# What do you do with all the sawdust?



## Admin (Jan 4, 2010)

As many of you already know, I love to go camping. 

At many of the state parks I go to, they sell the best fire starter I have ever used which seems to be sawdust covered in paraffin wax in a paper cup with a wick. It is literally amazing and has never failed to help me start a perfect campfire. 

It made me wonder what ways you have found to use all the sawdust you create. Do you recycle sawdust?


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## hwebb99 (Nov 27, 2012)

I recycle it back into dirt. : laughing: I just dump it in the woods.


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## Admin (Jan 4, 2010)

This video has tips on making fire starter with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa49_WqjRFg


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## mako1 (Jan 25, 2014)

I do a lot of camping too and have used the firestarters before.May make some up.I throw a lot of it on my vegetable garden but it takes a lot of nitrogen from the soil to break it down so you need to add a high nitrogen fertilizer now and then.


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

I just till it into the garden.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I save all my hickory and pecan saw dust and use it in my smoker when BBQing. The other saw dust I trash except when it is a lot, then I let it rot then use on plants.

I have been looking into make pellets for a pellet heater but so far the machines to make them are way beyond reach. I may try making some of the fire starter, we love camping and especially a campfire.


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## DeanK (Jun 21, 2013)

I had a bunch of garbage bags full of walnut shavings and dust from my planer and jointer and was wondering what to do with them. After a little poking around I learned not to add them to the garden or my compost bin as they can be toxic to other plants. Apparently the toxins are strongest in the roots of the trees, but still present in the wood. I read that they'll eventually break down in compost, but that could take a while.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Mine goes around plants and trees as mulch.

My father had a good use from shavings he obtained from a cabinet shop. He filled bushel baskets withe them and then planted tomatoes in the baskets. Watered them each day with a solution in which the fertilizer Nutrosol was dissolved.

George


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## 44260 (Aug 29, 2013)

I use a lot of oak and cedar and all of my dust and shavings go to my next door neighbor for his compost pile. I have been researching You Tube and thinking about making fire starters and fuel briquets


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

I have a garbage bag half full in the corner of my shop. All waste water-base acrylic paints get dumped in there. Dried and solidified and soaked into the carving wood chips, the environmental impact to aquatic ecosystems is minimalized.
Other than that, we have a place called a "Transfer Station" where we can get rid of everything from cardboard and wet garbage to used oil, bald tires, appliances and dead propane tanks. The bins and locations are nearly side by side = drive in a big circle and get rid of a 'Burb-load at a time!


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## walnutavenue (Nov 9, 2011)

I mix it with ashes from the wood stove and spread it on the yard with a dry fertilizer spreader. Takes a lot of time though...


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## Carvel Loafer (Dec 31, 2011)

My sawdust just gets trashed with other landfill waste. My chips and shavings are used to help start the fire in the shop stove, just sprinkle a couple of handfulls over the paper under the kindling, it burns slow and hot and helps the paper along.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

I can generate 4 or 5 55 gal. drums/month, it adds up fast. I take mine to a sawmill and dump it with theirs. A wood pellet company comes and collects it.


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## Bob in St. Louis (Feb 11, 2015)

BigJim said:


> I save all my hickory and pecan saw dust and use it in my smoker when BBQing.


Yip, me too. I've got a bin for scrap wood for use in the smoker as well. Obviously no pine, plywood, OSB, etc..etc.. or anything with paint or stain goes in there. I've got a customer that likes his projects made from cherry. Works great on the smoker!


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

My landlord is a landscaper and mulches all his chips. I just throw them in.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I don't like burning sawdust for fuel. It makes too much ashes. I live in the country so I just dump it in a pile and burn it to get rid of it. What is bad is if it gets rained on before it gets burned. The stuff can smolder for a couple weeks.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

Sawdust ART :laughing::yes::huh::laughing:









Just KIDDING!!!!:huh::shifty: It just HAPPENS!!!!


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## J Thomas (Aug 14, 2012)

I haven't had occasion to use any "toxic" woods.. Mostly cedar, pine, ash, maple etc..
We raise a couple beef critters every year so 99% of it goes into the bedding.
When we clean out the stalls the mix is piled behind the barn for about a year then added to a big compost bin by our garden.. Thence added to raised beds with sand & soil for root veggies like parsnips, carrots, turnips etc.. The remainder just gets spread on the main garden & tilled in..
Works for me!
..Jon..


