Trouble with my trash man!

[Larry Browning]

Aparently there must be a rule about not picking up sawdust and small scraps of wood by the garbage man's union. It seems that I can't get them to take the trash from the shop. Does anyone else have this problem, and if so what do you do with your sawdust and small scraps of wood?

Larry

[Steve Clardy]

Two words.
Wood Stove.
Steve

[David Wilson]

I've had the same problem but found that putting sawdust and scraps in a plastic bag completely solves the problem.

[Jim Becker]

No problem here. I don't send chips and sawdust to the trash since we compost them, but my scraps go to the street in the shop trash can and are picked up no-problemo. But we have a private trash hauler. If you have a municipal hauler, the rules may be different and even a private hauler might require you to pay extra for what they may perceive as "business" trash.

[David Rose]

Not an exact answer, but when LOML was having trouble getting our freight haulers to deliver in a timely manner she started keeping various edible goodies availabe for them. It went against my grain to "give treats to the 'enemy'" but after all it is scriptural. And it worked, of course. :rolleyes:

David

[scott spencer]

Thankfully no such problem here. In fact, I can't remember there ever being a time in 18 years with this trash company that they haven't picked up whatever I've put out....hot water tanks, recliner, picture windows, doors, tires on rims, pieces of steel, sawdust, PT landscape timbers. If it won't fit in the garbage hauler, they radio the flat bed to come and get it. I shouldn't take it so much for granted....it's wonderful to have these folks.

[Dennis Peacock]

My trash haulers are contracted by me as there isn't any municipal trash pick up out here. They are extremely picky about what they pick up. They even took out an old kitchen faucey that I tossed when I replaced it. I found it on the side of the road right next to me two freshly emptied trashcans. Haul things to the dump? I don't think so....If I haul one empty gallon paint can to the dump....fee = $18.95......Haul a car load of stuff to the dump....fee = $18.95...haul an old appliance to the dump...fee = $18.95 PLUS a $20 applicance dump fee.....Pull up with a trailer load of stuff and you get weighed and charged $18.95 PLUS a certain amount per half-ton. Needless to say.....I BURN all I can burn.......

No wonder there are a LOT of homes around this part of the state that have yards full of trash....people can't afford to haul it off to the dump.

[David Rose]

Wow, Scott! Yes, be grateful! We haven't had that kind of service here for 30 years.

David


Thankfully no such problem here. In fact, I can't remember there ever being a time in 18 years with this trash company that they haven't picked up whatever I've put out....hot water tanks, recliner, picture windows, doors, tires on rims, pieces of steel, sawdust, PT landscape timbers. If it won't fit in the garbage hauler, they radio the flat bed to come and get it. I shouldn't take it so much for granted....it's wonderful to have these folks.

[Terry Quiram]

I compost all the sawdust and lathe trimmings. Everything else is put in boxes and set on the curb and labeled "Free Kindling". It doesn't last long.

Terry

[Mike Stanton]

Here we get a yard waste 60 gallon container to get picked up every two weeks. I put sawdust in ours all the time. Mike

[Joe Suelter]

Here they aren't supposed to pick up any building materials, but on occasion I slip a little through the cracks. Usually just load it onto the trailer and once or twice a month head out to the local dump. ("with implements of destruction"...Arlo Guthrie)

[Ned Bulken]

Here they aren't supposed to pick up any building materials, but on occasion I slip a little through the cracks. Usually just load it onto the trailer and once or twice a month head out to the local dump. ("with implements of destruction"...Arlo Guthrie)
You mean Shovels and Rakes and a red VW microbus, with tears in your eyes?
beware of Office Obie!

Our shop is in an industrial building, with refuse collection included. So far we've only done general trash, but we haven't filled up the scrap bin yet. getting close to it. If they have a problem with it, we'll just haul it here and I'll use it as kindling in the bonfires this summer.

[Anthony Yakonick]

I live in a bell tower so.......... ;)

[Wolf Kiessling]

Aparently there must be a rule about not picking up sawdust and small scraps of wood by the garbage man's union. It seems that I can't get them to take the trash from the shop. Does anyone else have this problem, and if so what do you do with your sawdust and small scraps of wood?

