Ash disposal question

Before I get told to search, I did. And I found a lot of environmental discussion and debate. lol I get it- the coal ash isn't going to poison my family. Gotcha. Good to know. lol

We've been dumping it beside the front porch for the past 3 years or so, in an effort to level an area for a planned patio. Well, now that area's pretty level, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with the ash pan now... And my question is- Does anyone know if it's LEGAL in NY to dump it with my trash?

As a single mom with more than enough hassles already, the last thing I need is a bunch of Men in Black or white hazard suits from the EPA or whoever swooping in here because I emptied a couple ash pans into my trash bags. Since NY tends to be a bit more strict *cough*ridiculouslyanal*cough* about environmental things (and just about everything else... I mean come on, NYC has banned soda cups over 20 oz for godsakes) I thought I'd better check before giving the garbage guys the gift of coal ash in their sacks.

Call your trash provider or city and see if they take them.If so put your hot ash in a metal can to cool for a day then put the cooled ash in the coal bags out for the trash. Is there any other spots that need leveled off.

Mary S--depends on how much property you have to play with--ya got a pond?? make a basketball court--DO NOT involve anybody in your business--unless you have to--yes, too many friggin tree huggers in NY ( fanatical A-holes)

Mary, I support Fred's comments. The less said, the less questioned. Many folks do include it in the trash...obviously after it has cooled to a safe level. Any snowplowing guy that spreads sand/anti-slip products can make use of it also.

People call me when an ice storm is forecast; there is nothing better. I would stay out of City Hall, all they know is that a tip is another food source for the compliance guys.....as Forest Gump said: 'Stupid is as Stupid Does'.

whistlenut wrote: ... 'Stupid is as Stupid Does'.

Great quote for the guy who torched his house the other day in central MA, after dumping red hot ashes into a PLASTIC trash barrel ...

Mary,
That could also get expensive if you guys have trash tags like they do up here in Tompkins county. Have any friends that have low spots,bank,running water in a creek (I did not type that last one)? I don't know for sure, but I bet them ashes would blend right in with the ballast (rocks) on those RR tracks that run right thru your town

lol Ok then... I'm guessing that's gonna be a "no" on the is it ok to mix it in the trash... I use Taylor Garbage out of Vestal.
Hmm I've got 4 acres, and yeah I can probably find another place or two to put it. While I'm not a tree hugger, I don't think I want to dump it in the creek... My kids play in there, and every other kid in the neighborhood. If there's even a tiny chance the residue could be bad for them somehow, I wouldn't want to chance it.
That's ok, I'm sure I can find more spots to level out. Thanks for the advice, guys!

It wasnt all that long ago(my parents tell me all the time.....we had to lug the ashes up from the basement...yada yada)...
up hill....both ways....

but my point is EVERY garbage collection took them. Mine actually undoes the bungee holding the lid of a good ole metal ash can and slams it in the back of the truck while a huge plume almost coats him and puts the lid back on upside down to collect rain water......but they have no problem lifting that 100# can

call em from a friends house across town and ask em anaymously

MarySthewriter wrote:lol Ok then... I'm guessing that's gonna be a "no" on the is it ok to mix it in the trash... I use Taylor Garbage out of Vestal.
Hmm I've got 4 acres, and yeah I can probably find another place or two to put it. While I'm not a tree hugger, I don't think I want to dump it in the creek... My kids play in there, and every other kid in the neighborhood. If there's even a tiny chance the residue could be bad for them somehow, I wouldn't want to chance it.
That's ok, I'm sure I can find more spots to level out. Thanks for the advice, guys!

My dad always put the coal bags full of (cooled) ashes right out on the curb for xyz garbage out of Whitney Point. I take mine right to the broome county landfill and dump them by the garbage can full. It's garbage, and I've never seen any indication that it's a problem at the landfill. If you're paying for taylor to pick up your trash, give them the ashes too. Hell if they're bagged they wont' even know it.

it's not a hazardous material in any way. It's perfectly legal to put COOL ashes in the common household trash.

