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Lets talk trash


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:laugh:

okay here is why I am asking - I was out today and while passing thru a nice neighbourhood noticed how poorly the trash had been bagged and how it was spilling out and kids were playing around in the snow right next too it.

In particular, how do you dispose off things like a lot of oil?

How do you throw trash out? Do you recycle? I bet this is different all across the globe.

:biggrin:

Monica Bhide

A Life of Spice

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Living out in the country with stray dogs, bears, ravens, etc. no one leaves garbage loose, I have a wooden bin and I have to take my garbage to a transfer bin. My solution for old fry oil, etc. is to freeze it and take it out just before my trip to the transfer bin.

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For Old Fryer Oil - I heard somewhere that I shouldn't dump it down the toilet (which is what I used to do), so, now, I wait until midnight and go empty it into the storm drain.

For trash - My apartment complex unfortunately only has one set of dumpsters for the entire, huge, multi-buidling complex. This means that I have to drive my bags of garbage to them, and it also means that taking out the trash is quite a hassle. Thus, I am invested in a huge trash can and super-mega-trashbags so that I don't have to do it as often... and also tend to compact stuff such that each bag ways nearly 100 lbs before it is carried out. Maybe I wouldn't dread carrying it out if I didn't let it get so unmanageable... but hey, that would require me to stop procrastinating ;).

I am lucky to live in an area where there is no charge for waste disposal, and no tallying of how much waste you make, as I hear some of the Pacific Northwest states are beginning to do...

Edited by NulloModo (log)

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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For Old Fryer Oil - I heard somewhere that I shouldn't dump it down the toilet (which is what I used to do), so, now, I wait until midnight and go empty it into the storm drain.

Ok… Of course, I am not saying I’ve ever done this, but what’s wrong with tossing cold oil down the sink?

Does it have to be disposed of in the garbage? Do the garbage people like finding my 2-liter bottles filled with oil? Should I recycle it? Is this even possible?

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I save old containers for dumping fry oil. Yogurt containers have always been a favorite -- but now the companies are replacing plastic covers with foil seal which renders the containers unusable.

I also recycle -- I keep separate bags for glass, one for aluminum, one for plastic and one for paper/cardboard.

Fortunately, the trash room is about 10 feet from my apartment so nothing stays long in the apartment. (you should see the pile that one week of newspapers - 3/day looks like)

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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I dont know.. I take my oil and flush it down toilet.. I havent had problems yet  :rolleyes:.. But always looking to pour the oil on any attacking armies.

I once considered dumping it on a bunch of noisy drunks who parked under my kitchen window at 2am. We decided that raw eggs would have more accuracy. :shock:

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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For Old Fryer Oil - I heard somewhere that I shouldn't dump it down the toilet (which is what I used to do), so, now, I wait until midnight and go empty it into the storm drain. 

For trash - My apartment complex unfortunately only has one set of dumpsters for the entire, huge, multi-buidling complex.  This means that I have to drive my bags of garbage to them, and it also means that taking out the trash is quite a hassle.  Thus, I am invested in a huge trash can and super-mega-trashbags so that I don't have to do it as often... and also tend to compact stuff such that each bag ways nearly 100 lbs before it is carried out.  Maybe I wouldn't dread carrying it out if I didn't let it get so unmanageable... but hey, that would require me to stop procrastinating ;).

I am lucky to live in an area where there is no charge for waste disposal, and no tallying of how much waste you make, as I hear some of the Pacific Northwest states are beginning to do...

You Are kidding about putting your oil in the storm drain, right?

Here in Seattle, we're phasing into mandatory recycling, which is not a bad thing. This year, if you have 'too much' recyclable waste, you get warnings. Next year, you get fined, and if that doesn't work,they they refuse to pick up your garbage. My lovely landlord also has one dumpster for the entire 20 unit building, and two pickups a week mean that I have to time when I dump the stinky stuff, as the dumpster tends to get full of weekend shopping detrius by Sunday night. There's no recycling bins yet, so I'm curious to see what he'll do when it hits him in the pocketbook.

“"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

"It's the same thing," he said.”

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In my building now, we just have one dumpster for everything. We are supposed to take refundable containers (all beverages except milk) to an enviro depot.

Across the whole municipality and in our new house, we have to seperate everything. All organic or wet garbage goes in a green bin picked up evry two weeks. Refundables and recyclables in a blue bageveryweek, newspapers in a grocery bag weekly. and everything else in a garbage bag on the weeks the green cart is not picked up.

After 6 years of living in this building and biffing everything out, it's going to take some getting used to all the seperating. It's a big deal around here because your garbage can get tagged and not picked up if there is something wrong with it. WIsh me luck. :hmmm:

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My family thinks I am a trash maniac. I look around my neighborhood and look at how full trash cans are for a small family and go "yikes?

I keep bacon grease in a container and use it for whatever.

Every scrap of paper and cardboard are recycled.

Every plastic bag is recycled.

I make every effort to buy products with minimal packaging. I freeze all sorts of tomatoes, etc. so I don't have to buy canned stuff and recycle the cans.

Every veg scrap and egg shells are composted. I have a wonderful, pottery compost thing by the sink that works well. Even in the dead of winter, I don boots and dump the stuff into the compost (never mind it doesn't do anything at this time of year). I periodically add dirt (I keep a bin in the warm garage) to the compost.

I have eliminated as many publications as possible and do them on-line to avoid using trees and having trash/recycling.

No to oil down the drains -- don't care whether toilet or sink. All that sewage has to be taken care of somehow, and I want my kids to have as clean a place to live as possible.

Don't use plastic trash bags for trash. Use paper grocery bags. I think Glad and Hefty have the greatest scam going on the market. They have people convinced they have to spend money for a product that is produced for the express purpose of being thrown away.

