Recycling in Maine (mover, homes, contractor)

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

"I do take my used oil to the dump on occasion as they don't charge you to leave it."

You can sell used oil to truck and bus garages. They use it to heat their buildings. You can also use it as bar oil for the chain saw in winter. It runs out too fast in the summer. I have also heard of people mixing in a quart of motor oil with each tank of Diesel. In that application the quart of used oil is worth a dollar. They say they see no difference in peformance and the fuel filter will take out any solids.

Disclaimer: I have NOT done this in my Kubota tractor.

I'm going to try that! I wonder if you have to change the fuel filter more often?

[Maine Writer]

I try to put out only one bag a week. I have a cardboard box of boxes and either a pail or bag for food scraps, paper and other compostables. There's a grocery bag of bags hanging in the kitchen. When it's full I take it to the store nearby. They reuse them. Snowmobilers like them because they can be tied up tightly or tied to something tightly. When we have a choice we get paper over plastic. Those go to the store if we aren't going to use them unless they aren't neat and tidy. Then they're composted.

We can take appliances, furniture and paint to the transfer station in Baileyville. We pay for that in our taxes. Steve and the first selectman in the next down set up a day for metal debris pickup. A local recycler picked it up. He has it crushed and sells it. They set up a day for televisions, computers, etc. They had to be taken to the selectman's store to be picked up.

I could do better with glass and plastic.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

"I'm going to try that! I wonder if you have to change the fuel filter more often?"

I have thought about that. I figure I would filter it through some cloth first to take out any carbon particles. Diesel fuel filters have to be pretty good. It wouldn't take much to plug an injector nozzle on a small Diesel.

[Submariner]

I am glad to see somebody trying to figure out 'recycling' in Maine.

Folks have been telling me to just open a hole in the woods and every five years to bury it, and start a new one.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by forest beekeeper

I am glad to see somebody trying to figure out 'recycling' in Maine.

Folks have been telling me to just open a hole in the woods and every five years to bury it, and start a new one.

The place we bought in CO, many years ago, had been done that way, or so it seemed.

Problem is, stuff didn't want to stay buried... and unfortunately there were no "valuable antiques" that made their way to the surface... just wonderful things like old bailing twine, bailing wire, barbed wire... little things that just LOVED to stick a tendril up and wrap tightly around the tines and worse on the rototiller...

and then there was the place in the "wash" that they hadn't covered yet...

so the "hole on the back 40" would not be my first choice... even if I wasn't an eco-nut. just caused me too much extra work...

[moughie]

Back in the day, when we lived in Gray ( hey I rhyme!), there was an awesome transfer recyle station!
We took our unwanted treasures and picked up other people's unwanted treasure- an even swap! Now I heard that you can no longer pick and pack
Those were the days.....

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I know a new resident that bought a farm. He wanted the old asbestos shingle siding removed. He checked several contractors and the price quotes were incredible so he asked around. He soon learned that there are two ways of getting this job done. The government way is to hire a licensed and certified contractor to remove it and place it into containers. Then you hire a licensed contractor to move it. Then you hire a licensed site to hold it and you still own it! The process is like nuclear waste and a huge money maker for everybody involved because it can cost more than the house.

The other way is to get a neighbor to dig a big hole on your own farm, fill a junk car with the old shingles and bury the whole car. Neat, simple and efficient.

[dmyankee]

We bagged up piles of those shingles last year for my neighbor and dumped 'em for $15 a pickup load in the demolition dumpster!

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by moughie

Back in the day, when we lived in Gray ( hey I rhyme!), there was an awesome transfer recyle station!
We took our unwanted treasures and picked up other people's unwanted treasure- an even swap! Now I heard that you can no longer pick and pack
Those were the days.....

our small town has a building at the transfer station specifically, for unwanted items that are still useful, after seeing the building for a few months, i decided, to walk in just to check it out,,its a great concept, there were lamps, vcr's, radios plates, all kinds of stuff, all free for the taking, now i dont know how many items a person could take,,,,(the items i saw looked in good shape (even a small fridge)
i didnt grab anything, but was thinking of stuff i didnt use anymore to bring.

[starwalker]

Originally Posted by mainebrokerman

our small town has a building at the transfer station specifically, for unwanted items that are still useful, after seeing the building for a few months, i decided, to walk in just to check it out,,its a great concept, there were lamps, vcr's, radios plates, all kinds of stuff, all free for the taking, now i dont know how many items a person could take,,,,(the items i saw looked in good shape (even a small fridge)
i didnt grab anything, but was thinking of stuff i didnt use anymore to bring.

The transfer station in NC that I went to now and then did that too, unofficially... nothing stayed around for long!

In many places there are Freecycle groups for such as well.