Landfill scrounging...

[chilly460]

Anyone else scrounge landfills? My local municipal landfill has a "brush" area. I've hit it twice this week, seeing rounds just laying a the edges. This was today's haul, technically we're not supposed to take anything, so I just toss a few rounds in. Any idea what type of wood? I figure not bad for 60 seconds worth of "work", easily should heat the house for a day or two. I'm going to be dumping brush anyway and the place is 1 mile from work, so figure it's an easy way to score a couple rounds per month.

 

[AGoodSteward]

The big one looks like spruce.
The littlest ones look like ash.

I got told "no" at the landfill after a change in ownership. Now they weigh every load in & out so they're watching even more closely.

 

[Dirtboy]

Agree on the little ones being ash. Its a shame to let them lay there and rot, glad your going to put some to use.

 

[chilly460]

There's a bunch more where that came from, some more brush loads to haul this weekend so I'll plan to grab more if they're available. There were some large 27"+ rounds partially covered in brush, hard to imagine a homeowner dumping this but it's well aged so don't think it was a tree service.

 

[ckliff]

I've found gifts for the wife, a brand new large canvas bag, and once I left behind the sledge, but found a 10 pound barbell weight!

 

[tnflatbed]

I have seen plenty of wood sitting next to their incinerator at the local dump. Its a shame that all of it gets burnt without even heating a cup of water. There's always a lot of nice wood taken to the dump here because both cities have curb side pick up one day a week and the majority of the homes in the cities don't burn wood. Its a shame that a lot of people end up cutting down large trees in the city because of liability/insurance reasons and just let the city come by with the grapple truck and off to the dump. I would like to see the dump let people use that resource but sadly it just gets wasted.

 

[svk]

Our transfer station has a big pile but it's never anything but balsam and pine boughs.

 

[Davej_07]

Our city yard has a section for useable firewood. Lots of people drop off wood there but of course you can't be choosy. Some days it's pine or box elder and others it's some oak or walnut.

 

[babybart]

Our county has a separate section for wood. They charge you to drop it off, grind everything and then you can buy the mulch they make... I guess it's better than just burning it.

 

[Davej_07]

Here, they'll grind it if it sits too long or too punky. I know most people around here don't heat with wood but it's astounding how much is dropped off at the municipal yard.

 

[muddstopper]

I dont think our local landfill has any provisions for tree waste. If they do I have never seen it. A few years ago after a tornado hit in and around the town limits, there where ton's of tree waste. The county had it all hauled and dumped behind the old ag center. Mixture of all types of trees and brush. It laid there for a year or two before I even knew it was there. I asked about cutting some of it for firewood and was told no. Since it was just laying there, in a monsterous pile, I asked why they wouldnt let anybody have some. The answer i got was that the wood could have diseases and they didnt want to spread it by people taking wood out of the pile. They ended up hireing a local logging company that had a large chipper to chip all the brush. I havent been to look, but I believe all those chips are still piled up where they left them. I am pretty sure they wont let anybody have any of the chips either. total waste of resources and taxpayer money.

 

[Jakers]

Owning a tree service lets me see all of the different kinds of tree waste at every landfill around the area. the big one in fergus falls gets a ton of stuff from the street tree work and dutch elm disease. theres a good amount of wood that would be usable for firewood if they would allow, but a vast majority of it is just way too big. if its not Elm then its usually rotten boxelder, basswood, silver maple or cottonwood. see some spruce or pine. very rarely does a hardwood species go to the landfill. I haul about 30-50 cords of wood here every year, usually rotten junk or Dutch Elm kill that cant leave the city legally. Every year they hire a tub grinder during July or August and they keep pace with incoming trees till around september when they can finally get ahead and finish by freeze up. this is a huge area for just trees. id guess its 4-500 ft long and about 200 feet wide, stacked as high as a grapple truck can unload or high as a loader can push it. all this wood and brush and not one stick of it can be taken for firewood

Most of the other landfills only take brush in my area. i do my best to give away all the wood that i can. people dont realize the volume of wood a tree service can generate in a season. i keep at least 5 guys going every year with thier OWB's. most burn 15-20 cord a year with one auto body shop that burns 40+.

