NY - New Burning Laws eff. Oct. 2009

I'd head right out & build the biggest, smokiest tire & shingle fire the state had ever seen, if I lived there!

I don't burn anyway, being right in the village, so doesn't really matter to me. Other than the occasional campfire in the yard.

The problem is you can`t make everything idiot proof so everyone has to suffer. Just read thru the questions & answers, can I burn tires, how about paint cans or I have some old ammo can I burn that in my camp fire. If you don`t cover everything they will try & sue the state if they survive.

I've got a few friends that live in Worcester ... one day I was visiting one of them & he decided to light a small campfire so his kids & their friends could roast marshmallows. We had this tiny fire going for about 5 minutes, when all of a sudden, sirens wailing (which is normal in that place), here come 3 firetrucks into his yard!! I was just appalled .... They actually dragged a hose over & put the fire out!!! I guess it's a city ordinance. I can see the logic in that with all the run down 3-deckers in that dump, but he lives in one of the few nice parts of the city. Some jackass with nothing better to do probably called on him.

I wouldn't live there if I were PAID!

12. Can I dispose of a flag or religious item in an open fire?

Yes, in a small-sized fire if it is not otherwise prohibited by law or regulation.


I say between celebratory fires and burning religious items nothing has changed.

18. Can I burn my house down without first removing the wall to wall carpet ?

Yes, If you make it to another state border before the NY DEP catches you.

Open burning used to be unregulated for towns with population under 20,000 unless a local ordinance was enacted. Even if a local regulation was enacted, it was tough to enforce. The problem was the village idiots would burn plastics, baby diapers, etc. and let them smoulder, smoking out their neighbors. This allowed the enviomentalists to win popular support to get more regulations enacted.

This is the only way the State can give them a swift kick in the A** is through their wallet and more regulation and burden for the rest of us.

So up until this new law it was legal to burn trash in a 55 gallon drum? Honestly, that stopped here over 30 years ago!!!

Burn on cloudy days .... they'll never know.

Unless you live next door to a Gore supporter ...

All this talk about burning reminds me that I have to do some but the darn snow is so deep I`ll have a hard time getting to the burn barrel. If the post office would quit sending all the ads & junk mail I wouldn`t have to burn.

I have a burn barrel for all the paper stuff , empty beer cases , paper towel , paper plates , pizza boxes , etc. Everything else goes in big black bag. Take it to the recycle bin at the township hall.

ken wrote:I have a burn barrel for all the paper stuff , empty beer cases , paper towel , paper plates , pizza boxes , etc. .

I have a hand fired coal stove for all that stuff

Thats the same here ken Linesville has bins right off Rt.6 that everyone puts the recyclables in. Really cuts down on what the garbage man gets, I do the composting thing as well.

Freddy wrote:So up until this new law it was legal to burn trash in a 55 gallon drum? Honestly, that stopped here over 30 years ago!!!

Yes. I used to burn trash with pride. The way I see it is I can pay $100 a year and take my trash to the dump so they can burn it for me or I can save the permit fee and the gas to get to the dump and burn it myself. Actually the state should encourage home burning because it will increase recycling. Go to the dump and look at how much recyclables end up in the garbage bin. Compare that to the burn barrel guy who has to deal with stuff that won't burn up like metal and glass, it doesn't get thrown away that's for sure. What I do now is recycle all my plastics, glass, metal, and cardboard for free at the dump and shred all my paper to use as packing materials for stuff I ship UPS. All food items get fed to the pig or composted. Unfortunately there is still some stuff left that is simply garbage, mostly plastic packaging wrappers and stuff, and I bag that and send it to the dump when someone I know with a permit goes or if I'm lucky they will let me throw a bag in the bin without a permit. I will admit that it was much easier to just burn the trash. They do allow farm burning so it's not too big a deal if I want to have a fire anyway. They really wanted to stop the people from burning the insulation off the copper wires, I firmly believe that was the stimulus for this law.