Bury or burn?

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
Hot dogs (chein chaud) are weiners or "tube-steaks" and whiners if they get called Ball Park Franks.
The texture depends almost entirely on the % of lung tissue in the mix. True. I know a mixer!
As a kid, I do not recall the huge amount of flammable plastic wrapping that I see today.

A key point is this: our transfer station is so convenient and accommodating that nobody dumps garbage in the forest.
I suppose you could burn it but that's a risk of wild fire and it stinks..
Colossaly stupid to bury it as the critters will dig up anything within 2m of the surface, if you aren't down to bedrock anyway.

It's just too much trouble to drive away from the village. The TS isn't 1 km from our shops and businesses.
You load up a half dozen bin bags and a few boxes, go for a short drive and dump everything.

There's some poor folks who scavenge for scrap metals ( a big no-no but everybody looks the other way)
so copper and old BBQ aluminum shells get set aside.
 

Sundowner

Full Member
Jan 21, 2013
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Northumberland
To get back to the OP, having read all comments, I must admit that I'm now more confused than before. A gut feeling tells me to burn (at home), and yes, stop using plastic altogether!! Imagine this world in 5000 yrs, no life, only ruins and a staggering amount of plastic windows and doors!!
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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I would still argue that it's best practice not to take anything more than a tupperware type container( plasticwise) out which means you will not have the problem in the first place..
Buy your veg loose so there are no plastic wrappings to dispose of even at home.
I have made simple muslin drawstring bags for loose veg which keeps them contained and let's them breathe.muslin is so cheap and a metre costing only a couple of quid will make quite a few. And they are washable if they get dirty.
They weigh only a few grams. .. 13grams to be exact. And we can all make ditty bags I'm sure, that's what I base them on.
I don't have much of a rubbish problem in the woods as I don't create it in the first place. Not being smug... just thoughtful .
Meat can be wrapped in greaseproof paper or wax wraps , I keep some especially just for meat.
If anyone burns plastic on my fires you will see an explosion of titanic proportions ! :)
 

mousey

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jun 15, 2010
2,210
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NE Scotland
There is a new small shop opened up near me, supplying local growing fruit and veg, paper bags, or bring your own containers. Business seems to be running well for them.

£25 veg box made up has been enough for a family of 5 for a week.
 
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Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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That's brilliant. Wish we had that here. best is to grow your own if you have the time and space. Even a flat with a balcony can produce lots of salad crops and potatoes courgettes etc.
By the way I'm far from perfect on my plastic use... but I'm realy trying hard. Last week I bought an old fashioned razor to shave my furry bits and bobs rather than another pack of disposable ones. It had plastic packaging :( As the saying goes every little helps!
I also now use shampoo bars rather than plastic packaged liquid. One step at a time.. before you know it you've covered a mile!
 

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
Do you consider this from the perspective of the ratio of surface area to volume for the plastic container?
The biggest plastic container uses less plastic for the volume than do an equivalent number of small bottles.
I buy the BIGGEST that I can find. For service in my house, or on the road, I have a couple of little bottles that I re-fill.
 

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
Our highways are very well populated with pull-out "Rest Areas." Beautiful riverside wilderness properties.
All have bear-proof garbage bins so there's no reason to fling crap around. Bathrooms, too, for summer travellers.
Because of the mountains, valleys have "chain-up" and chain-off" side stopping lanes. Almost all have bathrooms.

Most of the time, the garbage bins are located where they are most likely to be used,
NOT where the highways workers would find them most convenient to empty.
 
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Zingmo

Eardstapa
Jan 4, 2010
1,296
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S. Staffs
Burning waste on an open fire is not likely to destroy all the unpleasant chemical residues and will most likely create some that weren't there. The regulations for incinerators stipulate a temperature of 850°C (or 1100°C for halogenated organic substances).You might be able to get your fire up to these temperatures, but the combustion gases must be held above these temperatures for at least two seconds. A small deviation in either the temperature or the combustion residence time can show up as compounds like dioxins and furans in the ash or distributed across the area with the smoke. In practice this means that incinerators have "afterburners" where additional fuel is injected into the exhaust gas to prolong combustion.

