Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with trash

Sketchy journalism & littering

mightshould — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:29:27 -0800

Sleuthing and neighbors have figured out what went on in front of my place the other day and it involves fabricating evidence for a newspaper story. I'd like suggestions on how to proceed. On Thursday, my neighbors saw a truck pulled off on the roadside in front of my place and the driver was unloading what turns out to be a lot of debris and trash into the ditch. They couldn't get the license plate of the truck, but have a decent description. Saturday, they saw two vehicles parked on my property, with one person taking photos (they did get the plate number of that guy.) In the Sunday paper, there's an article with a picture of the scene. The gist of the article is that "boy, there's a lot of trash on the roadways, and something needs to be done."

So, I'm steamed. First of all, I'm going to have to clean up the considerable trash myself unless the perp can be identified. Yeah, that ditch filled with trash - the refuse will be mine to dispose of.... Secondly, the journalism is flawed and just plain faked. I figure a call to the paper's editor is involved, but what else?

This is in rural, eastern NC, USA.

Where can I find speherical bags that will help me turn my trash into toys?

cross_impact — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:45:27 -0800

Where can I find bags of various sizes that: are spherical or ball-shaped when full of stuff are made of durable outdoor-hardy material and close with velcro or a drawstring or some other kid-safe closure mechanism Bonus: Bags of other useful shapes like kid furniture, that can be filled and closed You see, I want to make balls out of trash... We throw away a lot of junk mail, paper, etc since we don't have recycling in our community. I was wanting to find a way to collect that trash in a way that would make a useful outdoor play toy for my kids using paper and other relatively soft, dry trash as "stuffing."

Every year at Christmas, I save all the wrapping paper and make a huge ball of it with masking tape to hold it together. The kids love playing with it before we throw the whole mess away. I was looking for something made of durable reuseable material I could use in this capacity and then keep and not throw away. A trash bag that converts into a ball. I had my eye on making one of those giant earth balls out of out recycled newspapers from a month or so. Or even something the size of a soccer ball would work.

My search for a commercial version of this has been fruitless. Commissioning a prototype from a craftsman or seamstress undermines my goal of a cheap alternative to an expensive item while reusing what would otherwise go into the bins. Any leads?

Broken Trash Compactor - How to Remove and Alternatives to Replacing?

GregX3 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:10:31 -0800

I need to remove this broken trash compactor. Does anyone know how to get it out? (and bonus points if you can think of an inexpensive way to fill that space and have it look nice.) I really don't want to replace something I'd never use.

Once he works out how to open the fridge door we're doomed

alex.dudley — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:42:05 -0800

Kitchen trash cans that can withstand a crafty and dextrous cat? One of our indoor-only ex-shelter cats is on a special diet due to digestive issues (most likely caused by garbage-eating while he was living on the streets). He is also unfortunately intelligent.

He insists that he is starving (he's not), and is very resourceful about getting into any food he can - opening cupboards and boxes and even once managing to chew through the thick metallic-seeming plastic bags dry cat food comes in.

His latest target is the kitchen trash can.

Our first trash can was a swing-top 20 gallon plastic bin. He would knock it over and then go to town. I lowered the center of gravity by putting stuff at the bottom under the bag so he couldn't knock it over, but then he discovered that he could make a standing leap from the floor into the trash can, gorge on leftovers, and than make a standing leap back out. Our current can is a step-on pedal-bin, which he can't knock over but has somehow managed to get into. I'm considering setting up a camera.

We don't have much money for trial-and-error with new trash cans, and every time he gets into the trash it ruins whatever health progress we'd made on the special diet.

Please, give me the best smart-cat-proof trash cans you have found, especially those that can stand up to a genius cat whose free midnight snacks have stopped and his gullible sidekick.

P.S. We live in an apartment and can't fix anything to the walls, and there's no door on the kitchen so we can't shut them out.

What do you do with household mercury in India?

bookish — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:07:06 -0800

I would like to dispose of a thermometer that might contain mercury. What's the best way to do this, in India? I'm living in Jaipur, Rajasthan. My roommate bought a cheap thermometer a week ago, but the liquid has separated and it doesn't seem to be responding to the freezer. I'm not sure if it's mercury-- it has gray-black liquid and a silver bulb, and it's unmarked. I'd like to get rid of the damn thing, but I'm not sure how to do so responsibly here, especially if it is a mercury thermometer.