Larry

Out here, in the boondocks, we have a private trash hauler. Not only does he pick up my shop trash but also discarded furniture, appliances, etc. Of course, as a small token of my appreciation for their services, I give him 20 bucks every Christmas. As a note of interest, shortly after I started that little trend, he suggested to me that I save myself that 200 + foot walk every Monday to put the trash out by the road but simply leave it in my drive way, hidden by some shrubbery, between the house and the shop and he drives up and gets it. Very nice.

[Larry Browning]

Sorry for not replying to my own thread this weekend, but it has been one of those really crazy weekends with no time spent at the computer.
Anyway, I live in th country as many of you do with private trash haulers. This last friday I put out a rather small amount of double bagged sawdust and a few scraps. when I got home from work the bag was still there with a ripped open hole in the side of the bag. This is only a recent thing and it is beginning to piss me off. I think they have figured out that I am a woodworker and inspect my trash looking for that illegal sawdust. I guess I'm just blowing off steam. Maybe I will have to start burning it or maybe composting. Thanks for listening.

Larry

[David Rose]

Larry don't be so sure about who ripped it open. If a stray cat or dog rips open our bags, the collector is suppose to leave them, by their (stupid) rules.

David


Sorry for not replying to my own thread this weekend, but it has been one of those really crazy weekends with no time spent at the computer.
Anyway, I live in th country as many of you do with private trash haulers. This last friday I put out a rather small amount of double bagged sawdust and a few scraps. when I got home from work the bag was still there with a ripped open hole in the side of the bag. This is only a recent thing and it is beginning to piss me off. I think they have figured out that I am a woodworker and inspect my trash looking for that illegal sawdust. I guess I'm just blowing off steam. Maybe I will have to start burning it or maybe composting. Thanks for listening.

Larry

[Ian Barley]

I contacted our Environment Agency about how best to dispose of my commercial wood waste. They said that the best thing to do was find somebody on site who could use it (smokehouse etc). That was not possible so they said next best thing was to burn it with heat recovery. In went the wood stove and I now burn 99% of all of my waste.

They said that from an environmental point of view the worst possible way to hadle it was to use fossil fuel to haul it away to landfill.

[Scott E. Cokley]

If there is one thing I have learned about owning my own home. It's to allways tip the garbage men well at christmas. I don't recall them ever not taking something, including sawdust and scraps.

[Tom Hintz]

Though we compost as much of the sawdust/lathe chips as possible, I do put a considerable amount of dust and small pieces in the trash. Our community has no problems with the small pieces but do require dust to be bagged. I bag it, they don't complain and I keep turning away..

[Dominic Greco]

Larry,
I've had more than my fair share of trouble when dealing with the "trash" men. They wouldn't take my wood chips on recycling day because they called them "Construction debris". Theses are chips I generate from turning! And they're perfect compost. I'd have a compost pile if I had the room. But I don't. So they have to take them on a regular trash day. And they can't be too heavy! Oh heaven forbid if the trash men have to lift up a heavy trashcan! :mad:

Then they started getting picky about how big, and how long bundles could be. I tend to bundle up stuff nice so nice and light that my 80 year old neighbor could move them around. But would they pick them up? NOOOOO! "The bundles are over 4' long!" The note in my mailbox would read. Considering that I used a ruler to measure them and make SURE they were UNDER 4' made no difference. So I ended up calling up the company that has the contract to pick up the trash and gave the manager in charge an earful. Seems that I wasn't the only one in the neighborhood complaining. He said he'd fix it right away and to leave the trash at the curb. A truck appeared that night and took my bundles (and my neighbor's) away.

Two weeks later, I happened to be home on a trash day. I had just put several large bundles out and saw the truck coming. I waited out of site and saw the "workers" shake their heads "no way" at the bundles. They were getting ready to leave when I called out, and asked them why. They said they were too long. Thats when I pulled out the tape measure and showed them. They had no other recourse but to take them. I ended up calling the township, who called the trash company. They ended up facing heavy fines for not fulfilling their contract. Needless to say, I don't have any more problems with them.

