DIY waste management

oscarBravo

Having just moved house only to discover that Bourkes won't collect bins from this rural cul-de-sac, I'm faced with having to manage my own waste for the first time.

Anyone in a similar situation that can share some pointers? Do you make regular runs to the landfill/amenity centres, and how does all that work? Should I start composting in earnest?

yop

OB
Same as your, by choice, for a good few years now. We had to get a "Holiday" bin though there this year with the young lad arriving and his "waste"

Anyway for 6 years prior to this, I got a wheelie bin off the mother in law.
In the house I had 2 fliplid bins in the house and when these filled I put them into the wheelie bin.
I had plastic boxes for the cardboard, 1 for the papers, 1 for glass and tin and 1 for plastic and tetra pak.

I put in 2 composters.
I bought 3 massive sacks, 1 for plastic/tetra pak, 1 for cardboard and 1 for paper.
I also had 2 plastic boxes with lids for the bottle and tins.

Then every 6 to 8 weeks I would open the wheelie bins, I wud take the 6 or 8 bags and compact them into 3 black bags (buy the good strong black plastic bags) and went to the dump.
I usually went with 3 domestic bags, 3 recycling bags and 2 plastic boxes.

Hope that helps!

Oldtree

Well I'll be dammed, I was just thinking about starting a new thread to see how I could improve my waste disposal system.

More or less the same by choice:

2 wheely bins to mind the rubbish until I can compact into 2 bags for the landfill, which I strech out to every 13 weeks unless I'm overrun, but I have a hilux to take all the stuff in (I usually combine the visit with other chores so the diesal used is only from castlebar to the dump. All bits metal, bulbs, oils, cooking oils, paints, batterys, polystyrene, etc taken at landfill site.

4 large plastic sacks for tins, plastics HDPE and PET, and paper.
2 large plastic containers for cardboard and tetrapacks.

Glass and soft drink cans recycled locally.
2 composters with a small area between 3 pallets to start things off, put into the vegi patch each year when ready.
1 composter for cooked waste (vegetables only) and potato peelings.
Garden waste secreted around the garden, grass clippings used as mulch.
Dog eats any food left over.
Put the crusts out for the birds as well as any spoiled fruit.

All the above is stored in a polytunnel and shed, with 2 extra small bins inside for paper and recyclabels.

When I was at the landfill, in the early days, a man pointed out to me that perhaps it was better to squash the cardboard otherwise it took up more space. So I took his advice.

I take selotape off all the cardboard as well as tearing out those envelope windows in letters and am always looking out for ways to improve what I do. Anyone got any bright ideas for me?

John mac

Have you tried McGraths ? they may do your area.

Oldtree

I think the idea here is BEAT the binman!!!

oscarBravo

John mac wrote: »

Have you tried McGraths ? they may do your area.

I'm actually just around the corner from Bourke's yard, so it's not a question of being out of their area; they just don't want to come down this road.

Avns1s

I just did my quarterly (or less ) run to Derrinumera last Saturday. Trailer full of cardboard, drink cans, steel cans, plastic milk cartons, other plastic bottles, tetrapaks, Glass, Newspapers, batteries, all seperated of course, in addition to about 3 bags of rubbish.

The bags of rubbish, I collect in wheelie bins, no food mind! That goes in the dog and cats. Vegetable waste goes in the composter. Grass cuttings go in a heap in the lawn and obviously are reused. Ashes is taken to the rear fence and set free back to nature whenever the wind blows the right direction!!

Visit to landfill cost €20 something. It must have been 5 months since the last visit so.......if you have the space to store it, and can do something with food waste that I don't think would be pleasant after 3+ months in a wheelie bin, then doing something like this is financially and environmentally very expedient in my opinion.

yop

oscarBravo wrote: »

I'm actually just around the corner from Bourke's yard, so it's not a question of being out of their area; they just don't want to come down this road.

Ah jaysus, if only the had spread the Net a little West, it would have helped! :P

oscarBravo

yop wrote: »

Ah jaysus, if only the had spread the Net a little West, it would have helped! :P

Oldtree

Avns1s wrote: »

Ashes is taken to the rear fence and set free back to nature whenever the wind blows the right direction!!

Turf or wood ash would be ok to let go free, Wood ashes have a carbon/nitrogen ratio of about 25:1 and are a good source of calcium and potassium for your compost. They are also very alkaline so use them sparingly to avoid high pH levels that will limit microbial activity in the heap.

but coal is like burnt oil so must be disposed of carefully along with other waste after cooling down.

Avns1s

Oldtree wrote: »

Turf or wood ash would be ok to let go free, Wood ashes have a carbon/nitrogen ratio of about 25:1 and are a good source of calcium and potassium for your compost. They are also very alkaline so use them sparingly to avoid high pH levels that will limit microbial activity in the heap.

but coal is like burnt oil so must be disposed of carefully along with other waste after cooling down.

Don't fret!! It's turf!!

Mind you, I doubt there is much oil left in the coal ash either, certainly such that it would be an environmental hazard.

Oldtree

Panic over then!!!

I did a bit of research a while back on the domestic coal fire ash and could not come up with a definitive reason that is is a bad idea to put it about in the garden, other than statements that it is bad idea, and just presumed its bad. any links to the contrary?

Avns1s

Oldtree wrote: »

Panic over then!!!

I did a bit of research a while back on the domestic coal fire ash and could not come up with a definitive reason that is is a bad idea to put it about in the garden, other than statements that it is bad idea, and just presumed its bad. any links to the contrary?

Sorry, I don't have a link but my science background keeps suggesting to me that the "oil" in the coal would be burnt off and the remains would merely be the inorganic carrier of that "oil".

In addition, if there was an environmental consideration, I would have thought that the green lobby would have ensured that legislation would be in place by now to prevent coal ash ending up in landfill.

Mind you, I hope I said that softly so they don't hear it and start another flippin campaign!

Oldtree

I dont think that all the residue would be burnt off in all cases meaning that all ash residue would have to be treated the same.

Shouldnt landfill sites be lined with a thick non permeable layer?