Municipal waste management seems to consist of a bunch of dumpsters scattered throughout town. People and animals go through these dumpsters pretty regularly to scavange, so it seems like tossing it there is a really bad idea. I've been looking for some info on hazardous waste in the city, but haven't found much, aside from this dispiriting article.

What's the best thing to do with a thermometer in these conditions?

Can I recycle a broken hairdryer?

Kirn — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:43:13 -0800

I have a broken hair dryer. Can I recycle it? I live in Brighton, UK - I can't find anything on the local council website about recycling this type of item. Do I just bin it? Thanks!

Which papers go in the rectangular file and which go in the circular file?

fiercecupcake — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:08:53 -0800

What important household papers and documents must I keep and file? What papers are OK to throw away? My wife and I are going to go through a ton of old stuff tonight that needs to be filed. What is important for us to hold on to? What is not worth our time to file?

We bought a house last year. We have two cars and no car payments. We have student loans.

Documents may include, but are not limited to:
- mortgage stuff
- water and utility bills (electric, septic maintenance)
- tax things from previous jobs
- insurance bills/statements (car, house, life)
- ??? whatever fun things have been stacked in piles

Please hope me. This seems daunting.

Trashy Book Club looking for suggestions

Astro Zombie — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:36:52 -0800

Some friends and I are starting a super trashy book club, and are looking for suggestions for the trashiest books you can come up with. Already in mind: Valley of the Dolls; Flowers in the Attic; Go Ask Alice; Mommy Dearest; Chocolates for Breakfast.

Looking for: Anything sordid and campy and ridiculous and obnoxious. Best still: If a cocktail would go with it. Even better: If there is some costume that might be worn to the book club discussion. Better than the best: If a movie was made of the book.

I have too much garbage!

onich — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:08:36 -0800

Please recommend how I can get rid of trash in Pasadena, CA. I just moved to Pasadena, CA. Between the trash that the previous occupant left and the crap that I've cleaned (yard waste and junk) that I need to get rid of, I have an unmanageable garbage to deal with after considering the stuff that I can recycle.

Am I allowed to just leave all of this garbage in the curb and the collectors will pick it up?

Are there trash collection services that you can recommend that can pick up the garbage? How much do they normally cost.

Nothing in my pile will be other people's "treasure" because it's mostly yard waste and a few construction debris.

Thank you.

Are there any major downsides to becoming a human garbage disposal?

mrgrimm — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:24:08 -0800

Are there any downsides to becoming a human garbage disposal? I'm tired of composting and/or throwing out vegetable material. Would there be any seriously ill effects if I just started eating all of the vegetal "waste," i.e. peels, rinds, seeds, myself? What about egg shells?

Help Me Help Them Help the Earth

Leezie — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:54:31 -0800

In honor of Earth Day, help me find a creative way to encourage my my neighbor to recycle. We have curbside recycling once a week and they never recycle anything. Their trash is an amazing collection of plastic water bottles, aluminum cans and lots and lots of paper. I hate to see all of this stuff go into a landfill when we have recycling and they have so much to be recycled. Can I do anything to gently prod them into maybe recycling? Is it even my business?

Help me with my trash!

nicolas léonard sadi carnot — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:41:01 -0800

I'm using a Linux eee, and after leaving a couple of torrents on overnight, I wake up to the message that the disk is full. Fair enough, I'll just delete a few things: but when I try to, I get the message that it's unable to create home/user/Trash/xxxxxx, where xxxxxx is some random string of characters. How can I actually free up some space? I don't mind using the terminal or whatever, I've just no idea what I'd type.

The Downside to Litter

mccarty.tim — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:40:57 -0800

My friend and I are having a bit of a debate: Is litter harmful for the environment, society, or other aspects, as I've been led to believe? Legality is not the issue. While eating out at a sandwich place with no indoor seating one night, my friend spilled sauce on his new coat, took a napkin to clean his coat, and angrily tossed the napkin out the car's window. I told him that he shouldn't litter, especially when there's a trash can 10 feet away. He then demanded that I explain why it matters if he, or society at large, littered. I was taken aback as I had never really thought out reasons for it, accepting it to just be a bad thing to do. Thinking hastily, I mentioned broken window theory, animals getting sick from the litter, and it generally making the community look worse. He said I was overstating the impact and/or the chances of each of those things happening, and said that life was too short to worry about litter and that none of his friends in his hometown cared either. To be fair, this was in a suburb of Trenton, NJ, and there aren't really any woods or too many animals nearby. Still, it just felt like he was doing something really wrong, and I was taken aback because he's a very strong democrat and usually is in favor of environmentalist policies. It struck me as at least a bit hypocritical.

