Trash compactor-anybody have one?

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jimdeere

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We burn paper trash in our OWB. With the junk mail, catalogs, food boxes, etc., it amounts to a lot. We use a Walmart bag or paper grocery bag to collect, and take it out about every other day to burn. I was thinking about a compactor to compress the burnable stuff and not have to burn so often. Also to get a few BTU’s from a bundle.
I’ve never even seen one operate. What holds the stuff together? What can I expect to pay for a good one.
I also take our bagged trash to the dumpster as the trash truck only comes to the highway end of my 1/2 mile driveway. If I compacted all our household trash (except the burnables) I could make fewer trips to the dumpsters.
 
We burn paper trash in our OWB. With the junk mail, catalogs, food boxes, etc., it amounts to a lot. We use a Walmart bag or paper grocery bag to collect, and take it out about every other day to burn. I was thinking about a compactor to compress the burnable stuff and not have to burn so often. Also to get a few BTU’s from a bundle.
I’ve never even seen one operate. What holds the stuff together? What can I expect to pay for a good one.
I also take our bagged trash to the dumpster as the trash truck only comes to the highway end of my 1/2 mile driveway. If I compacted all our household trash (except the burnables) I could make fewer trips to the dumpsters.

A regular household trash compactor is not gonna do much for paper. You need some serious tonnage to press paper together like that.


Sent while firmly grasping my redline lubed RAM [emoji231]
 
Some make a mash out of it mixing with water. Compact it and then dry it. Awful lot of work to go to for what little heat you get out of it.
 
We have one and the stuff is held in a compactor bag unless you can make your own from pet food bags.
We recycle all the paper stuff, tin cans and plastic. So not much makes it to the compactor thises days.

:D Al
 
I only burn the big boxes that take up space in the tote and news paper to start fires. If I have a lot of boxes I burn them outside. Seems like they burn to fast to make any real heat. I'm not sure they would burn compacted. Try burning a magazine or phone book, if you can find one, they dont really burn unless stirred up. If it were me I would either recycle or continue to do what you are doing.
 
I have considered making a press for my wood splitter. Not for paper, but for sawdust. I guess the same process would apply to boxes and paper. Maybe run the paper thru one of those small chippers and mix it with the saw dust would work. I'm just brain pooting thinking about this topic. Dont have a clue whether it would work.
 
We have a trash compactor but do not use it because the reinforced bags that can handle compacting are expensive and difficult to find.

I turned a small shed into a garbage shed. We fill it till there is a pickup load in the winter and empty it weekly in the summer. Not many bears around any more so (knock on wood) we have never had an issue. Worst case a bear rips the door off or breaks the single pane window.

At the cabin, we feed leftover veggies to the deer, leftover meat/carbs to the birds (the grey jays "lumberjacks" love table scraps), dirty garbage and plastic gets bagged, and cardboard is saved for starting the sauna stove.
 
We use pet food bags they are sort of wax lined and we don't put wet stuff in the compactor.

:D Al
 

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