I've been there and done the analysis. Far better IMO to take your waste home and send it off to be properly dealt with.

Z
 

Keith_Beef

Native
Sep 9, 2003
1,399
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Yvelines, north-west of Paris, France.
Here is a question I have long pondered.

The almost unavoidable supply of food in plastic packaging created a dilemma for the camper. Is it better to dispose of plastic via the public waste system which largely involves land fill or is it better to burn plastic waste in a hot fire after the cooking has been done?

I recall that many years ago the same question was discussed here and the conclusion I came away with at that time was that burning the waste was better in the long term but the fire needed to be hot to break the compounds down sufficiently. I can no longer find the thread in question and I have not recently reviewed the science that lay behind that conclusion.

I am wondering if it might be wise to re-examine the issue in the light of up to date thinking to see if that is still the best practice or whether other options might now be considered better.

I suspect this could become an emotional issue for some so let us try to stick to a logical examination of the facts if possible. Don't just post "I do such and such.." We want to know what the thinking is behind your practice?

So, to summarize and to keep the thread on-topic...

Don't bury or burn at the campsite.

Bring any plastic waste home and put it into the normal waste circuit.

Back home:
  • if it goes to landfill, that's burying, but in what is supposed to be a contained and controlled environment: these days landfill pits are, I believe, concrete lined to prevent pollutants from leeching into the ground and watercourses.
  • if it is incinerated, that's burning, but in what is supposed to be a contained and controlled environment: these days incineration plants reach high enough temperatures that dioxins and other dangerous compounds created by the initial low-temperature combustion are destroyed by a secondary high-temperature prolonged combustion.
 
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Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
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Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
If a pit is concrete lined to prevent water leaching, it will turn into a lake and water will run over the edges.
I do not think they can do that, unless the water is pumped out and somehow purified?
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
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Florida
If a pit is concrete lined to prevent water leaching, it will turn into a lake and water will run over the edges.
I do not think they can do that, unless the water is pumped out and somehow purified?
Landfills aren’t concrete lined. Even if they were, the concrete fails as well. Even with the plastic liners they DO use, puddling is a problem. This example is less than a year old
 
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Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
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If it was planned (and why not), the puddle is biodiesel to be refined by water removal.
Our village gen set (10MW?) runs on it.
The city garbage dump methane will be sold to the natural gas company.
Fairly dim-witted to waste the energy rich organics.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
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Florida
If it was planned (and why not), the puddle is biodiesel to be refined by water removal.
Our village gen set (10MW?) runs on it.
The city garbage dump methane will be sold to the natural gas company.
Fairly dim-witted to waste the energy rich organics.
It depends what n whether it’s economically feasible or not. I imagine that’s probably more likely at a larger facility.
 

Robson Valley

On a new journey
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
I'm recalling some smaller cities in Michigan which each decided to do some hydrocarbon recovery.
The city I'm thinking of was not 50,000 when they laid the membrane and set up some gas pipe.

The city of Vancouver, BC has a garbage dump some 250 (?) miles inland with train service.
I believe you can see it from the International Space Station. I believe there is no hydrocarbon extraction at all.
 
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santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,120
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Florida
I'm recalling some smaller cities in Michigan which each decided to do some hydrocarbon recovery.
The city I'm thinking of was not 50,000 when they laid the membrane and set up some gas pipe.

The city of Vancouver, BC has a garbage dump some 250 (?) miles inland with train service.
I believe you can see it from the International Space Station. I believe there is no hydrocarbon extraction at all.
That’s about the population of all of Okaloosa County. Only scattered among 7 incorporated towns and even smaller unincorporated areas with a few dozen geographically separate facilities.
 

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