[Scott Coffelt]

I find it depends on whether they know its in there or not. Most dumbs now have a section for construction materials and charge extra for that. I usually take stuff in the cyclone drum and spread in an areas behind my house as a mulch for a pathway. I cut the lumber scraps into smaller pieces and then place in the heavy duty trash bags I get from Sam's. As long as no nails are poking through and the bags don't exceed 60 pounds, there is never an issue. Occassionally, I will leave longer pieces (3-4') poking out the top of a box, but I make it easy for them to toss, not just in stacks.

[Arvin Brown]

I've had to laugh at these postings. At my plant in Loudon, TN (just outside Knoxville) we buys tons and tons of sawdust from furniture manufacturers to burn to make steam for our papermaking process.

[Scott Kuykendall]

Our trash guys will only take sawdust if it is in bags that are sealed up. They don't like breathing the stuff when they dump the cans. They let me toss wood if it is under 4 feet long, plus I give them sodas when I see them.
Scott

[Chris Padilla]

Nice work, Dominic. Persistence pays off!

Here in San Jose, they recently implemented a program where the garbage guy doesn't even leave the truck...a big fork comes out, grabs the can, and empties it. They do this for both garbage and recyclables. It is funny, people were wondering why the garbage and recyclable appeared to go into the same spot on the truck! The garbage company ended up putting flyers into the next couple cycles of bills to explain how there were two sections in the truck.

Hence, as long as I can fit what I need into my garbage can, they will haul it away. I often have scrap wood sticking out and piled so high that the hinged lid won't shut...they still take it away and I haven't yet seen this new style of truck drop any of it...even when precariously piled by moi! :D

[Jim Becker]

...plus I give them sodas when I see them.
'Sure glad my trash company picks up my stuff without effort...giving them sodas would require me to get up at about 4am which is just about when they show to pickup! I'd probably get run over at that hour, too, 'cause I'd be stumbling down the drive in a stupor and miss the end of the driveway!:eek:

[Chris Padilla]

Well, don't be driving a stupor at 4 am, Silly! :p

[Joe Suelter]

Chris, didn't Jesse James and the Monster Garage gang build one of those out of a Ford Explorer? That's a pretty cool rig, totally effortless for the driver...'round here the guys usually have to wear a back brace, and garbage cans barely last 2 years (plastic ones that is...metal, forget it!!!!).

[Joe Suelter]

Here it is!

[Chris Padilla]

Ha! :D That is good...I missed that episode! :D

[Thomas Glenn]

My private trash service has picked up everything I ever put out to the curb. very happy with them $15.00per month not to bad
Tom

[thomas prevost]

lucky you all. It is so booney up here we have no private or public haulers. Once a week to thr transfer station. but all is taken after source separation. Wood and sawdust into the wood liftback.

[Bob Powers]

Our village trash collection specifically refuses to pick up what they refer to as "construction debris. " Maybe your collectors think sawdust is construction debris. My sawdust goes to my daughter-in-law for composting and scraps to my next door neighbor for his Russian stove.

[Larry Browning]

Well, I guess I am not alone with this problem. I guess I will need to ge me another trash can so i can seperate household trash from sawdust and scraps. I guess I will have to start composting or burning or something. Yet another project to add to the growing list. I thought i was going to simplify my life when I took up this hobby. Man! was i wrong! But it's still fun!!!!

[Phil Phelps]

I find either option to be very effective, Larry. :D

[David Rose]

Good choices, Phil! All the way to the choice of weapons. No predudice here, Smith and Wesson is just the best. :D

David


I find either option to be very effective, Larry. :D

[Travis Lanman]

Well I'm in shock that they screen what you throw away. Trash is trash. Here our garbage man has it easy. Just pull the truck close and use the arm to pick up the can and that's all there is to it. The only downside is if there is somthing you can't fit in you have to wait until it will fit in because there is no way they will get out of the truck here. I've recently started using a burn barrel and it works great.
Travis

[Jason Roehl]

Good choices, Phil! All the way to the choice of weapons. No predudice here, Smith and Wesson is just the best. :D

David
I'm partial to Mr. Colt, myself, David. :D But I would use the services of Smith and Wesson if they were available to me. :D

Our trash situation here is pretty interesting. I live in a small town of about 1200, and, last I knew, there are 3 different companies competing for our trash (all private). Needless to say, they take everything, save for the hazardous stuff.

