Upon whom can I offload my sawdust?

[Joe Craven]

I have 5 dust collection bags that are all full of various hardwood dust, and the 6th one is halfway there. I realize that this is really thick plastic, but $5/bag at the local Woodcraft just eats at me for some reason.

I really want to reuse these bags (while satisfying some luck benefactor) but I don't think - especially given the exotic hardwood - that there'd be any takers. As I understand it, mechanics no longer use sawdust for oil spills. I'm sure it's too toxic for a hamster cage or horse stall. The only thing I can think of is a honky tonk.

Can anyone point me in a direction where I might find someone interested in sawdust? If for no other reason, to put it to good use instead of in the landfill.

Thanks,
Joe

[Wade Lippman]

What are these $5 bags!?

[Joe Craven]

I'm pretty sure it was ~25 for the 5-pack of the Jet bags at the local Woodcraft. The next set - if I have to go that far - will be from Amazon. Although, those are still $4 bags... :)

[Max Neu]

I use to give mine to some people down the road from me for their horse stalls.But I got tired of trying to keep certain woods out of the mix (like walnut),so now I just burn it all,bags included.

[Matt Day]

What kind of DC do you have? If a normal single state 1.5-2 hp, add a Thien separator and you'll never use another thick bag again and you'll reduce the fines that make it to the filter. I dump my barrel in a yard duty garbage bag.

[Martin Wasner]

Does you city have a composing site?

[John Schweikert]

I just put it in my compost in the back corner of our yard where pumpkins, grass clippings and the like regularly goes. It came from the earth, just return it that way.

[Bob Grier]

I toss dust in the yard waste cans for curb pickup. Makes nice dust cloud when they dump it but I haven't been told to quit doing it. I collect chips in separator garbage can between machine and dust collector. Chips go in garden or my brother gives them to his chickens to play with. Much easier to dump separator can than the bag.

[Don Sundberg]

Lately mine have been mulching my blackberries and blueberries.

Don

[Peter Quinn]

We make about 15-25 bags each week. We got some cheap u-line trash liners, dump the heavy collector bags into these, a farmer picks them up for animals bedding. We don't send him dust from the wide belt, or the plywood dust that comes off the panel saw. We have a number of small collectors rather than a large centralized unit, so it's easier. But if your dust is in fact toxic to living things......it's either compost or dumpster.

[Michael Stein]

I dump mine from the thick collector bag, into a black contractor bag, and take it to the county dump. Luckily, the county dump is a few minutes away from the house.

[Al Launier]

I use Heavy Duty Drum Liners that I pick up at Home Deport (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ultrasac-55-Gal-Drum-Liner-Trash-Bags-50-Count-HMD-792695/100200334?keyword=large+hd+trash+bags). Although not as thick as the 5 mil bags they do work for disposal. When the thick bag on the DC gets to about 2/3-3/4 full I place the drum liner over the DC bag, turn both over gently to empty the sawdust, let the dust settle before removing the DC bag, tie off the drum liner & dispose of it at the landfill. This works well & only costs about $0.40/bag.

[Wade Lippman]

I use Heavy Duty Drum Liners that I pick up at Home Deport (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ultrasac-55-Gal-Drum-Liner-Trash-Bags-50-Count-HMD-792695/100200334?keyword=large+hd+trash+bags). Although not as thick as the 5 mil bags they do work for disposal. When the thick bag on the DC gets to about 2/3-3/4 full I place the drum liner over the DC bag, turn both over gently to empty the sawdust, let the dust settle before removing the DC bag, tie off the drum liner & dispose of it at the landfill. This works well & only costs about $0.40/bag.

That process is probably pretty messy. Can't you put the cheap bag inside the heavy bag originally, and then just remove when full? I seem to recall doing that.

[Justin Ludwig]

I'm sure there are plenty of organic farmers and growers that would take it off your hands.

[Robert Parent]

I just dump mine in the yard and spread it around using a rake. In a couple days you hardly can tell where it was dumped.

