paper disposal & burn barrels

[L Weir]

I'm curious to know what you all do with your paper garbage. We burn ours in a barrel. When the barrel gets full we dump it on our property somewhere away from the animals of course. I know someone that mixes it with their manure and pulls it on their fields then plows it under. Is that putting poisons and toxins in the ground that will evenually poison the food chain?

 

[VanC]

We burn ours in a barrell,, too, but then put the ashes in a garbage sack and throw it away with the other garbage.

I don't know if the ashes might be harmful or not. Could be some bad stuff in there like ink but not really sure if the ashes would be harmful. Depends on what you're burning, I guess.

 

[Caustic Burno]

We burn ours as well, I cut the bottom out of the barrel and cut three 4" holes in the sides around the bottom.
This lets air enter the bottom and burns everything better, if the barrel gets something in it that doesn't burn well I am not wrassling a barrel full of crap. Just pick up the barrel and scoop up the ash and unburnable stuff with the front end loader.

 

[spoon]

We recycle most of it. What doesn't recycle we burn in a barrel.

 

[Wewild]

Around here about all you can burn is wood.

I had some quality time with the local Law Enforcement and several Firemen yesterday.

I really never thought i would have to talk to the Law about my Dad breaking it.

i take all our trash to the place they say we should.

 

[cowsrus]

We burn ours in a 55 gallon barrel also and then I dump it in a ravine in the pasture. I have a lot of trouble dumping the full barrels. I use my front end loader, but they are heavy to manually turn upside down and dump. I'm thinking of trying the method described by CB above. It seems like it would be easier. CB, do you set the barrel on blocks or just cut the holes around the side? Also, are the barrels hard to lift off once they are full of ash?

 

[msscamp]

I'm curious to know what you all do with your paper garbage. We burn ours in a barrel. When the barrel gets full we dump it on our property somewhere away from the animals of course. I know someone that mixes it with their manure and pulls it on their fields then plows it under. Is that putting poisons and toxins in the ground that will evenually poison the food chain?

I burn anything that is burnable (with the exception of plastic, since it releases toxic material into the air), the rest is hauled a mile up the road to be picked up by the local trash service. Most of the ashes are "distributed" by the wind sucking them out of the burn barrel, but whatever doesn't get distributed is dumped in a hole on our property. As far as putting poisons and toxins in the ground, it is my understanding that ashes are good for the soil. So long as one is not burning hazardous material - such as tires, oil, etc., I don't see how paper ashes would poison the soil.

 

[Caustic Burno]

We burn ours in a 55 gallon barrel also and then I dump it in a ravine in the pasture. I have a lot of trouble dumping the full barrels. I use my front end loader, but they are heavy to manually turn upside down and dump. I'm thinking of trying the method described by CB above. It seems like it would be easier. CB, do you set the barrel on blocks or just cut the holes around the side? Also, are the barrels hard to lift off once they are full of ash?

I cut the hole in the side at the bottom, when the barrel gets full I just throw a chain around it and pick it up with the front end loader. It slides right up leaving a nice little pile I scoop up with the loader and dump.
No more back breaking work, the barrels still burn out over time, they seem to last about twice as long for some reason, the only thing I can contribute that to is they dont hold water in the rains.

 

[Lammie]

Where I work, there are some recycling bins and somehow or other, the school makes money off of it, so I try to recycle when I can. The rest goes in the garbage that gets hauled once a month. We burn branches and, like, we replaced the floor in the flatbed trailer and burned that old wood in the barrel. Burn feed sacks, too, unless there's a burn ban. We had a brush pile but we got out of that after the droughts. Try to keep it cleaned up as we go instead of letting it pile up.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Most of our paper is kept for brush pile starter. Right now there are only two brush piles and a lot of paper in the shed. There's been a burn ban on for a few months so the brush piles set. All other trash goes to the disposal company. They charge about $30 a month. If it went into burn barrels, it might sit there for several more months waiting for the ban to lift and the stinch and flies would be awful.

 

[L Weir]

Thank you for your responses. The reason I asked my neighbor and i got in a heated discussion with an " urbanite"(city person) about why we shouldn't be burning our garbage and what we do with the ashes afterward. Apparently we ,farmers, are the only ones in the world who pollute the food chain because of this. I did do some research and the websites I read said that it does. So i guess it does even though the birds are still singing and the animals aren't dying.

 

[Dave]

Burn barrels are illegal in this state. But I do notice them at about every other house. A friend who is a firefighter says it has something to do with the fire not burning hot enough in a barrel when compared to just a pile on the ground. I set my barrel in the back of the pickup with the loader when I go to the dump. So the ashes and anything that didn't burn ends up in the garbage dump.

 

[Miss Daisy]

Burn barrels are illegal in this state. But I do notice them at about every other house. A friend who is a firefighter says it has something to do with the fire not burning hot enough in a barrel when compared to just a pile on the ground.

How can that be when so many people use them? I don't know one person who doesnt have a burn barrel out here. Where would I find the law that says its illegal?


[edited for punctuation]

 

[hillrancher]

In Ar is illegal to burn in a barrel since 1973. You can pile it on the ground and burn.
Someone wrote the law to ban outside burning and didn't get it worded correctly.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

We burn paper, but not magazines and newspapers. Aluminum goes to recycle. Unfortunately to recycle anything else would involve going to another county. Used to break glass in one spot (future "mine'") but since most everything is plastic now it just goes into the trash we haul to local transfer station about every two weeks. All organic/wet or gross trash goes to dogs/chickens (and rats and skunks, I am sure)/soil.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Apparently we ,farmers, are the only ones in the world who pollute the food chain because of this.

It was a good thing I wasn't there when you were arguing. I have pictures. The county road cuts my place and trash is thrown out of vehicles into the pastures daily.

 

[TexasBred]

For some crazy reason I've always kept the right of way mowed in front of our place. Seems to be very inviting to everyone coming by like "this is the place to throw out our beer cans". Use to pick them up constantly but now have a dog that collects them everyday and brings them to the back yard. All I have to do is put them in a bag and then throw in dumpster. Dumpster is $25 a month and they empty it once a week. Seems like we've been under a burn ban since Noah's flood.

 

[L Weir]

Oh yeah i know about garbage in the fields. My husband and kids filled the back of our gator with beverage cans, paper, etc. even a part of a car bumper.

 

[lawnviewfarm]

Burn barrels are illegal in this state. But I do notice them at about every other house. A friend who is a firefighter says it has something to do with the fire not burning hot enough in a barrel when compared to just a pile on the ground.

How can that be when so many people use them? I don't know one person who doesnt have a burn barrel out here. Where would I find the law that says its illegal?


[edited for punctuation]

For those in WA State, you might refer to this WAC, paragraph (5) - Burning in outdoor containers.

Edited to add: The Dept. of Natural Resources and the Dept. of Ecology web sites both mention that burn barrels are illegal in Washington state but apparently don't reference any specific laws and only make passing reference to the 2000 Clean Air Act.

Sorry to break the news ... :cry2: