Dust Disposal

[Rich_N]

Hi folks,

My first post here.

Im very new to woodworking and I'm in the process of turning one end of my garage into a small shop. Ive seen all sorts of posts regarding dust extraction, but I can't find anything about how to dispose of collected dust and shavings.

What is the best way to get rid of bagged dust from a shop vac? Local tip? Refuse? Garden rubbish? For me it'll only be a small amount but I still want to dispose of it appropriately and safely.

Thanks,

Rich.

 

[artie]

I have a guy who can't get enough of it. He uses it to grow mushrooms.
He's so keen, I'm considering charging him.

 

[Argus]

It may be rubbish, but......

Chippings from the thicknesser go to a farmer down the road for animal bedding, especially when he's lambing.

Dust from the saw and sweepings?
Mostly mixed in small quantities in the compost, but previously I had a neighbour who smoked cheese and he would take all the Oak shavings and saw dust, but it had to be clean Oak. He made some very nice cheeses.

 

[LBCarpentry]

Farmers are usually the best bet.

 

[Fitzroy]

Mine go in green waste bin.

 

[Ollie78]

Fine dust I just put in the bin (well skip) as its a mix of wood dust and all sorts of other workshop mess.
The chips from planing and moulding I mix into the compost heap, and around the garden. I give some away for the same purpose.

Be careful with giving it to people for pets or horse bedding etc. Its OK if its just pine but many hardwoods are toxic to animals and can kill guinea pigs and rabbits and give horses a kind of respiratory condition.


Ollie

 

[Ollie78]

I have a guy who can't get enough of it. He uses it to grow mushrooms.
He's so keen, I'm considering charging him.

Apparently they grow well in coffee grounds too.

Ollie

 

[MikeK]

In my part of Germany, we have different bins for the trash. The yellow is for plastics and other recyclable items, blue is for paper, brown is for bio, and black is for everything else that goes to the landfill.

My wood offcuts and contents of the dust collection bin go in the black bin destined for the landfill. If the black bin is full, and I have more to go out that can't wait for the next collection, I can buy special 120L bags at the city hall for €2.50 for the landfill trash. We can't put sawdust, shavings, or offcuts in the brown bio-recycling containers. I can fill it to overflowing with branches and twigs, but no processed wood.

I made one trip to the bio recycling center with the remains of three bushes and a small dead tree that I cut up, and two large bags of sawdust. I couldn't enter the tipping yard with the sawdust in my truck. I had to go back home, remove the bags of sawdust, and go back to the recycling center with only the bushes and tree pieces. Apparently, large quantities of sawdust inhibit the composting.

 

[Sandyn]

Woodburner. Shove the shavings in a paper bag, secure with a wrap made from a wire wall tie (recovered later) and burn them.

 

[craigs]

Sawdust, and chippings can usually just go in your recycling bin, just confirm on your councils website.

 

[craigs]

Apparently they grow well in coffee grounds too.

Ollie

as an avid coffee drinker, this interests me

 

[Ollie78]

as an avid coffee drinker, this interests me

I am a coffee addict also, but can`t stand mushrooms !
Apparently grounds get collected from coffee shops for this purpose. I also recently saw coffee grounds made into logs for woodburners .

Ollie

 

[Roland]

Recycling is a strange story, with every council seeming to have their own rules. My personal rules are:

• Sawdust from the chainsaw is garden waste, and goes in the green bin.
• Sawdust, shavings and debris from the workshop are domestic waste, and go in the grey bin.
• Shavings from the chickens go on the compost if I’ve got enough green matter to mix it with, otherwise the green bin.

In our area grey bin waste is burned for area heating, so I’m not worried about how much wood dust I put in it.

 

[NDRiley]

I’ve taken bags of extractor waste (from saw and p/t) to the local tip no problem. They ask me to empty the bags into the mixed wood skip. On a windy day that makes a lot of mess so I always ask if they’re sure but they always say yes!

 

[Cabinetman]

I had a problem getting rid of mine, tried composting mixing it with grass didn’t work. Now I’ve got a lady who has chickens and will take all that I can collect, it’s horrible dusty stuff but she seems happy with it. I also collect up the shavings from hand planing and put them in a bag for her to make the beds for the chickens. She has yet to give me any eggs!

 

[clogs]

Chickens love a dust bath......
their lives are short and don’t suffer cancer...
mine got the lot...dust and shavings....
it all ends up a goo'y mess anyway.....

 

[Deadeye]

I take mine to the tip. They tried to charge me but I said it was hamster bedding.

 

[AJB Temple]

Ours goes into the compost. However, we have a great deal of compost. Mrs AJBT has been trained to use the Billy Goat machine for leaf collections and so far has amassed about 5 cubic metres. The machine vacuums it up and shreds it, so that is a lot of leaves. She's a trooper. My bit of sawdust from the cyclone etc disappears in that lot. Stuff from the PT goes on the wood chip paths. We actually get this stuff (well actually shredding from a tree surgeon) in for free by the tipper van load, about twice a year, to top up the paths in the kitchen garden.

 

[ScaredyCat]

One of the few advantages of living in a cottage with a wood burner

Put it in paper bags, roll the end closed, use it on the fire. You could try and make fire blocks with them too if you fancy it but you need hight pressure if you just want to use the wood rather than mixing with a bonding agent. If you have a couple of grand spare you can buy a machine to do it. You could then flog them to people with wood burners...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Stove. I keep all the small cardboard boxes that we get from deliveries, cereals, frozen foods etc. fill them and hot melt them closed - unnecessary, really but it saves making any mess indoors. Just don't throw the dust in loose - it'll blow back at you.