Anyway, I decided to google if there were problems with littering, but I mostly found websites listing the legal penalties behind littering, or websites on kitty litter. What are the real, tangible downsides and consequences to littering? I'm not looking for an excuse to litter, as I find it no big deal to find a trash can and act accordingly. Nor am I expecting to find many personal consequences outside of shunning from strangers and tickets from police officers. Rather, I'd like evidence that litter is a serious problem for the environment. Information on urban and suburban littering would be most relevant, although I've seen it's particularly rampant out in the country.

Paper or plastic?

nax — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:35:25 -0800

I'm looking for a better garbage bag. I've completely stopped using store bags-- always carry canvas bags with me, for everything from books to groceries to clothing the auto parts store. However, this means that I can longer use the store plastic bags for garbage, forcing me to buy garbage bags.

Or does it? Not using a bag is too nasty, but should I be using large paper bags, on the theory that paper will decompose? Or would I just be killing trees? Plus, where do I find them (the stores only have those mega lawn bags in paper) Do I just go back to using paper bags at the grocery store?

Help me find trash cinema.

whiterussian — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:18:00 -0800

Help me find trash cinema. I wish to see the trashiest cinema there is.
Note that a lot of what is called trash or B or Z-movies are monster flicks and/or horror/giallo/splatter/scifi/porn. Surely there are other kinds, perhaps a combination of these?

Here's what I know of:

Freakyflicks
Astrozombie's list
Bad Movies
Greencine
This lovely trailer for Beez

But most of these seem to focus on English/Western trash. How about Bollywood/Lollywood? Nigeria? What is the trashiest movie from Bolivia, for example? Links please.

Merci merci.

Help me find this grocery bag using trash bin., or something similar, please.

RunawayOctober — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:55:10 -0800

Help me find this grocery bag using trash bin., or something similar, please. I StumbledUpon this link and think it would be an awesome gift for my mother. She doesn't want to use reusable bags because she takes 8-10 empty aluminum cans to the recycle bin every morning along with a bag of cat poop/liter from cleaning the litter box. For convenience she uses two grocery bags a day for the job. If she's going to use bags I figured I may as well make it easy for her.

Stereo Mini cord is toxic?

silsurf — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:22:27 -0800

Why does this stereo mini to RCA adapter have a obscure image icon that indicates hazardous waste? I have a stereo mini to RCA adapter cord that gave out and before tossing it in the trash I noticed this teeny-weeny sticker on one end. All that is on the sticker is an image of a trash receptacle with a circle and a line through it. Very small, very hard to see.

I scanned it and you can see the image here.

What is in this cord that I should be so worried about and how shall I dispose of it safely?

Henry

Pigeons and Cookies and Trash

Artw — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:56:30 -0800

What are the words to this Sesame Street Song? - We hear "Everybody loves [something], as sure as [something] loves [something], and googling for lyrics isn't helping fill in the blanks.

Who the heck's my pop?

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:09:18 -0800

How can I determine, with access to limited biological data, if my father is not who I thought he was? I was recently shown a photograph of my mother's college boyfriend that gave me a shock: he looks uncannily like me, to the point that people shown the photo assume it is of me. My divorced mother is being cagey about the possibility that this man could be my biological father, and while approaching my potential biological father is something I'd be willing to do, I hesitate to contact him and stir up a beehive in his life if this is just a coincidence. And of course bringing this up with the man who raised me is out of the question.

So my query, to all you genetic scientists and hobbyists out there: with access to my own male DNA and that of my sister (who is almost certainly the child of my mother and the man who raised us), is it possible to determine if we have the same father? If the results of such a test existed to show that my sister and I do not share a father, I'd feel better about approaching my mom's ex-boyfriend.

If so, how would we go about testing for this without spending a fortune? Follow up questions can be sent to the anonymous address humangenome.i85@gmail.com and I will respect your anonymity, too.

Thanks for helping me sort this wackiness out!

80s power ballads, begone.

twistofrhyme — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 13:04:32 -0800

dumb question: when i delete a song from itunes, where does it go? i don't understand the delete mechanism in itunes. when i delete a photo in iphoto, for instance, it ends up in the iphoto trash, which i can then empty (as a seperate action from deleting my laptop's trash).

when i highlight a song in itunes and press delete, it vanishes from my itunes playlist. but it doesn't end up in my laptop's trash bin, and i don't see an itunes-specific trash. so where are those songs going, and how do i get rid of them for real, to free up some hard drive space?

oh, and i'm running osx 10.4.11.
thanks.

Help trash our bathroom

ubu — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:16:41 -0800

HomeRenovationFilter: What smaller and more transportable options are there to a roll-off dumpster? We're renovating our upstairs bathroom and need to figure out what to do with the rubble from the walls, etc. that we're tearing out. Our plan is to hook a trash chute up to our second story window and shoot our trash down it and into a trash container. The problem is the trash container. We can't get a large dumpster in our back yard due to fence issues, so we think we need to put a dumpster on the side of our house (which is quite close--maybe 6 feet--to our neighbor's house). We can only find companies that will rent us large roll-off dumpsters that would be placed on the street in front of our house. 10 yards is the smallest we've found. We're thinking we need something more like 3 cubic yards. We've called quite a few companies to see if we can rent something like the standard trash bins that are in our alleyway. (We also called the city to see if they would rent us one, but no luck.) No one seems willing or able to rent us anything but a roll off dumpster. Any ideas for alternatives?

Help me avert an iTunes disaster!

jdroth — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:34:57 -0800

My wife is going to kill me. While "fixing" her computer (g5 Macintosh running Leopard), I managed to move 20,000 of her mp3s to the trash. I actually thought I as moving one genre with "select-all", but apparently I moved the entire frickin' library. She doesn't know yet, but it's only a matter of time. I have not yet deleted these files. All 20,000 (well, 19,868) are sitting in the trash can. There's no "restore to previous location" type option, though. Help! Is there anything I can do? Is my only option to have iTunes re-import the entire lot? Fortunately, I backed up everything on her hard drive recently, just before installing Leopard.

SD Cards by the pound?

Squid Voltaire — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:00:17 -0800

Surely I can buy 128 or 64mb SD cards for ridiculously low prices, now that they are so out of date. Right? I'm tired of sending around mix CDs--I'd much rather send out mix SD cards. And I could make a nice mix of 12 or 24 songs, with album art, &c., and put it on an old, old, out of date flash card. (Or, less optimally for me, an old 128mb USB drive, which I also have been unable to find for as low a price I want).

Now, these days twenty bucks gets you two gigs of storage, so I just can't believe that anyone really uses 128meg cards anymore. I would have thought that I could buy them by the pound! But the best I've seen is on eBay, where they seem to be about $5 or $6, after shipping charges if you buy in bulk.

Any suggestions?

What to do with smelly trash in the city?

olinerd — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:21:40 -0800

City-living n00b: what do I do with smelly trash on the weekends? I just moved to a new apartment in a walk-up in Boston; to this point, I've always lived in a house (growing up), a dormitory (college), or a large managed apartment building (since college). All of these have had either a trash room or a garage where smelly trash can go until trash day.

Fast forward to now, where trash days are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Due to strict neighborhood codes, my trash can't be out on the sidewalk until late evening before a trash day. Unthinkingly, I made dinner with chicken last night and threw the scraps into the trash. Now I have a very stinky kitchen and nowhere to get rid of the trash.

What do city dwellers do with smelly trash? Is there a secret I don't know about? Other than illegally throwing my trash into a public dumpster or can, do I have options? Or am I doomed to never eat chicken on a Friday night? Alternatively, any advice for defunkifying a bag of trash?

This is in Beacon Hill in Boston, if anyone local is familiar with tricks or city codes...

Why would Starbucks throw perfectly good coffee away?

bach — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:42:15 -0800

Why would Starbucks throw perfectly good coffee away? As a temp picking orders for a Starbucks warehouse (18,000-24,000 packages shipped per shift) I happened upon one of the custodial staff disposing of unopened coffee, teas, and other food-type items. When I asked why, he said it was company policy to do so. The store the items were picked for wasn't going to open for two months, so they returned them to the warehouse.

I see this as extremely wasteful and uncharacteristic for a company like Starbucks to essentially trash 100 cases or so of perfectly good product. Could they not donate it to a food bank or soup kitchen, etc.... or give it to the employees. :)

Should I be mad or is this the norm for food warehousing?

I can see the "chain of custody" view, that by doing so, the company doesn't open itself to a lawsuit because someone somewhere drank something that was a returned item, etc... but I'm curious if other companies have similar procedures.