FEL Trash Compactor

[bcarwell]

Don't know if anyone has ever suggested this but saved my sanity.

We're selling our house and lugged several garbage bags to the street. Found out after garbage day they only pick up 3 extra bags per day and natch took the tiniest 3 they could find just to p*** me off. So we lugged them back up the hill and placed them by my tractor until next week.

Undaunted, I started eyeing the bags and the FEL. Hmmm. I got some gonzo contractor heavy duty bags, and tried stuffing one with the other rejected bags. Then I put it under the FEL bucket and lowered the bucket until the full tractor weight on the under surface of the bucket smooshed the contents like a trash compactor. Voila, was able to stuff several more small bags in it and repeat.

Bottom line is I got all my regular trash bags into 3 contractor bags using my new FEL Trash Compactor. True, you almost get a hernia trying to lift one of those suckers so natch I used the FEL to transport them again down the hill to the street for next garbage day.

Magically, they were all gone and picked up on next trash day. Will teach them to mess with the kid...

Try it, you'll like it.

 

[davidseaquist]

That's funny! I did that with a three yard contractor dumpster and my backhoe. I kept on adding brush and pushing it down with the backhoe. When the trash company came to pick up the dumpster he said that the dumpster seemed kind of heavy. I guess I was upset because of access to my property I got one dumpster dump for the price of three. David

 

[AndyMA]

That's funny! I did that with a three yard contractor dumpster and my backhoe. I kept on adding brush and pushing it down with the backhoe. When the trash company came to pick up the dumpster he said that the dumpster seemed kind of heavy. I guess I was upset because of access to my property I got one dumpster dump for the price of three. David

I don't know about where you are, but around here you are allocated a certain weight for a dumpster and you pay an additional "tipping fee" for each ton of excess weight.

Andy

 

[Redbug]

I also got a laugh out of that one. I don't blame you one bit for compacting. A person has to do what a person has to do when he owns a portable compactor!

Looking at the typical dumpster and what gets thrown inside, (cardboard boxes, etc.), there's a lot of unused space even though the dumpster may be overflowing. I have seen friends compact their dumpsters using their buckets to mash the contents down, and getting twice the trash inside. I did not know the trash companies could charge a fee for more weight. Do the dumpster trucks have some kind of scale they can weigh the dumpsters as they lift them?

Also, a 72 inch wide bucket is too wide to fit inside the top of the the average dumpster. You need a smaller width bucket... Of course, if you have a 4in1, you could grab a tree limb and use it as a "poker". And grabbing an old fridge would be even better...

 

[MikePA]

I don't know about where you are, but around here you are allocated a certain weight for a dumpster and you pay an additional "tipping fee" for each ton of excess weight.

Andy

We have a dumpster and while we do not pay by weight, the driver did warn us when we loaded it up with some heavy stuff. He mentioned he's had dumpsters his truck couldn't lift! When that happens, the owner gets to partially unload the dumpster until he can lift it, which usually means the next time he picks up.

 

[gotcha]

I also got a laugh out of that one. I don't blame you one bit for compacting. A person has to do what a person has to do when he owns a portable compactor!
Looking at the typical dumpster and what gets thrown inside, (cardboard boxes, etc.), there's a lot of unused space even though the dumpster may be overflowing. I have seen friends compact their dumpsters using their buckets to mash the contents down, and getting twice the trash inside. I did not know the trash companies could charge a fee for more weight.

Here in MA one uses the compacting ideas to make room for more material so that they do not have to order another dumpster to finish a job, but one does not get away with paying less for more. Most charge a fee for so many tons and anything over that are billed at the going rate (now is $123/ton) with a copy of the original weigh in slip received at the disposal transfer station from the disposal company. Sorry to say one does not get one thing around here for nothing.
The Gotcha Man

 

[daTeacha]

I'm pretty sure it varies with where you are. Our trash is picked up by volume, but the landfill charges the operators by weight. It just isn't worth it to the trash haulers to have their pick-up guys weigh things. They have enough trouble counting to the 5 bag limit per customer.

When we hire a dumpster around here, it's purely based on how much can go in it without overflowing or blowing out as it goes down the road. We had the barn reroofed, replacing the old rotting slate with standing seam steel. The guys who did the job put the entire old slate roof into a dumpster that was already on the truck. When the thing rolled off the barn bank and onto level ground the front wheels must have had about 200 lb. of weight on them, total. It kind of looked like that truck in the thread about unloading the excavator, but they managed to drive it away.

 

[davidseaquist]

I have compacted a few dumpsters with my backhoe. Most of it was landscape. I think in my area they are concerned with shutting the lid and trash not blowing away. It the dumpster was too heavy to lift I would need to unload some. I think they charge by volume not weight in my area. They have a contract rent with easy access with a large truck 3 dumps a month for $ 140. Or limited access one dump for $ 120.