Robert

[Michael Peet]

I just dump mine in the yard and spread it around using a rake. In a couple days you hardly can tell where it was dumped.

Robert

This right here. Into the yard it goes, and it disappears.

[glenn bradley]

We have "trash", "recycle" and "green" trash cans. My sawdust goes in the "green" can per the waste folks instructions. I use species that are bad for plants so, no mulch. I have been reusing the same bag for I don't know how many years.

[Michael Stein]

I use Heavy Duty Drum Liners that I pick up at Home Deport (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ultrasac-55-Gal-Drum-Liner-Trash-Bags-50-Count-HMD-792695/100200334?keyword=large+hd+trash+bags). Although not as thick as the 5 mil bags they do work for disposal. When the thick bag on the DC gets to about 2/3-3/4 full I place the drum liner over the DC bag, turn both over gently to empty the sawdust, let the dust settle before removing the DC bag, tie off the drum liner & dispose of it at the landfill. This works well & only costs about $0.40/bag.


Exactly as I do. Not very messy at all.

[Max Neu]

Joe,
I get mine from Edward Mueller co. In Cincinnati Ohio,I pay $129 for 50 in a roll.They are made for dust collectors and clear so you can see how full they are.For $2.50 each,they aren't worth saving,I figure I got my money's worth by the time they are full,plus you are likely to get a tear in them dragging them around trying to empty them.Nothing worse than a dust cloud after starting up the DC.

[Prashun Patel]

I dump mine in the woods.

Mulch can be detrimental to grass as it decomposes so I would be leery of putting large amounts in the yard

[Max Neu]

I have also heard it can kill plants in flower beds,I think due to the high acidity levels of some woods.

[Prashun Patel]

I am uncertain if the acid is toxic. I do know that as it decomposes, it robs the soil of nitrogen. So, if your plant (like grass or flowers) require lots of nitrogen, You could have issues.

Also, the tannic, acetic, and butyric acid levels vary wildly between woods. I mean, you can SMELL it. I've used fresh, oak mulch on boxwoods and holly beds with no ill effect.

[Joe Craven]

Thanks for all of the great advice, everyone...go to bed and wake up with answers!

I think I'm going to try the cheap-bag-inside-expensive-one route and keep it to a half-bag or so in order to keep the waste management guys from grumbling.

Also, FWIW and as it has been mentioned above, I was told by a guy at the local Rockler that it's great for mulch...unless you have walnut in there, that is...kills the plants. I have padauk, walnut, teak, and about 5 other flavors in most of these bags (centralized dust collector) so I think it's best to keep this stuff away from (currently-)living things.

Thanks again everyone!

[Chuck Saunders]

composting will eliminate the detrimental effect of walnut

[Yonak Hawkins]

We got some cheap u-line trash liners, dump the heavy collector bags into these, a farmer picks them up for animals bedding.

I put the thin bags inside the heavy bags. There's no need to transfer .. just take the inside bag out and replace.

I have a local horse boarder who buys all my shavings for $1.00/44 gal. bag .. enough to cover the bags and a bit for labor to load his truck. We have plenty of horse owners around. I could easily sell four times the amount.

Like Peter, I don't sell dust. I had a buyer for the dust who used it to stuff toys, until recently. Now I'm trying to find another solution for the dust.

[Yonak Hawkins]

composting will eliminate the detrimental effect of walnut

Agreed. Juglone is dissolved by water and leaches fairly quickly.

..Also, there's very little juglone in the shavings. The juglone is mostly in the buds, nut hulls and roots.

[David C. Roseman]

composting will eliminate the detrimental effect of walnut


Agreed. Juglone is dissolved by water and leaches fairly quickly.

..Also, there's very little juglone in the shavings. The juglone is mostly in the buds, nut hulls and roots.