I spread the coal ashes on my gravel driveway. Smooth out once in awhile with a rake, then in the spring I use my tractor box blade and do a really good leveling job.

Put the cool ashes in a dark plastic bag out with the trash and be done with it.

I find that if I start asking ANY questions at all related to anything about COAL every single answer is NO NO NO regardless... due to the scare tactics Obama has spread with his greenies over the past 4 years!

Just a joke, 6 billion tons of Anthracite in the ground in PA and the jerk won't find a way to dig it up and burn it cleanly for all of Amwerica to use!

I put it in my garden. I have some wood ash with it, so it helps some with PH levels, but mostly I use it to lighten the soil and help aerate it. (I have a hand fed stove so I do not use much of it, and it has a lot of clinkers).

I was told just yesterday that it would kill my kids as it has lots of heavy metals in it, and plants uptake that and poisons us, but the guy is a total gloom and doom kind of guy and is from North Carolina so he is using bituminous data and not anthracite data. In addition, we us manure here for crop fertilizer and have for a hundred years or more, and that has lots of copper and zinc in it, yet our soil is able to readily absorb those metals with ease. I know that because as farmers, we are required to soil test our fields every 3 years and to account for heavy metal contamination due to the copper and zinc that is added to cow grain. As a sheep farmer I have to REALLY keep an eye on copper levels because copper kills sheep, and not a whole lot of it either. It takes 12 parts per million to kill a sheep, so I must test their feed and manure to see what they are taking in since I use feed from the dairy farm, and graze land fertilized with cow manure from a dairy farm. Testing has shown my sheep have about 4 parts per million of copper within them so they are very healthy in that regard.

This is the part that has not been discussed to my knowledge on here, and that is, what certain plants and veggies uptake for heavy metals is completely dependent upon what trace minerals surrounds it. In our case, we have high manganese in our soil, and while this promotes compaction, the upside is, it allows heavy metals like copper and zinc not to be absorbed by plants as readily. Other trace minerals do the same thing, which is why we spread a product called algeafiber on our land...seaweed which is used in the making of carotene which is food product. We use it, not so much for the perlite which lightens the soil to prevent compaction; nor for its lime-like properties, but for its ability to put a host of trace minerals into the ground that normal fertilizers that only contain n,p and k do not have.

What am I saying?

Toxicity relates to overall good soil health. If given a plethora of n,p,k and a trace minerals, the plants are going to uptake what it needs to thrive, BUT if all it has is poor soil and is given heavy metals, yeah it will uptake that in higher numbers.

I did not explain all this to that guy that accused me of trying to kill my kids. I just shook my head like I was dumb because I mean what do I know; I am just a dumb sheep farmer whose future rests completely on that mere 18 inches of soil that is located from bedrock to sky, and not a electronics engineer like him.

Mary, I used to work for a major trash company in central MA. I'll let you in on a little secret -- if you hide the ash in something, and place it in the bag, nobody is going to know ... or care for that matter. I certainly didn't!

The only ones that "care" are government officials ... but they don't really care either - it's all about the money, and excuses for extorting it from you. That doesn't apply to coal ash however, but you get the idea. It is HIGHLY unlikely that anyone in power will make the effort to track you down over some stupid ash. If they did I'd make sure every NON-mainstream media outlet got the story and ran with it.

You could always go to ASH MOUNTAIN ....

NoSmoke wrote: guy and is from North Carolina so he is using bituminous data and not anthracite data.

The ash is the same. There's no magical and mystical difference to between anthracite and bituminous coal. Anthracite has lower volatiles because of the greater pressures exerted on it. That's about it as far as differences in composition.

They guys isn't using ANY sound data from anywhere if he's pissing himself over coal ash. What it contains isn't different than the dirt under your feet. The concentration of toxic trace elements aren't substantially different or more highly elevated than the soil in general. Coal ash hysteria is one more way for greenies to scare people away from coal - that's all there is to that hype.