Saturday, October 01, 2011

I don't want a dumpster.

But I may have no option. The garbage is piling up. Thank goodness I have the chicken coop in the barn to lock it all up in. The Barton Transfer Station is closed after being totally wiped out by the Flood, and all other waste disposal sites are for flood debris. "Home pick-up continues" but I don't have home pickup. I can't justify paying for the disposal of heavy heavy trash (cat litter) than I can fit in my vehicle. If I were to have to pay for bag tags for every bag of garbage I generate, my trash would probably cost me hundreds of dollars a month. You can only put one cat-box worth of cat litter in a single bag, and I dump 14 boxes twice a week.

Also, dumpsters attract critters and flies. In my nice cool barn, the trash stays fairly non-offensive. But out in the sun in a metal dumpster...not a good thing. Baking cat litter? This is not something I want to smell and I'm sure no one else wants to, either.

Maybe it's something I can just do in the short term. I just have no clue where I would put a dumpster where it wouldn't be the focal point of anyone driving up my quiet country road.

At any rate, I've made the calls to local trash removal companies, and we'll see.

11 comments:

christy said...

we have weekly pick up. we only put out 1 tiny bag. i'm sure we are allowed many more. ...

Susan Greene said...

Unfortunately I have 800-1000 lbs a month. That probably would alarm your hauler a bit. They have a very small Superior dumpster at the Post Office. It's almost cute. That wouldn't look "too" bad in the parking spot here, I think.

Strayer said...

Have you thought of composting your litter? I currently use wood pellet fuel, the type burned in stoves, and it has no additives and could be composted. There's a Portland woman now making a completely compostible product called KittiesGoneGreen.

I was asking this tow truck driver about a plastic water tank, when going through his wrecked car for cans, which he lets me do, for gas money. I was telling him I wanted a better litter box and was thinking of using a really long tub or sink, slanted to middle where there would be a hole and underneath, the tank, connected properly, for cat urine. I told him I'd use a nonabsorbable litter of some kind, so the urine would run through, into the basin and through the hole into the tank which I could then empty into my toilet now and then.

He suggested to go further and create Japanese style toilets, only for cats. Stainless steel or ceramic as long as one wanted, sloped slightly to a hole that could connect to a tank or to the septic or sewer line. there's be a training period, after which the thing would flush by motion remote control or weight sensor, after the cat leaves. Or on a timer. He said he'd been thinking that'd be a good thing for a long while. I asked if he'd help me create a prototype when he gets the time.

Strayer said...

Here is the Kitty's Gone Green website:
http://kittysgonegreen.com/site/

She's got some marketing issues right now. It's a good product. She gave me some, but I don't know how much it sells for.

The wood pellet fuel is completely compostable too, since it has to burn "green" to be burned as fuel.

I haven't built a decent compost pile for it, keep meaning too. You can compost cat poop just like others do for human waste, in compost toilets, using straw on the bottom and in layers, and, until you dump the bucket from the toilet onto the compost pile, fine sawdust in the bucket, to cut down odors.

However, I plan on building a tank style prototype litter box, now that winter is setting in, to collect urine only. For litter, that won't absorb the urine, I'm think pea gravel maybe, over a screen. I might add a pull out chute to the tank, to add the poop, once scooped and the tank would be on rollers for ease of emptying. The whole litter box thing needs taken up a step, for multiple cat house holds and little rescues, I'm thinking. To make things easier, cheaper, and to reduce waste.

Wildrun said...

If all of my cats in my facility would cover their work, I'd use the pelleted cat litter. However a number of cats that come through don't like to dig in the big stuff, and when visitors come, the places smells like cat poop, which is not a good thing. I used chick crumbles for awhile, but the 50 pound bags got to be an issue, along with the possible health problems when it gets hot and humid, because things can grow in the "meant for food" litters. If money grew on trees, I'd use Worlds Best.