Edited by snowangel (log)
Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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You Are kidding about putting your oil in the storm drain, right?

Here in Seattle, we're phasing into mandatory recycling, which is not a bad thing. This year, if you have 'too much' recyclable waste, you get warnings. Next year, you get fined, and if that doesn't work,they they refuse to pick up your garbage. My lovely landlord also has one dumpster for the entire 20 unit building, and two pickups a week mean that I have to time when I dump the stinky stuff, as the dumpster tends to get full of weekend shopping detrius by Sunday night. There's no recycling bins yet, so I'm curious to see what he'll do when it hits him in the pocketbook.

Well, the storm drain leads to the sewers, right, and then the sewers lead to a waste treatment plant somewhere I'd imagine, so, I can't see how that is any worse than putting it into a can and tossing it (also, I don't have any old coffee cans laying around, and deep fryers make for quite a bit of waste oil when it is time to change. I have played around with the idea of picking up an old MB 300D or some other diesel vehicle and playing with making my own bio-diesel, but as for yet I haven't gotten around to it.

And as for Seattle mandatory recycling and waste guidelines: ick. The more I hear about how intrusive the govt. is in your daily life in many west coast communities, the more I realize I could never happily live there.

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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We don't generate much fry oil, but when we do, our county has a hazardous waste site where we can take it, and it will be recycled. Getting my husband to do that is another story...

We open 4 cans of pet food per day, and were filling up our trash can pretty quickly. Just when we were thinking about ordering a second can, a neighbor told us about a nearby recycling center, so we take cans, milk containers, plastic pop bottles, newspaper and magazines there. Another center exists for things like plastic bags, but it's quite a bit farther away. On my to-do list is to find it, figure out when it's open, and drop stuff off on my way to/from work.

I also have begun composting kitchen waste in the same bin we're putting yard waste in. It's too cold to be able to tell what's going to come of it, but at least it's not going into the landfill or through the garbage disposal and into the sewage treatment plant.

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My town has weekly trash pickup and biweekly recycling pickup. There is no charge per bag of trash, and you don't need to seperate out the recycling into glass, plastic, tin--they all go in the same bin. Newsprint, cardboard, and magazines are also recycled seperately. The biggest trash-related problem we face are marauding raccoons that will stop at nothing to get into the trash cans. My sister resorted to duct tape and bungee cords to keep them out of her cans. The raccoons' response to this deterrent was to bite a big hole in the lid bin and drag the can into the woods. :shock: On second thought, maybe it is not raccoons we are dealing with after all. :blink::blink::hmmm:

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Pouring oil down the sink will clog the pipes -- very badly. Trust me on that.

Dont know about recycling oil -- good question.

I always thought this was the case and as I said, I toss mine in the trash, but a friend of mine always tosses it down the drain and reports that there has never been a problem.

Is it hazzard due to the concentration of all that oil at one time? I'm sure lots of oil gets down the drain after washing dishes and whatnot... What if I chucked the oil in the sink piecemeal and chased it with hot water and soap?

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Fifty dollars - i am not sure. we had a problem at a friends because of this and they had to first keep pouring some enzyme down the drain to clean it out and then eventually paid to have pipes cleaned out professionally cos it got so bad -- the drain kept clogging.

I dont use the drain - and dont recommend it personally.

Monica Bhide

A Life of Spice

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I also have begun composting kitchen waste in the same bin we're putting yard waste in.  It's too cold to be able to tell what's going to come of it, but at least it's not going into the landfill or through the garbage disposal and into the sewage treatment plant.

Please assure me that you are composting only stuff like veg scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds. No meat (other than egg shells), please, or it's not compost.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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We are in the middle of the country, with septic tank drainage, so its definately no oil down the drains or it will end up in the pond eventually. No garbage disposal unit either.

We have compost bins and a big shredder for most of the bio-degradable. The resulting compost, after about a year, is great soild conditioner. Neighbors have pigs and chickens...

The occaisional bonfire for some of the rest Waste oil tends to get burnt. . However the local council runs its own good recycling, with profits to the community - green waste (cardboard and other bio-degradable including kichen scraps) is picked up free from every two weeks, with ordinary trash on the other week. Newspapers and bottles are also picked up seperately from the kerbside weekly. The council provides free wheely bins, and free composters to any that need.

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snowangel you are my new goddess.... and should be married to johnnybird who is the recycling german fuherer. he brings things home from work...

we recycle all paper, plastic and cans - they are picked up alternate weeks. tomorrow is plastic and cans. junk mail and newspaper next week.

garbage on mondays and thursdays. we usually put one bag out a week.

fats from meatloaf, etc. into containers then out in the bagged garbage.

we are on a lot of less than a quarter acre so no compost heap here - no room

Nothing is better than frying in lard.

Nothing.  Do not quote me on this.

 

Linda Ellerbee

Take Big Bites

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My mom had a can with a lid that she poured all grease into, sealed it, and then put it into the trash. I do the same, or else I wait until it solidifies & then scrape it into something that will keep it from spilling over, and put it in the trash can. The only problem is if it leaks, you then run the risk of having the 'Raccoon' family pay you a visit :wacko:. I had that pleasure once, and because they were enjoying themselves so much, also dined on part of the plastic trashcan the trash service provided!! Not to mention - having a septic system forces you to think before disposal, b/c you don't want to pay to have the tank pumped.

Burgundy makes you think silly things, Bordeaux makes you talk about them, and Champagne makes you do them ---

Brillat-Savarin

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The city will pick up three types of garbage from us--recycleable plastic, tin and glass, newspapers, everything else.

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

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