What To Do With My Trash?!

[LauraJean]

First of all, I hope I chose the proper section for this inquiry.

I recently moved WAY out in the woods/country. The local dump is about 5 miles away. In my former town of residence, I was used to recycling, and "totally on board", separating my cans, paper, and glass, etc.

But my new town has recycling standards like I have never seen! EVERYTHING must be separated, ie: paper and newspaper are two separate bins, tin cans and aluminum cans are two separate bins, colored glass and clear glass, two separate bins. Even KITTY LITTER is recycled.

At first one might think, "Gee, that's fantastic!". But I live in a TINY cottage with no room for all these separate bins, and the wildlife that rummages through trash outdoors makes that not an option. My neighbor literally has 14 different bins, labeled and separated. He also has a huge house.

SO, my questions is this: I never thought I would be complaining about too much recycling, but: I don't have room to do this! I literally can't even fit a single trash can in my kitchen, never mind 14 bins!

Any alternative suggestions? I read one post somewhere where people said they burn all their paper/cardboard, etc. Are there options like this that are responsible and reasonable?

I am disabled and only drive a Jeep wrangler. I couldn't even fit all that trash in my Jeep even if I could somehow separate it first!

Advice??

Thanks

 

[TanksHill]

So you have to separate everything and then drive it somewhere? I could see if you set your little baskets/ containers on the curb but... that sounds like a pain.

Maybe you could go with burning the paper and cardboard and putting everything else together. Then separate at the recycling center. This might save you some room at home.

You could also shred you paper and have a worm farm.



Sorry I am not much help.

gina

 

[Farmfresh]

I would see if this "environmentally active" community has pick up for the disabled!

Don't burn that paper and cardboard ... use them for garden mulch first.

 

[DawnSuiter]

First things first, stop buying so much stuff that needs to be recycled!!

Second, try using wood chips as kitty litter... I was so impressed with how well the deep layer of wood chips worked, left no odors and allowed for fewer cleanings that I gave up the kitty litter. Now every couple of days we toss the entire bin off the back of the hill in several areas, which is essentially the woods where none of us go, but it is our land.

I use feed bags to collect our recycling, we don't have much anymore because we too had to learn to manage our trash to haul off to the dump/recycle center.

We stopped buying things with excess packaging, and things we didn't need. Stopped buying much stuff at all except fruit & veggies both fresh & frozen. It's like a win win savings... Save money, save space, save time & save the environment! Recycling itself uses a lot of energy, drinking water & chemicals... it's best for sure to reduce and reuse if possible!

I guess I'm saying, you'll find a way, hang in there. While we were figuring it out, we had to lock our trash up in a spare vehicle in order to keep the critters out.. I do live in national parkland area and we do have bears too! It was awful... BUT it showed us what we used too much of!! Like one of those TV shows where they bring back your trash for the last few weeks or something. It REALLY helped us see.

 

[LauraJean]

So you have to separate everything and then drive it somewhere? I could see if you set your little baskets/ containers on the curb but... that sounds like a pain.

That's right. There isn't a "curb" around here for miles. I live on a dirt road way out in the middle of nowhere. There are no garbage trucks or curb pickup, etc. Some people around here have dumpsters from private companies, but I can't afford that. Otherwise we're supposed to drive our trash 5 miles to the local dump.

Gardenfresh: "pick up for the disabled", that's a joke. I was amazed they have such extensive recycling rules, because it's a small country town, and I am way out on a private dirt road. Not sure why it's considered a "private" road, since plenty of us live on it, but the town doesn't even plow it or maintain it in any way, they certainly won't pick up my trash! The police don't even come onto this road unless there is a 911 emergency.

When I first moved in, I heard a story that the town doesn't even consider the folks on my road part of the community. The story is that one lady down the road had a fire that started from her dryer's lint trap and when she called the fire dept. they said "Oh, way out there?! Are you SURE it's an actual fire? Is it small, can you put it out yourself?" !!! Can you believe that?

So "pick up for the disabled" really made me laugh, but wishful thinking.

Gardenfresh (or anyone): How do you use paper & cardboard in garden mulch? I've heard that I can put paper in my recycling pile, but I've never tried it. It must take forever to break down, wouldn't it? I don't think I could do that with all my paper & cardboard, I would need a monstrous compost pile. It's very small right now. Any suggestions on how to go about this?

Also, is there anything wrong with burning paper & cardboard, environmentally speaking? When I first moved in I heard one guy up the road burns ALL his trash. I thought that was weird, but now that I've lived her for a while, I'm starting to see why!

 

[Aidenbaby]

You know, Dawn, that wood chip kitty litter idea isn't all that bad. My cats are naughty and like to use the mulch in the front of our house as a litterbox anyway. If I can find a way to safely compost it, that would be fantastic.

 

[DawnSuiter]

You know, Dawn, that wood chip kitty litter idea isn't all that bad. My cats are naughty and like to use the mulch in the front of our house as a litterbox anyway. If I can find a way to safely compost it, that would be fantastic.

it was a purely by accident discovery as it was what was handy from the chick brooder, when our youngest kitten got spayed and needed an alternate littler for 2 weeks. It was the lack of smell that cinched it for me in a heartbeat. I just kept a pail next to the box with some extra and topped the box off with a handful of woodchips. I use a large CHEAP bale for horse stalls. a YEARS worth of kitty litter for $7

I don't know what to do with the poop other than use it to mark our land to keep away other cats, and let nature decompose it for the forest.. but you could easily separate the chips from the other solids, and compost the chips for sure.

 

[rebecca100]

A lot of people burn their paper it is really no worse than burning leaves. Where we used to live a lot of people just burned all their trash too, but that is really dangerous, both enviromentally and physically(blowing up bottles or spraycans and such) and it is actually illegal where we live(maybe everywhere!) Paper composts, you can start a compost pile and compost any coffee grounds and filters, kitchen scraps, and such. That will keep down some of the stuff that would be thrown away.
I know what you are talking about with no trash pickup-we used to keep all our trash in the back of our old truck and cover it with a tarp to keep the animals from tearing up the bags! It was really a problem when we needed to use the truck we had to make a trip to the recycle center or unload it all in the yard and then load it back up when we were through. I am trying to clean up my dad's old place right now where he burned all his trash in the front yard!! So I REALLY don't recommend that!

 

[DawnSuiter]

ALL FORMS OF BURNING are frowned upon in the seriously enviro friendly circles.

Including campfires, even small fires. You could burn some of your trash if your not a believer of that... but to be minimally responsible about it you would have sort the burnables. You must only burn paper & wood and certain food items, never ANY type of plastics, celephane, even those little plastic windows on envelopes.

Using paper & cardboard as mulch is easy... lay it down & leave it. Sometimes I use pizza boxes by cutting into them & making a hole in the center and planting in the hole. I cover the cardboard with rocks or nothing!!! I use those feed bags to in the walkways of my gardens. Just plop it down & proceed to walk all over it!! You can rip paper & cardboard up as small as possible or shred it to use easier or to add to your compost. I used to shred mail but now I use it for kindling & fire starting, because I sit by a campfire most nights watching the stars.

What there isn't an easy or nice way to dispose of is animal bits... leftover meat from dinners, fats, dairy, etc. These are the things that make your garbage smell.. or stored trash smell, and compost smell for that matter. That stuff must be sent off to landfill in my mind... OR given to the animals. We distribute remaining animal parts & dairy products among the "farm" animals... or plan a trip to the dumping center.

 

[abifae]

if your neighbor has so many bins, would he mind you stopping by to sort?

i've done that for and to neighbors. most people don't care.