Post Collapse, What to do With Your Garbage?

[Supervisor42]

I looked thru the whole forum for this topic, and the only thread I found, devolved into what to do with your poop.
The guys that pick up our recycling were late picking up our stuff today, and I had a horrible thought...
I consider myself pretty-well prepped for everything, but I have absolutely no plan or provision in place for dealing with our refuse, even for a short-term collapse.
Since we got 'civilized' in suburbia, I don't even know where 'the dump' is here.
We generate 2, half-cans of refuse every week, and it ain't just gonna disappear.
I know how people in the country deal with waste, I lived that life for a couple decades.
This thread is just to get people that live in 'the city', thinking. Do you have a 'plan'?

 

[Tirediron]

Perhaps reall look at the garbage, and find out how much could be burnt ( coffee filters paper towel n anything paper. compost anything vegi based, that might require investing in a good composter.
When I had a roommate it was a drum liner to the dump every 2 weeks at least, roommate left in april, one more trip to the dump, mid august, I haven't needed to empty the kitchen garbage more than 3 time since, I do how ever have a bit of a collection of coffee filters drying to burn next wet / cold spell. It takes a bit of management, but It works

 

[shanrose]

I looked thru the whole forum for this topic, and the only thread I found, devolved into what to do with your poop.
The guys that pick up our recycling were late picking up our stuff today, and I had a horrible thought...
I consider myself pretty-well prepped for everything, but I have absolutely no plan or provision in place for dealing with our refuse, even for a short-term collapse.
Since we got 'civilized' in suburbia, I don't even know where 'the dump' is here.
We generate 2, half-cans of refuse every week, and it ain't just gonna disappear.
I know how people in the country deal with waste, I lived that life for a couple decades.
This thread is just to get people that live in 'the city', thinking. Do you have a 'plan'?

We burn our paper products but other items go to the dump. We don't have a plan.

 

[Supervisor42]

We burn our paper products but other items go to the dump. We don't have a plan.

If we burned trash in the back yard, we would get a 'citation'.
That's a no-go.

 

[dademoss]

When SHTF, not much will be trash, more like resources. Cans, etc etc will be valuable as reusable items.

Real trash gets burned. If SHTF, they can collect it, or ignore when you burn it.

Currently, most of our trash by weight/volume is cat litter. That comes to a halt when the SHTF.

 

[Morgan101]

My plan would be to burn everything I can. I would think we would save and recycle a lot more than we do now. If we are talking post collapse much of what we throw away will no longer be available new, so we will save everything we can for reuse at another time.

 

[Neb]

If we burned trash in the back yard, we would get a 'citation'.
That's a no-go.

But the OP specified "Post collapse" .

No citations.

My grandparents generated little trash. I used to join my grandfather burned the butcher's paper etc. once a week.

We generate very little trash on average.Most of our refuse is shipping boxes and packing material is recycling.

Post collapse our waste will be mostly tin cans. Those will be collected and reused or melted down.

I don't see trash as an issue.

Ben

 

[Neb]

When SHTF, not much will be trash, more like resources. Cans, etc etc will be valuable as reusable items.

Real trash gets burned. If SHTF, they can collect it, or ignore when you burn it.

Currently, most of our trash by weight/volume is cat litter. That comes to a halt when the SHTF.

I was literally editing my post when you posted.

Ben

 

[Neb]

My plan would be to burn everything I can. I would think we would save and recycle a lot more than we do now. If we are talking post collapse much of what we throw away will no longer be available new, so we will save everything we can for reuse at another time.

Agreed.

Everything (save cat litter) has potential reuse.

Ben

 

[dademoss]

I was literally editing my post when you posted.

Ben

I R "that guy"

 

[Weedygarden]

Grandparents on the ranch had no trash pickup or anything. They didn't haul trash anywhere. They left the ranch in the early 1960's and things are different now.

They had piles for scrap metal. If something needed to be repaired or welded, they would dig around in that pile. Ever see a metal can cut apart and used to cover a hole or to repair something? It was a thing for a long time.

There was also a pile of lumber, for repurposing it. Used lumber was never thrown away. It was kept in case it might be needed in the future.

They had a burn barrel, but paper was used to start fires in the stove. I don't really remember burning of trash.

Food scraps were fed to the chickens, dog and hogs. Fabric was put into a rag bag and used for cleaning, mending, and other such stuff. Food scraps can be buried in the garden.

They didn't have a lot. They threw little away and disposed of little. I think Grandma had every letter and card that she had ever received.

 

[Caribou]

The garbage will go into the compost. Jars with good lids will be cleaned and saved. Cans will be saved if I might have a use for them otherwise they will be burned with any plastic and paper to keep rodents away. The dump is about five or ten minutes away, if it is still open.

 

[Tirediron]

If anyone is interested a small scale burner is pretty easy to make. and to get to burn fairly clean.

 

[Tirediron]

Cat litter should compost is it is kept down wind, it is mostly clay and cat poop and since you prolly won't be feeding commercial cat food their poop won't stink nearly as bad

 

[Amish Heart]

Our cats poop outside , so there's that. We have a farm dumpster that's picked up a couple of times a month now. But we do have 3 burn barrels and a big burn pile. We would use that more. There's never any food scraps in the garbage because we have some animal that will eat it.

 

[DrHenley]

They had piles for scrap metal. If something needed to be repaired or welded, they would dig around in that pile. Ever see a metal can cut apart and used to cover a hole or to repair something? It was a thing for a long time.

