Ash Disposal?

friendsville BoB · By: **friendsville BoB** On: Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:31 am

Hi. Thanks for the help I have gotten so far this year. I think I would have been mighty cold this year without you! One more question , on this my first year of coal burning..What do you do with all that ash?? thanks

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Post cleanup complete 20/12/2009
Richard

Berlin · By: **Berlin** On: Sat Jan 27, 2007 2:40 pm

dump it in the woods, fill in a depression, spread it on the driveway for anti-skid etc, throw it in the trash, do whatever you want with it.

LsFarm · By: **LsFarm** On: Sat Jan 27, 2007 3:14 pm

I fill in potholes in my many farm roads. The ashes seem to solidify like crushed limestone does. Makes pretty good fill.

Greg L

Richard S. · By: **Richard S.** On: Sat Jan 27, 2007 5:30 pm

The borough picks them up where I live. Most boroughs in thius area do not however and that job usually goes to the garbage collector usually for a small yearly fee, think my Grandmother pays about $125 per year for whatever amount of ash she generates.

wenchris · By: **wenchris** On: Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:16 pm

I get rid of two things, ash and those plastic grocery bags. Have a box that holds the bags open then load them with the ash. Tie them up and out with the trash.
Stay warm, Jimmy

coal berner · By: **coal berner** On: Sat Jan 27, 2007 10:16 pm

Around here the town or city will pick them up for free or you take them down to the ash dump where they spread them on the roads in ice storm or snow storm helps you from sliding all over the place

mgambuzza · By: **mgambuzza** On: Sun Jan 28, 2007 9:13 am

Is there anyone here from the Syracuse, NY area? Can ash be dropped off in the regular trash? I have done some searches on the internet and some municipalities allow for ash disposal as long as it is in a separate bag. Syracuse DPWs web site really doesn't say anything about ash of any kind (although they do state about dog and cat waste).

JerseyCoal · By: **JerseyCoal** On: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:42 pm

Here in New Jersey, a state well known for political corruption as well as mob influence in the waste management business, my sanitation crew has advised me as follows: "We'll take anything, as long as it's in a black plastic bag. Even dead bodies!"

friendsville BoB · By: **friendsville BoB** On: Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:06 pm

thanks guys I think I will use all the methods you suggest ha ha friendsville bob

dutch · By: **dutch** On: Sun Jan 28, 2007 7:57 pm

mgambuzza wrote:Is there anyone here from the Syracuse, NY area? Can ash be dropped off in the regular trash? I have done some searches on the internet and some municipalities allow for ash disposal as long as it is in a separate bag. Syracuse DPWs web site really doesn't say anything about ash of any kind (although they do state about dog and cat waste).

my local landfill has a place to dump them for free,
but i have no idea what they do with them from there...

:shock:

gaw · By: **gaw** On: Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:19 am

Has anyone ever heard of adding coal ash to soil to lower the ph of the soil? I remember hearing this several years back but never tried it or looked further into it. I also heard wood ash would raise the soil ph. Any gardeners out here know? Maybe some of your coal ash can be used to keep plants like blueberries, rhododendrons, azaleas, and the like happy.

coalkirk · By: **coalkirk** On: Mon Jan 29, 2007 8:33 am

Cola ash should not be used on any plant crop that you plan to eat, like blueberries. There is alot of nasty stuff in coal ash, heavy metals, and even some radioactivity. You don't want it in your vegetable garden. Wood ash is ok though.
I spread my coal ash on a path through the woods behind my house. I also keep a bucket ot two handy for traction on ice or snow. I live on a hill and have had to use it to get home a few times.

coaledsweat · By: **coaledsweat** On: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:08 am

We had a pear tree that got past it's prime and my dad put wood ashes around the tree for two years and drove a bunch of big nails into it (iron). Within a year the tree was bearing great pears again.
I would not dispose of the coal ash on my property as it WILL leach some very bad things. You could also have a problem with the town.

Richard S. · By: **Richard S.** On: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:14 am

The garden discussion had come up before....

http://nepacrossroads.com/viewtopic.php?p=2149

Berlin wrote:Coal ash is best avoided for use in gardens; It does not contain much nutrient content nor does it really benefit the soil structure. Coal ash is not beneficial to a garden because its phosphorus and potassium content are low compared to wood ash, which can be quite beneficial. Some coal ash containes elevated levels of arsenic which is not good for plants; however, in the US and especially the eastern us, this is generally not the case; additionally coal ash contains mostly unburnt rock, silica and similar inert and unbenifical matter.

Now, having said all that, realize that if you were to add some coal ash to your garden, it generally wont hurt it, unless you add excessive amounts over possibly years; additionally with anthricite or bituminous coal, the % of ash that contains certain undesireable trace elements varies widely from coal seam to seam, region to region, and even different areas of the same coal seam. However, in the us eastern coals, bituminous or anthricite have very low levels of the worst trace elements and do not generally differ greatly from the soil in general. The main point of my post being that while the addition of ash to your garden will probably not hurt your garden or you, it would add no noticeable benifit either, so just dump your coal ash in the woods and save your wood ash for the garden.

Berlin · By: **Berlin** On: Mon Jan 29, 2007 2:19 pm

"You could also have a problem with the town."

:roll:

almost the entire residential part of buffalo NY was built on coal cinders. we are in a very flat area with poor drainage, so cinders (in addition to excavation debris) were used to build up the land where homes were between roads on each block. they were also used as foundation bedding for almost every home built in the city. additionally millions of tons (probably more) was used to make levies and docks into lake erie and simply to make more land on the west side of the city of buffalo.

coal ash, and too a lesser extent some fly ash is used extensively throughout the US and the world as anti-skid on roadways.