You'll have to let us know how your prototype works out. It's a bummer that we not only have to spend money on what goes into a cat--we also have to spend money attending to what comes out.

Strayer said...

I keep a lidded detergent bucket, covered in contact paper for decorative purposes, by each set of litter boxes and whenever I go by and there is poop, I scoop it into the bucket with the lid, which contains the odor. When it is full, I dump it. But to save on garbage cost, I do need to start composting it.

The clay litter makes the place smell like a toilet, so I don't use that. And I don't like clumping litter at all, sometimes sticks so bad, like cement, to the bottom of the boxes and the dust it creates in the air gives me severe allergies, so that I can barely breath. Since cats groom themselves, I can't imagine what that clumping litter could do to their insides.

Once a week I soak the litterboxes for half hour in clorox and water, along with the scoops. I also spray the bottoms, once clean and dry, and the scoops, with PAM. A vet told me that helps reduce disease spread.

Laura said...

oh goody, are we talking about litter?
I go through 16 40-poound bags of clay litter a month. We get a toter from Waste Mgt, and get weekly pickup. (My cheerful trash guy says a nice load of litter is just the thing for his truck, first thing in the morning).

An OCD friend just convinced me that I should try clumping litter, using a commercially available sifting litter box, instead of scooping. He dumps the contents into the sifter and lifts out the clumps. I have to try this! It would be great not to have to buy and throw out all that dirty litter. It's possible too, that it would be about half the cost. I'll build my own sifting tray.

Laura said...

oh - forgot to mention that he recommends Fresh Step Clumping litter - poor quality litter doesn't clump strongly, so the litter gets dirty.
I see that you can order it online too and shipping is ridunkulously cheap. It comes in 40# sizes too.
do you tote all that litter home, Susan?

Kathy said...

I stumbled upon this discussion and say my litter mentioned. I was pretty much in the position of the rest of the foks here and I had a running battle with my garbage hauler for 7 years. And since I have all handicapped cats, the issue of cat litter was imperative to resolve. I have now resolved it. For my 55 hancicapped cats, I use less then 50 ponds a month. House of Dreams uses less then 100 pounds a mnonth for their 70 some or there about. Not only do they use only 5 cups per litter box per week, they have reduced their garbage by over half and are now workign to create a landscaped area using just Kitty's Gone Green! I created this litter for not only the cats but for my own benefit and health and for the environment. I now have fabulous landscaping in addition to healthier cats - handicapped cats with compromised health issues! And I have a growing following that have foudn the benfits. NO - it is not the answer for all cats, but is is the answer to a huge number of cats, cat owners and for the environment we all live in.

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Nabil said...

Ugh, there's nothing I hate more than the smell of cat pee! 😾

I used to have such an issue with my cats back in the times of living alone with them. You wouldn't believe the mayhem they caused! Seriously! 🙀

One of my 2 cats (both neutered guys) had taken to painting the majority of my dividers, furniture, and whatever else he could reach. I was alarmed when I got an UV light... 🔦

He never did that in the majority of the 9 years I've had him and didn't when I got him a mate (they cherish one another and did so immediately) however when a weird dark cat fired appearing outside both of my cats went crazy and the more seasoned one (9) began his divider painting, just as the window ornaments out in the kitty room. I couldn't keep up with it anymore.

My cats are indoor cats so dislike the stray is really going to get in here yet the two of them detest him (and he is weird...my neighbor's cats loathe him as well). I've taken a look at cleaning with a pet pee compound and afterward spraying some "No More Spraying" however that hasn't worked. He's a tricky little bugger as well; he holds up until he believes I'm not looking and afterward does it. He's discovered that the moment I see him backing his butt looking for trouble he gets shouted at.

It wasn't until I found "NoMoreCatPee" that I had the option to at long last dispose of this tedious conduct 🙂

Currently my home doesn't smell like a litter box any longer 🙏

Here's a link if you're interested in checking out their site: NoMoreCatPee.com 👈

Cheers! 🎉