Yes I have. I took a piece of a coffee can and cut it into the shape of a broken linkage on the carburetor on my car. It was meant to be a temporary repair but I never got around to buying the "real" part. It stayed on there til I sold it.

 

[EastenerWesterner]

Somehow I remember the poop conversation. I think it got pretty creative with uses. Animals always like to take over where humans have abandoned.

I have a burn barrel, cleverly disguise as a smoker, complete with an old smoker thermometer.
Compost pile for stinky.
Plenty of bags for heavy plastics, tin, glass. Thats non stinky, animals will leave alone

Glass could be used as a defensive barrier.

 

[Supervisor42]

Somehow I remember the poop conversation. I think it got pretty creative with uses. Animals always like to take over where humans have abandoned.

I have a burn barrel, cleverly disguise as a smoker, complete with an old smoker thermometer.
Compost pile for stinky.
Plenty of bags for heavy plastics, tin, glass. Thats non stinky, animals will leave alone

Glass could be used as a defensive barrier.

Thanks!
That's a great idea... that would work for me.

 

[elkhound]

Look at what partial collapse is...i.e. some goods coming in still but nothing getting picked up.....Haiti shows it....streets filled with trash...some streets are better than others.

 

[Magpie]

My thoughts are if things are that bad, we will have less waste to begin with. No plastic wrapped bananas, etc. The packing we do have will be reused.
My plan, such as it is-
plastic bags that are useless, ripped etc, will be washed and dried, cut into strips and crocheted into stronger bags. The same with clothing, or it repaired.
Cardboard/paper, used twice and composted. Or soaked and shredded and made into new paper
Tins- washed, reused as plant containers or flattened to make shingles
Jars and containers are already reused, either in the house or in the garage.
The above I can already do
Hard plastic is my problem; if I could find a way of melting and remaking in a mold that would be great. Also I have concerns on long term use of plastic for water, but somethings going to kill me anyway I guess.

Saw a video last night of a man dissolving Styrofoam into some solution and then painting it on block walls to make them waterproof - useful to know. Need to find a link to video.

 

[shanrose]

If we burned trash in the back yard, we would get a 'citation'.
That's a no-go.

That's how our old house was - we couldn't breathe without asking permission of the gov!

 

[shanrose]

But the OP specified "Post collapse" .

No citations.

My grandparents generated little trash. I used to join my grandfather burned the butcher's paper etc. once a week.

We generate very little trash on average.Most of our refuse is shipping boxes and packing material is recycling.

Post collapse our waste will be mostly tin cans. Those will be collected and reused or melted down.

I don't see trash as an issue.

Ben

How can you melt cans? I don't think they would melt on a regular fire - unless you had some kind of incinerator. We saw one of them in someone's backyard in Arkansas when we drove through.

 

[shanrose]

The garbage will go into the compost. Jars with good lids will be cleaned and saved. Cans will be saved if I might have a use for them otherwise they will be burned with any plastic and paper to keep rodents away. The dump is about five or ten minutes away, if it is still open.

How do you keep animals out of your compost?

 

[shanrose]

If anyone is interested a small scale burner is pretty easy to make. and to get to burn fairly clean.

What is that?

 

[Tirediron]

A fairly clean small scale burner can be made from the heaviest wall 5 gallon metal pail ,not galvinized, a chimney would be nessicary to keep up fire speed, and a controllable air intake. Ideally another container about 2 inches radius larger could be added to the outside and filled with ash to insulate the fire box. clean fire need to burn hot and fast, that is why surface burn barrels are stinky. also a 1/2 inch mesh metal screen would probably be a good idea for the top of the stack.

 

[Shawn Burkett]

When I was a kid, Granny's farm didn't have trash service. It didn't exist back then. They dug a hole. Piled the dirt beside it. When the hole was filled, the dirt got pushed over it. Then another hole was dug. The outhouse worked pretty much the same way.

Even in the city we had a burn barrel. The trash was dumped in it. There was an opening in the bottom to scrape out what didn't burn. Ash, cans, bottles. We had trash service in the city, but we're charged by the can. Even with 7 kids and 2 adults we rarely had more than one can.

For cat litter I would get a load of sand. Their spent litter could be composted sand and all. The sand itself could be used for other things like loosening soil, sprinkle over icy walkways, or even getting unstuck in the snow. If I'm not mistaken sand can be used to filter water. A layer of charcoal and a layer of sand. I'm not sure what else goes into those types of water filters.

 

[Magpie]

How do you keep animals out of your compost?

I'm guessing you mean rodents? I have cats, and I don't put cooked foods in, just peelings, cardboard, paper etc. I've never had an issue with animals and the compost- just mice in the feed shed.

 

[joel]

Most waste will disappear, simple because there will be no store to buy thing at.
As for table waste, hounds/cats, hogs & poultry will take care of the rest.
As for human waste, a dry composter or compost pile will take care of all of it.
You could use an old time out house, but it smell, so far away is better, until it rains or snows.

 

[shanrose]

I'm guessing you mean rodents? I have cats, and I don't put cooked foods in, just peelings, cardboard, paper etc. I've never had an issue with animals and the compost- just mice in the feed shed.

All animals. Rodents is one, coyotes, fox, and others all come to eat off my persimmon tree.

 

[shanrose]

I wondered if stores are really going to close.