On a side note, it's amazing what will disappear when you put a 'FREE" sign on it. When I got my current grill (a Chargriller smoker/grill), I put out the old square $39.99 charcoal smoker/grill I had at the curb with a "FREE" sign on it. This thing was near death. I just happened to wake up at about 3AM one morning and look outside to see someone stuffing it in the trunk of their car--legs first. As soon as they took off, CRASH--out it dumps. I thought to myself, "Great, now I'll have to clean up a mangled grill in the morning..." But, no, they stopped, stuffed it back in the trunk (about this time I remembered I probably hadn't cleaned out the ashes...), legs UP, of course. :D Then they peeled out leaving. I hope they didn't hear me LMAO. :D

[Chris Padilla]

Ha! Good one, Jason! I'm LMAO!!! Too funny....

I put this couch out on the curb with a free sign on it early one Saturday morning. I had to bring it in Monday evening since the trash guy comes early AM Tuesday. Tuesday night, I put it back out there.

It sat there all week, all Saturday and all Sunday. Leaving for work Monday morning, it was gone! I was happy as I was getting ready to drag it back from the curb...again and was thinking I'd need to put a call into the trash company and PAY to have it removed. Even Goodwill didn't want it! Can you imagine...perfectly good couch...all leather, no tears...just worn like crazy.

I hope it is happy in its new home...no clue at all who took it. Some high schoolers were looking at it one day and I did my best to usher it off to them.

[David Rose]

Jason, no problem with Colt... in the right models. In fact, the Government is still the auto to beat, by anyone.

David

[Jason Roehl]

Jason, no problem with Colt... in the right models. In fact, the Government is still the auto to beat, by anyone.

David
Well, I've got a M1991A1 Commander. It's not too bad for only having a 4.25" barrel. I really like the rubber grips, too--they help immensely with muzzle flip. Plenty of other similar "tools" I'd like, but at this point, I've got all I need in that department, and I'm still shy on ww'ing tools. :D

[Larry Browning]

To whomever moved this thread.
I think this topic WAS started in the correct forum, however, I think it was morphed into something else. Is this why it was moved? I have never had one of my threads moved. It sorta feels like you are saying I did something wrong, and I don't think I did.

Larry

[David Rose]

Larry, I'll accept primary blame for the "morphing". I'm sorry. I didn't move the post of course. I will remove my "off topic" posts and I think Jason will too, if you would like to see if it can be placed back in General for archival purposes. I don't think you did anything wrong.

David


To whomever moved this thread.
I think this topic WAS started in the correct forum, however, I think it was morphed into something else. Is this why it was moved? I have never had one of my threads moved. It sorta feels like you are saying I did something wrong, and I don't think I did.

Larry

[Jason Roehl]

Larry, I'll edit out my own posts, if you think that's necessary. I guess I followed the rabbit trail into the OT boundaries. Ken Salisbury is the moderator of the General Forum, so he is likely the one who moved it, so you might be able to take it up with him. Just don't cross him--he's probably got a couple S&W's laying around himself, being the good ol' boy that he is. :D

[Larry Browning]

Dave and Jason,
Don't worry about editing you posts. I guess I was already ticked off about the trash pickup. Most of the responses were of the "sucks to be you" or "I feel your pain" variety. Not too helpfull, then they moved my post and I was really feeling picked on.
Anyway, I will figure something out. Let's just close this thread and continue on in the best forum on the web!!!

Larry

[Joe Suelter]

Larry, maybe hide them in black garbage bags? That way, they can't see what's inside. If you think about it, it's not right. Wood will bio-degrade into dirt, so the garbage men don't take it. But, you fill a garbage can with styrofoam and plastic, they haul it off to the landfill. This is completely backwards! Here in my neck of the woods, our landfill charged me $25 one day to dump some yard waste (branches, leaves, etc...). Now, I was not prepared for this, because if you live in this county you are allowed one free dump a day. I have been here countless times with wood scraps, couches, shingles, siding, you name it, I've dumped it for free, EXCEPT LANDSCAPE WASTE!!!! How stupid is that???? :) I feel your pain, buddy!