For you garbage collectors out there...

Bird · Feb 22, 2010

forgeblast said:
We pay around 90 every 4 4 months, for two bags of garbage a week. (that being said i use contractor bags when we have more then two bags ready and they have never said a word). Its wm and they do a great job, no issues no garbage left.
as far as papers, personal id stuff, thats what a burn barrel is for. My dad shreds his papers and still has me burn it.

I use the contractor bags when I gather up the leaves in the Fall, and when mowing with the grass catcher. I think 6 or 8 of them is the most I've put out at a time, but I've seen people put 30 out and W.M. takes them all with no complaints.

Bird · Mar 6, 2010

I said 6 or 8 bags . . . well, that changed yesterday and today. It's definitely too wet to mow, but needed it too bad not to. I was mowing last Fall with the mower set for a height of three and a quarter inches. But I like to scalp the yard first thing in the Spring and fertilize it. So I dropped the mower to one and quarter inches; its lowest setting. I scalped it alright, since the wheels sometimes sank an inch or more into the mud, so the blade was in the mud. Any, 2 hours yesterday on the front yard, and 3 hours today on the back, and 12 contractor bags full of damp grass clippings. Only the first 11 weigh 40 pounds or more; the last one probably isn't over 30 pounds.

Of course, we'll add one more bag of household garbage Monday morning, and Waste Management will take them all.

dave1949 · Mar 6, 2010

Bird said:
I said 6 or 8 bags . . . well, that changed yesterday and today. It's definitely too wet to mow, but needed it too bad not to. I was mowing last Fall with the mower set for a height of three and a quarter inches. But I like to scalp the yard first thing in the Spring and fertilize it. So I dropped the mower to one and quarter inches; its lowest setting. I scalped it alright, since the wheels sometimes sank an inch or more into the mud, so the blade was in the mud. Any, 2 hours yesterday on the front yard, and 3 hours today on the back, and 12 contractor bags full of damp grass clippings. Only the first 11 weigh 40 pounds or more; the last one probably isn't over 30 pounds. Of course, we'll add one more bag of household garbage Monday morning, and Waste Management will take them all.

That was a lot of grass clippings to dump and bag. The picture of your house and yard looks so strange, green grass and leaves on the trees.

It was a fine early Spring day here, high of 52* and clear skies. The snow has compacted from melting and we can go anywhere through the woods easily on snowshoes

There has been enough melting to get the stream flowing again, some flow through the pond now too.
Dave.

Mike Costello · Mar 6, 2010

Bird, you've got some easy going trash haulers! When I lived in California, some of the solid waste companies could get pretty picky about what and how they picked up your waste. I live in rural Missouri now, and its a different world out here. Trash haulers are mostly small companies and are really reasonable for what they will do for you.
Last summer, I saw our hauler backing his rig for about an eight of a mile down our road to my drive to pick up my containers. When I asked him why he was backing for such a distance, he told me the people up the road wouldn't let him turn around in their gravel drive (a long one). So, I told him that was nonsense and he could use my drive anytime. He's a nice guy, so I'm sure I scored some points with him. He takes care of me very well! Mike.

Mousefield · Mar 6, 2010

Bird. Up this way we are not suppose to throw out garden waste such as grass clippings. I mulch our grass as it is usually to wet for the lawn tractor to bag. Wife would kill me if I threw out nice compostable grass. Just today she was commenting on the nice composted manure we have from our goats that she was topping off our raised vegetable beds with. Can you or someone in the neighborhood not compost the grass clippings?

Bird · Mar 7, 2010

If we still lived on a big enough place and had a garden, I'd certainly want to compost the grass clippings. But here and now, I don't have a use for the compost. I know more and more places are prohibiting sending such things to the landfill, and if I even knew someone who wanted the compost in this area, I'd throw it in my little pickup and take it to them. It's the same with pruning the trees. Down in the country, I had a little chipper/shredder so none of the brush and such was wasted, but here there's no other place to get rid of it, so Waste Management puts it in their landfill.

MossRoad · Mar 7, 2010

Bird said:
I said 6 or 8 bags . . . well, that changed yesterday and today. It's definitely too wet to mow, but needed it too bad not to. I was mowing last Fall with the mower set for a height of three and a quarter inches. But I like to scalp the yard first thing in the Spring and fertilize it. So I dropped the mower to one and quarter inches; its lowest setting. I scalped it alright, since the wheels sometimes sank an inch or more into the mud, so the blade was in the mud. Any, 2 hours yesterday on the front yard, and 3 hours today on the back, and 12 contractor bags full of damp grass clippings. Only the first 11 weigh 40 pounds or more; the last one probably isn't over 30 pounds. Of course, we'll add one more bag of household garbage Monday morning, and Waste Management will take them all.

I couldn't help but notice you have leaves on your trees already. People are still ice fishing here. :laughing:

Bird · Mar 7, 2010

MossRoad said:
I couldn't help but notice you have leaves on your trees already. People are still ice fishing here. :laughing:

That's a live oak tree and they have green leaves year round. I have another one in the back yard about the same size. They do produce some very small acorns, and while they have those small green leaves year round, they also shed leaves year round. Then in early summer, they also produce, and shed, a "bloom" (I'm not sure what you'd call it) and the one in the back yard is a bit too close to the house, so it's a constant problem to keep the mess out of the rain gutter.

I also have the 4 Bradford Pear trees in the back yard and they've got pretty good buds already but no flowers or leaves yet.

QRTRHRS · Mar 7, 2010

Many years ago, I met a girl who was into the flea market scene. She introduced me to the town dump where we would pick on Saturday, take stuff home and clean it up a bit and sell it the next day a a flea market. Those tax free nickels and dimes (and more) add up!

These days, my local garbage man charges me 12.50/month, five bag pickup once a week. I don't have time nor do I want to deal with scrap so I put it aside every now and then for him. If I have something big, I leave him a message and he comes by later. He is happy, I am happy.

Shred or burn the important stuff and don't worry about the rest.

Skyco · Mar 8, 2010

Speaking of treasures found in the "trash"- I was chatting with the guy pumping my septic tank last year. He said you wouldn't believe how much expensive jewelry they find at the site where they "recycle" the stuff....