Nasty compost bin between pickups. Suggestions?

[Scooby074]

Anybody have mandatory green bin pickup? We do here and with the heat and 2 week pickup cycle, its been the grossest ive ever seen it. Its literately crawling.. So many flies and stink i had to move it about 30' away from the house!!!

Any suggestions to reduce the smell and fly problem? County suggests keeping waste meat in the freezer until garbage day... That Aint Happening!!:laughing:

I was thinking about adding a layer of lime after emptying the daily compost into it. I was also thinking about spreading Diatomaceous earth on it to kill the flies when they land? Wonder if that will make a difference?

I know that even industrial strength (duoquot) disinfectants has no effect on the smell.

 

[Taylortractornut]

Add a carbon source like dried grass,sawdust. leaves or needles to it. I do large scale composting and deal with this alot. Right now I have a friend that had a lightning strike on 2 old horses. When we moved them a leg that was literally blown off was missed. It was groddy when we found it so I brought 4 yards of sawdust from my place to them. It covered the smell for the last few weeks. We ll move it later after its black gold. You could also use bagged lime on it to.

 

[Mousefield]

Something the bright boys :confused2: probably never thought of. I would agree, if you can manage it some how, is to freeze the waste till you have to take it out to be picked up.
My wife and I refuse to use them, (well one has dog food in it and the other has corn for the goats) even though the program costs a LOT of DOLLARS. When they introduced the green compost bins they stopped picking up glass for recycling. We do a lot of recycling including glass, Said there was no money in picking up glass. So much for saving the environment. Out our way if they are nice and smelly I can see the bears clueing in pretty fast. Good luck with figuring out something that will work for you.

 

[bigtiller]

I never herd of a two week pick-up cycle. We have a choice of once or twice a week. Once a week seams to work pretty good for the two of us.

 

[Scooby074]

tomorrows pickup day. Im going to wash out the can with bleach once its emptied.

Might get some lime or newspapers.

Personally, im for composting and used to have a pit out back for veggies, but the idiots that came up with this system didnt think. And on a 2 week cycle no less. Wouldn't be that bad on a 1 week like it used to be.

And we wonder why were having coyote and bear issues. Not to mention the raccoons. Its like a buffet for critters with all these green bins full of meat out there.

We used to have a decent system, once a week unlimited bags and 2 free passes to the dump/year.

Now were on a 2 week cycle. Manditory green bin. 1 black bag (diapers and other personals), blue bag for packaging and blue bag for paper. and 1 clear garbage that cant contain ANY recyclables (or food). Mess any of that up and theyll refuse the bag,,, then you have a real problem next pickup as you are over your count with your previous refused bag....

Oh and they have garbage nazis at the dump that rip open your black bags... try sneaking anything in them and theyll call you (actually its the pickup drivers that narc on you, supervisor comes and picks up your bags)... and threaten to stop pickup plus preform extra scrutiny on your garbage in the future. I know this as they called me Imagine my surprise.

 

[Mousefield]

Scooby074, I'm at the other end of the country but similar rules. They pickup garbage every second week and the green bins on the odd week (every second week). So instead of coming every second week they now come every week but one week is garbage and the other is green bin. They had to hire more staff and buy a bunch of new trucks as they effectively doubled the work load. They will inspect your garbage as you said and may refuse to pick it up if you put in the wrong stuff. Now people put the glass in the garbage instead of recycling it and it will never break down in the dump. We would much rather that they were still picking up the glass to recycle and let us compost our "green bin" stuff.

 

[Scooby074]

Re: glass

PEI had a great system. All beverages were glass with a deposit. They had a excellent return rate. Personally i think that refillable glass is the best option. Just a wash and reuse at the plant. Much better than aluminum.

BUT like all good things the lobbyists get involved. They successfully lobbied to have cans allowed.

Not good from an environmental standpoint.....and pop just plain tastes better out of a glass bottle.

 

[Mace Canute]

Replacing glass with cans was done to eliminate broken glass from bottles. I've seen tire sidewalls cut by a broken bottle but never by a can and I would much sooner drive or walk over a can than over broken glass any day. I've also seen a fellow worked get a nasty cut on his knee when he knelt down besides a highway light standard to open the handhole; a piece of glass from a broken bottle was well hidden in the dead and new grass. That wouldn't have happened with a can.

