep these people off their backs. IMO.

 

[Thomas]

Our city got some tough laws about disposal at our landfills plus our land..$$ ouch.If it doesn't fit in the woodstove than it heads for one of the brush piles...nothing like a good hot fire in the dead of winter when its snowing,while having a hotdog or two. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Inspector507]

Around here..........make sure you have the hot dogs handy. The local FD guys will politely drive into the back yard and put your fire out if the weenies and marshmallows aren't out there with you.

 

[BigDave]

<font color=blue> In the old days, folks would just haul the old couch to the back forty. </font color=blue>

Today, they just dump the old couch on my land. /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif The thing that really burns me up, is they tossed it down the ravine. It would have been a lot easier if they dunped in on my driveway. The sad part is it only costs $4 to take it to the dump.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

My guess is the people who cite such things don't know what good vs. bad farm equipment is but can recognize an old car when they see one.

Around here (in the city) we have an 'abandoned vehicle' ordinance which essentially labels anything six years old and apparently not in running condition "abandoned." "Apparently not in running condition" seems to mean not in perfect physical condition with such as dents, rust, dirt, etc.

Proper plating and insurance don't matter. Private property doesn't matter. The inspectors tag the vehicle (really attractive bright orange stickers) and you have something like ten days to call them and make an appointment (M-F during their daytime hours) to prove to them it's a functional vehicle. Failing that, your vehicle is towed and impounded at your expense.

One of the many bad parts of this is that it's complaint driven. They don't drive down the alleys looking in back yards, etc., but rather rely on complaints from neighbors to trigger their actions. You can imagine the situations that can and do arise from that.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Mrwurm, getting rid of stuff is getting harder today than getting it in the first place! As people with larger than average lots or acreage, you and I have a more direct interest in not poluting our land than the suburbunite that pours used paint thinner into the storm sewer under the cover of darkness. My land in E Texas is highly acid in nature and we pay good money to spread lime to bring it into balance. If you have the same problem on your place, your spreading of ashes is a good thing. I don't have a regular garbage pickup at our farm but it is amazing how little refuse we end up with weekly once we take out the burnables and the biodegradables. What's left, once buried, will make a heck of an archaeological dig in a few generations!

 

[JRP]

Where I live it is legal to burn trash. I stacked two barrels and made an incinerator. With a 8" stack out the top it draws real well. The top of the lower barrel has an expanede metal grating. Ashes drop through, cans stay on top. I empty the bottom ashes bout once every four months. Cans go in a plastic barrel and get dropped at a dumpster at work. The top barrel has a door with two gate hinges and a gate latch. I added a 4" electronics cabinet blower to supply more air.

This thing will burn wet diapers!

The problem is the steel is thin and the barrels get red hot. They don't last. I want to find a 250 gallon butane tank, purge it , and make one from it. Don't cut into a butane tank with a smoke wrench unless you know what you are doing.

 

[frank_f15]

i live in the country, always have. our garbage pick up will take one or two large items a week, no tires, no fluids. those can be dropped off at the town garage. all tree limbs, leaves and such i burn at the right conditions or recycle into my woods. no metal ,no glass ever gets dumped in the woods, plastic either.

 

[Mrwurm]

"Today, they just dump the old couch on my land."

Dave, that reminds me of a story. A few years back I had a contractor come out and bust up and remove about 60 ft of concrete walkway. I was not home when he did it and I assumed it was handled correctly. Later that night as I was driving down the road I discovered that he had dispersed all the broken concrete in the ditch along about 50 ft of road. The rest of the story is long, but suffice to say that he eventually cleaned it all up.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I disagree with alot of ordanances on prperty, I think some should be cleaned up if they have trash blowing around but not on th operational vehicle. I own a few vehicles i use around here and not on the roads and ahave a few for part i usually strip one send the hull to the recylers then use the parts for farm machinery. There was a law passed in town when a casino wanted in that had a city and county clean up and a radio staion would mention your name so one winter i moonlighted for a machine shop at night and worked on building implements at day. one day i heard my address mentioned and this guy pulls up in my yard with some community aware citizens. turns out he saw my shop and i was gutting out a few combines. well they went to marking things and the tow trucks arrived. I told them i was in the county and this was my business. hey left me alone for a while then the radio staion started back again so one night at the machine shop i had a foreman give me 3000 pounds or neoprene shavings in my dump truck. the radio station looked like a good snow arived. that was the end of that. I have a larges old road bed on the property, we accept Inert Clean fill on it. Im a fire bug so couches and other flammable furniture is mixed with loads of brush and then we have a bonfire. Every so often we haul in dirt fill in then advance makes good solid fill and saves money.