Community Forums

Dan McMartin · 05-02-2018, 05:11 PM

I'm actually surprised there aren't more free places to dispose of trash. Considering they want trash in the landfill and not on the side of the road, you'd think that would be a regular thing.

okmunky · 05-02-2018, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan McMartin

I'm actually surprised there aren't more free places to dispose of trash. Considering they want trash in the landfill and not on the side of the road, you'd think that would be a regular thing.

Trash handling is a business, and somebody has to pay the bill. Most states out west use volunteers or convicts to pick up trash along the roads. I guess the county or the state pays that disposal bill.

You are right. It would be cheaper if there wasn’t any highway litter, but most dumpsters in rest areas have trash that didn’t come out of any vehicle, including RVs. Yesterday at an Idaho rest area on eastern I-84 there was a dumpster half full of old furniture and picture frames.

Dan McMartin · 05-03-2018, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okmunky

Trash handling is a business, and somebody has to pay the bill. Most states out west use volunteers or convicts to pick up trash along the roads. I guess the county or the state pays that disposal bill.

You are right. It would be cheaper if there wasn’t any highway litter, but most dumpsters in rest areas have trash that didn’t come out of any vehicle, including RVs. Yesterday at an Idaho rest area on eastern I-84 there was a dumpster half full of old furniture and picture frames.

Yeah, there's that. Seen stuff like that too. Even so, better to stuff an old mattress or throw an old refrigerator in a dumpster at a rest area than leave it in the desert. Some people just don't care and either way, they'll abuse it.

ByeTheWay · 05-03-2018, 11:08 PM

We burn the paper products and take the rest whenever we go in the toad, to dump when we find a trash barrel.

Forkyfork · 05-04-2018, 12:23 AM

I managed a warehouse in a sketchy part of town. If I wanted anything gone I would put it out on the curb. Well except for actual garbage bags.

One time an employee cleaned some desk drawers and set them against the building a ways from the street. Some guy pulls onto the grass and started taking the drawers. I’m just glad I noticed or we would have been scratching our heads and clueless trying to figure out where they went.

okmunky · 05-04-2018, 09:23 PM

I've heard that if you put a for sale sign on anything and leave it in a sketchy neighborhood it will disappear in minutes. Think that would work with my garbage?

McRod · 05-26-2018, 10:44 AM

Trash disposal in america is an issue primarily because we have monetized it. Its the primary reason our roads have garbage everywhere.

Cross the border into Canada and you will find trash bins at every roadside stop on most every road.

McRod · 05-26-2018, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by okmunky

I've heard that if you put a for sale sign on anything and leave it in a sketchy neighborhood it will disappear in minutes. Think that would work with my garbage?

Free sign in a nice neighborhood also works. 😀

Mr_D · 05-26-2018, 11:04 AM

5

Quote:

Originally Posted by okmunky

I've heard that if you put a for sale sign on anything and leave it in a sketchy neighborhood it will disappear in minutes. Think that would work with my garbage?

Works even in good neighborhoods. Neighbor had a couch he wanted to get rid of. Put a "Free" sign on it. No one wanted it. After a week he put a "For Sale $20" sign on it and someone "stole" it overnight.

apavlin · 07-28-2018, 02:30 PM

I thought what we do would help, until I noticed you are disposing of the equivalent of disposable diapers.

In my boondocking, I've been in two types of places.

In the Canadian wilderness, we made a fire and burned our garbage after every meal, to try to keep bears from entering our camp and destroying stuff trying to get at our food. We made sure all our garbage would be burnable by what we chose to bring (including no infants or animals requiring diapers), so there would only be ashes left. Yes, we burned plastic; it helped keep the mosquitoes and deer flies away.

When I was at the BurningMan arts festival for 11 days, we dehydrated our garbage and bagged the rest to pack out. I have a hilarious picture of my shower stall completely filled with garbage bags on pack-out day (so if the bags leaked, I would easily be able to clean it up). Not sure how the campers in Kidsville handled diapers, as I never went over there.

If you separated your garbage so the "diaper" waste was separately bagged, you might have less to pack out. What kind of boondocking are you doing?

tuffr2 · 07-29-2018, 07:39 PM

I just burn 80% of my garbage which was paper. It is the glass I do not know what to do with.

How do you get rid of glass like a StarBucks bottled drink?

weredoingit · 07-30-2018, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuffr2

I just burn 80% of my garbage which was paper. It is the glass I do not know what to do with.

How do you get rid of glass like a StarBucks bottled drink?

Pack it out.

okmunky · 07-30-2018, 11:51 AM

Apavlin asked what kind of boondocking do I do. We fulltime and
stay in the RV even though I could stay inside my daughter's house in the summer. Winters we spend in AZ.

Sena needs a controlled environment. The RV has extra locks and latches on all the doors and drawers. Her insatiable curiosity gets her into trouble all the time. I had new lower cabinets built where the U shaped dinette used to be. It has a tilt out trash bin as she likes to explore there also.

In the winter we boondock on LTVA land near Quartzsite, AZ. They have trash containers there for us. The challenging times are those weeks when we travel between the 2 places. I use rest areas mostly, but also some private dumpsters with permission.