Both of these comments are interesting to me, as we have many black walnut trees on our property in Great Falls. My experience is that while the wood chips have less juglone than the branches, roots and nuts, they are indeed toxic to many plants, including lawn and pasture grass. Also, while composting does break down the toxicity of all of the above, it takes weeks, of real composting, not just spreading. YMMV. Don't want to over-dramatize the effects (see this piece on "the killer tree!") but the OP is asking the right questions. https://www.extension.iastate.edu/news/2005/jul/070701.htm

[Brad Shipton]

I believe the male way would be to buy one of these http://www.felder-canada.ca/ca-us/products/aa434fb3ae31c1428e2b/product_detail/3bcc5aa2836825864c60/aa434fb3ae31c1428e2b . Haha. Mine goes to the garden.

[Bill Adamsen]

I dump it in the woods and it decomposes completely in a year or so. As someone else mentioned, decomposition of wood consumes a great deal of nitrogen, so best to keep out of the garden or off lawn until most decomposition is complete.

[Chris Padilla]

I mix mine in with the leaves for the green bin we're supposed to use for yard waste. They don't want sawdust in there and I've been flagged for putting it in so now I mix it. Sometimes I'll dump it in the park across the street and mix it in with the all the leaves there. However, I empty my bin about twice a year so I don't have a lot to deal with.

[glenn bradley]

composting will eliminate the detrimental effect of walnut


Thanks Chuck. Unexpected side-benefit to Joe's thread. I cut a lot of walnut and always feel bad just dumping the spoil even through it does go into the green barrel. Time to build a quick compost bin out of some of those old cedar fence boards.

[Al Launier]

That process is probably pretty messy. Can't you put the cheap bag inside the heavy bag originally, and then just remove when full? I seem to recall doing that.
Actually it isn't messy at all, just wait until the sawdust settles before pulling off the drum linere. I haven't had any spillage at all.
As for using the drum liner I haven't tried that because I was fearful the 0.002" thick plastic might tear while being blown into. Hadn't thought of placing the drum bag inside the DC bag - good thought. I'll try your suggestion or doubling up the drum bags to see how that works. Still a cheap way out.

[Jeffrey Martel]

If I know I'm not planing walnut, then I'll save the shavings and offer it up for free on craigslist. Walnut goes out with the compost bin. I just have it go into a trash can, and then dump that can into a yard waste bag. $1.88 for 5 32-gal bags.

[mreza Salav]

first of all, use contractor grade plastic garbage bags you can get at Homedepot or similar places.
2nd, I placed an add in our local craigslist-type website (it's kijiji) and there were several people interested in taking them. Now whenever I have a few bags (40 gallon each) ready I just email one of them and he comes and picks them up.

[Joe Craven]

OK everyone,

I'm going to continue (half-heartedly I'm sure) to find someone who wants this stuff but I'm already in the contractor-bag camp. It takes a couple of them to handle a really full OEM bag...without overburdening the sanitation engineers, that is.

2 x $0.50 is a lot better than where I was yesterday! I also think that these bags are as thick as the Jet branded bags and could be used by themselves as someone else mentioned on the thread.

Thanks again!

[Brian Tymchak]

I use the paper yard waste bags from Home Depot (I'm sure any will work) directly on my DC and then put the full bags out for trash pickup. $0.35 - $0.40 per bag. Only downside I've encountered is you can't visually check how full the bag is.

[Curt Harms]

I use the paper yard waste bags from Home Depot (I'm sure any will work) directly on my DC and then put the full bags out for trash pickup. $0.35 - $0.40 per bag. Only downside I've encountered is you can't visually check how full the bag is.

That's why I use clear bags and dump 'em into 45 gal. contractor's trash bags. Bigger trash bags completely hold the clear bags so there's little dust but I still empty them outdoors. I let the clear bags get a little over half full then dump them. It makes the bags easier to handle and I think the separation is a little better with more room for stuff to fall out of the airstream before going through the Thien baffle and into the filter.

[Jim Andrew]

I have a large yard, and just mulch trees with the sawdust. It helps hold the moisture around trees, so has a benefit. Also, as the sawdust decays, it returns to the soil. Really a waste to put the stuff in a landfill. Trees draw nutrients from the soil, so if they are not returned to the soil, they are wasted. The stuff also helps to control erosion, so has many benefits.