 

[Streblerm]

My city used to operate a yard waste dump that was free to use if you were a resident. They ground everything into mulch eventually and gave it away to residents. You could take anything you could load. I guess the cost of staffing and maintaining equipment got to be too much so they contracted it out to a local place that crushes concrete, sells topsoil, fill, and mulch. They will still take waste from residents but nothing is free for the taking.

They separate out the hardwood. There are massive piles of it. I asked if they would sell loads of logs and they said no. The guys that work there take some home and they have a wood shop heater. What they don't burn goes in the tub grinder. I guess it is worth more as mulch.

 

[muddstopper]

if you cant take it out as firewood because of possible disease, then how are you allowed to take it as mulch?

 

[Trapper_Pete]

the small town I live in has a compost site , you can bring brush to, lawn clipping and where the city brings all the wood chips , and leaves in the fall.

the city takes down trees in the terrace space between the side walk and street that you must take care of but don't really own if the person whos house it is does not want the wood the tree service the city uses loads the logs in the biggest pieces they can puck up and put on the truck usually about 10 feet and takes them over to the city compost

so drop off of brush , and wood form trees , also lawn clippings leaves and other yard waste for the compost

pick up of compost , wood chips , and cut your own firewood

if you don't stop over regular people tend to cut anything they can cut and load with a 16 inch saw so a lot of it is big stuff that they would have to cut from both sides or need a bigger saw for , I haven't bothered going over there in several years , I have people practically begging me to come clean out their woods , my issue is insufficient time , I could use 8 more hours of day light in every day.

 

[Philbert]

We have free compost drop off sites for (non-commercial) residents - some accept tree debris. I think that they used to let you take wood, as long as you did not use a chainsaw on site (?), but that ended with the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) transport restrictions. So a combination of liability and disease concerns.

The wood gets chipped and burned for steam to heat downtown buildings. The leafy stuff gets composted and is offered for free to residents.

if you cant take it out as firewood because of possible disease, then how are you allowed to take it as mulch?

Some of the bugs of concern live under the bark, and cannot survive in chipped wood.

Philbert

 

[Trapper_Pete]

it used to be our compost had a separate pile for ash with sings that you could not take that wood

then about a year ago that went away and all that wood got cut up and taken also

I was talking with a WI DNR state forestry agent one of my students last April when I was at a training up in Coon Valley we stayed at the little hotel/gas station / restaurant in Westby WI , after I asked him about the trailer full of ash 2 guys staying at the same hotel had I was thinking if your not supposed to move firewood more than 25 miles why would you stay in a hotel with a trailer of wood , he was telling me than the lower 2/3 of WI has EAB and so as long as you don't take it out of the containment zone basically the lower 2/3 of WI that they don't care.

I cut for a farm that goes to a farmers market , with their beef , they have a trialer with freezers in it and bring and sell a bunch of meat every week , we are getting enough wood off the farm that they are going to start selling bundles of fire wood , they got permission from the WI DNR the ILL DNR and the county farmers market to begin selling at the ILL farmers market they go to , none of this is ash but I was a little worried they wouldn't get permission but the county they are going to had EAB a few years before ours where we are cutting , so they don't care.

so we go from not more than 50 miles to not more than 25 to not out of your county , to who cares we are all diseased anyway. over the last 6-8 years the rules changed faster than the municipalities and wood cutters could keep up.

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

It's $160/ton here for yard waste. Needless to say no one does that.

 

[mga]

I guess it is worth more as mulch.

true that.

I know several guys who will clear out woods and grind everything into mulch. there's more money in it, especially when dyed ($30 to $50) per yard versus cutting splitting stacking and hauling firewood. the only time they might keep logs is for their own use as firewood or woodworking.

 

[husqvarna257]

I hate to watch good trees go into the chipper but when they clear/trim back for the power lines it's what they do. I got a 4 cord truck load of ends from a local logging company last year for $50 a cord. They take stumps and dispose of them for a fee, so I had lots of 2-3' rounds up to 12" long in that load.