 

[Scooby074]

Replacing glass with cans was done to eliminate broken glass from bottles. I've seen tire sidewalls cut by a broken bottle but never by a can and I would much sooner drive or walk over a can than over broken glass any day. I've also seen a fellow worked get a nasty cut on his knee when he knelt down besides a highway light standard to open the handhole; a piece of glass from a broken bottle was well hidden in the dead and new grass. That wouldn't have happened with a can.

beer bottles?

people are idiots. But for the rest of us who dont litter, glass recycling is a better and more environmentally responsible alternative than single use cans.

PEI still has glass bottles (at least the last time i was over) but cans are becoming more prevalent. This wasnt done to prevent cut tires and injuries, it was done to appease the can manufacturers and the off island beverage bottlers.

Its been a few years, but IIRC there was the threat of a lawsuit if cans wernt allowed...

 

[charlz]

Glass is really hard to deal with, it is heavy and abrasive. Unless there is some local use for recycled glass it costs way more to recycle than it is worth.

That said they are going to start recycling glass here. A local company makes glass bead abrasives and determined they can use the recycled glass for about the same money or maybe even less than what they do now.

 

[merrickvilleguy]

Anybody have mandatory green bin pickup? We do here and with the heat and 2 week pickup cycle, its been the grossest ive ever seen it. Its literately crawling.. So many flies and stink i had to move it about 30' away from the house!!!

Any suggestions to reduce the smell and fly problem? County suggests keeping waste meat in the freezer until garbage day... That Aint Happening!!:laughing:

I was thinking about adding a layer of lime after emptying the daily compost into it. I was also thinking about spreading Diatomaceous earth on it to kill the flies when they land? Wonder if that will make a difference?

I know that even industrial strength (duoquot) disinfectants has no effect on the smell.

Keep it away from the house, and freeze the meat. Remember, the meat you would be tossing in the freezer was food moments ago ... no harm in putting it in there next to other food (it's not like it's rotting). Not sure why all the controversy with these things, you'd otherwise be using flimsy plastic bags, open for days on end until they are full to host the garbage instead of a relatively sturdy plastic can ?

 

[Pete Judd]

You must not have any dogs, mine clean every thing off the bones, and then no smell. We seperate all the burnables and the non compostable, and only have to take a trip once or two trips a year to the dump with 4 cans.

 

[RobertN]

But, good beer only comes in bottles... or kegs...

Replacing glass with cans was done to eliminate broken glass from bottles. That wouldn't have happened with a can.

 

[RobertN]

We have garbage pickup every week. With that, they alternate green waste and recycle. So our green waste, is every other week. But, we compost most stuff ourselves. Most of our green waste is nasty weeds...

I never herd of a two week pick-up cycle. We have a choice of once or twice a week. Once a week seams to work pretty good for the two of us.

 

[Scooby074]

Scrubbed the can out today..... NASTY. Almost lost my lunch. Ive got friends in waste treatment and used to work in a dairy barn, so i know stink... This was a rotten different kind of stink that really got me.

Anyways couldnt get the smell out so i got me some Creolin. That killed the smell right good:thumbsup: Only hope the green police will take my can next pickup and not refuse it because of the wrong kind of stink (For those that dont know, Creolin smells pretty bad in its own right).

Before i got to cleaning, i called the waste hotline for suggestions. Lime is out. Those thin green bags for compost... out too. Basically they said to use lawn clippings (i have over an acre to mow at my place alone, so i mulch...) or buy paper bags and put each days waste in it before putting it into the can How is it more enviromentally friendly to cut down a tree to make paper, only to use it for food waste:confused2: They really got their head on backwards.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I read the title and thought, "Why doesn't he just park the pickups somewhere else?"

I vote for lawn clippings.

 

[jinman]

What is it they say down at the sewage treatment plant? "Waste is a terrible thing to mind!"

Scoob, I don't see what the problem is? All they want you to do with your garbage is freeze it and gift wrap it.. . . Sheesh! That just sounds so over the top. They're making it harder than doin' your own composting.

 

[Scooby074]

What is it they say down at the sewage treatment plant? "Waste is a terrible thing to mind!"

Scoob, I don't see what the problem is? All they want you to do with your garbage is freeze it and gift wrap it.. . . Sheesh! That just sounds so over the top. They're making it harder than doin' your own composting.

LOL. Yeah jeeze its so convenient isnt it. Maggoty green bins and filling my freezer with old food.... Great!

As my buddy at the sewage place says about the stink: " Smells like job security!" Guess he has a point. Sewage workers, undertakers and taxmen will always have a job.:laughing: