Disposing of waste

[Grumpy Toad]

I thought this would be a good topic for discussion. I want to believe that the majority of us growers are environmentally friendly (conscious). So how do you get rid of your wastes from your grow. Does being in a prohibition area affect how you need to handle things to be discreet? Do you integrate with your other household wastes? Compost? Here's a short list of things off the top of my head that might be needing disposal.

electronics - lights, fans, etc (E-cycle)
Growing paraphernalia - tents, buckets, leaky drip trays, etc
Left over bio material - stems, roots
Grow medium - soil, perlite, peat, etc
Nutrients - bottles or powdered
Microbes - ??
IPM items - sprays, foliars, pesticides, insecticides, etc

I haven't had much in the way of left over nutrients or microbes so I have been just mixing up some weak batches and put on trees and shrubs. I do properly recycle electronics (sometimes at a fee) and think it's right to do. My main source of waste so far is my bio waste and grow medium. My perlite/vermiculite is pretty much useless after a grow so I dump in my trash bin. If I have any type of chemicals I'll use my local waste management to recycle. I won't dump anything into runoff drains outdoors or down my sink.

Anyway I wonder what your thoughts are and if it figures into what you do.

Peace,

Toad

[Inactive account]

Yes getting rid of things as always been a slight problem here , when we was growing in soil and coco we would sometimes put it in our garden waste recycling bags and mix it up well with my garden plants , we live by the mountain so sometimes would feed the sheep the leaves and stalks some nutrient bottles I have in the past peeled the labels off and managed to put them out with the plastic recycling , lights are a prob can’t take them to the recycling centre cos they look at everything that’s taken up there so at the mo I’ve a shed full of lights with no idea what to do with them also got fans , a bud trimmer machine, couple gallon cans of a and b , grow tent ,lots of pots and buckets and that’s just off top of my head I can think of and no idea how the hell im gonna empty out lol


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[anova.330]

I used to recycle my used soil into my garden outside. I have a bin out in the garage that has used soil with in it. Most of my recent endeavors have been recycled to the trash can and carried off to a garbage dump unfortunately.

I got big thick contractor, garbage bags

[Grumpy Toad]

I have to add another measure I have taken. I was using reverse osmosis water and now I'm just using my municipal water from the tap. Win/win

[Realmed]

Don't put anything that can be used against you in the trash can for the garbage truck to take away. In USA, the LE Don't need a warrant to check your garbage can, if it's on the street for pick up.

[Sage]

Haven't had to discard tents or lights so far, but when upgraded some lights I gave the ones I had to other growers that could use them. Nute bottles ect I wash out and drop at plastics recycling place. I recycle my soil, so I have what's currently in use and a giant tote of soil I bury any stems and roots into. I bag any leaves trimmed tuck into the freezer and every so often do a bubble hash run then the left over leaf material goes into the tote as well. I keep that tote of soil "alive" with microbes said plant material and some kitchen compost. I end up making more soil than needed so every so often add it to garden or fill any low spots in the lawn.

[IMO]

Soil was becoming a problem for me there is only so much you can add to your garden, this time I’m using coco and hoping to be able to recycle it by rinsing and rebuffering, plastic bottles get washed labels off and in recycling, stems and roots buried in garden, not had any run off nutes yet but they will get watered down and used around the garden, not had any electrical waste yet but I have some ideas if I do such as council recycle centre which isn’t really closely monitored or a local scrap yard. Any plastic trays or tents pots etc which I don’t see getting much of will get cut up and put in non recycle waste bin which gets incinerated.

[Wrh]

Yes getting rid of things as always been a slight problem here , when we was growing in soil and coco we would sometimes put it in our garden waste recycling bags and mix it up well with my garden plants , we live by the mountain so sometimes would feed the sheep the leaves and stalks some nutrient bottles I have in the past peeled the labels off and managed to put them out with the plastic recycling , lights are a prob can’t take them to the recycling centre cos they look at everything that’s taken up there so at the mo I’ve a shed full of lights with no idea what to do with them also got fans , a bud trimmer machine, couple gallon cans of a and b , grow tent ,lots of pots and buckets and that’s just off top of my head I can think of and no idea how the hell im gonna empty out lol


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You could send your excess grow paraphernalia to us we'll recycle them for you lol I've got a 4 x4 tent but only 2 x 150 watt leds they just won't cut it lol . See how helpful your fellow growers can be pmsl

[Marcus]

Trim and stems go on the fire, dog gets the rootballs to play with and rip apart in the garden if coco, soil I just break up and mulch on the borders, perlite and all.

Run off also goes on the garden, the sunflowers love it!

I've taken a tent to the tip, poles went in the metal bin and the tent was cut up in 2 in black bags and slung in the non recyclables, if they ask... it's full of dog shite.

I do call a scrapman out to take all my copper and metals, he's had an adjustawing off me once, he never even blinked at it.

[duke]

i just lob it all in the local narcs garden!
no to be honest nothing gets wasted when i grow,used coco goes in bin bags with a dozen or so earthworms and gets put in the shed for 4-6 weeks then reused and after about 5 grows i half and half used and new coco then good for another 5 grows,after that it goes in the compost and is mixed with the other compost and goes either in the garden or in grow bags for spuds.
i get some run off due to growing in coco and this is diluted rephed and fed to tinas large plant collection.
lights i rarely change except bulbs and i have a box of dead hps bulbs which i smash up and put in the recycling bin.
we have to pay here if you want dustmen to take garden waste and im too tight/skint to pay so do a drive to the tip once or twice a year and empty the sacks and they turn it all into compost and sell it,diseased plant matter galore and i wouldnt touch there compost with a bargepole!