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## guglipm63 (Feb 27, 2013)

A walkway in my garden


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## Bob in St. Louis (Feb 11, 2015)

What? That's your garden!?!?!
Wow. If that's not in a magazine, it should be. Spectacular.
I've love to see more photos of that!


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## BernieL (Oct 28, 2011)

For years I've been doing what Robson Valley in post #9... I use it to dump old paints and stains. The sawdust and chips absorb the old excess finishes and dry them out. Our recycling center labels all paints and stains and glues etc as toxins in their natural liquid stage. Dry them out and they go to the land fill! 

I also use the sawdust and chips to start fires in the outdoor pits. I was a Scoutmaster for many years and learned that option from the basic training. 

Of course I produce more then I can recycle. The recycling center has an organic pile which receives all my extras...


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## calcnerd (Dec 7, 2012)

I usually just throw out chips & bigger stuff. For fine sawdust (from my belt or orbital), I keep some of each species in small containers to make my own wood fill with. I can't even count how many times it's come in handy.


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## LostHasher (Oct 14, 2015)

Fine sawdust + glue = wood filler. 

I know, I know... you can't use that type of wood filler for x, y and z.

Sawdust in paint cans makes me happy. No need to keep kitty litter around.


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## skunkbad (Aug 15, 2015)

I know most are talking about sawdust but on the topic of starting a campfire I use cotton balls with a little petroleum jelly. If you can't start a fire with that, you probably can't start a fire.


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## Bob in St. Louis (Feb 11, 2015)

Fritos are flammable.
Just a heads up.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

Also the lint out of a dryer makes a great fire starter.


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## Bob in St. Louis (Feb 11, 2015)

Hopefully that's not from personal experience!


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

No, :smile: a friend that we camp with told us about that, works great.


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## LostHasher (Oct 14, 2015)

skunkbad said:


> I know most are talking about sawdust but on the topic of starting a campfire I use cotton balls with a little petroleum jelly. If you can't start a fire with that, you probably can't start a fire.


Just tried it. Yup... fire. 
Haven't tried the fritos or dryer lint. Yet.


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## BernieL (Oct 28, 2011)

Camp fires... As a former Scoutmaster - I learned the above methods and they do work. But what would you all do if you found yourself in a wet and cold forest? I would hike our Scouts into our wet and cold New England forest with one match and have them show me their survival skills with no pre-made fire starters. Assuming you have evergreen trees in your area... here is what you can do, even on a cold winter night when everything is wet.

Gather all your wood before starting your fire - including your fire wood, smaller sized wood to build your young fire,and your kindling which will start your fire (and the new subject of this thread). 

On a cold wet New England night - all kindling fire starting wood is wet except for one... the lower dead branches of evergreen trees, They are protected from the rain by all the above branches and do not lay on the ground soaking up moister. Too boot, besides dodging the moister... they are full of pine pitch which makes them flammable... 

Yes, all my former Scouts know about our New England birch trees and the ease of using the birch tree bark as a fire starter, but birch trees are becoming more rare and I want our Scouts to know how to start a fire under extreme NE conditions. They all know to use birch bark under life threatening conditions; but if they don't have access to birch bark... they'll know what to do!


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## marty oc (Nov 21, 2015)

I take sawdust and chips to the local transfer station - part of the county dump - and put it in the brush pile section. This gets put in large piles that eventually decompose and then becomes available to the public for use as compost.


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## jacko9 (Dec 29, 2012)

I live on the edge of town and have a grove of redwood trees at the back of my lot and behind my fence that I planted 45 years ago. Living in a hot California valley those trees appreciate all the mulch they can get so, I move my chips/dust out one wheel barrel at a time and spread it under all of those trees.


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

The better question is what do I do with all the cutoffs that result from the various projects. The rocking horses and the wine racks I just finished left behind a plethora of scraps. Things like 1" square by 4' pieces, 2X stock with one straight and one curved edge about 2' long, lots of 4" and 6" wide 3/4 stock in various lengths, etc.


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## guglipm63 (Feb 27, 2013)

Alchymist said:


> The better question is what do I do with all the cutoffs that result from the various projects. The rocking horses and the wine racks I just finished left behind a plethora of scraps. Things like 1" square by 4' pieces, 2X stock with one straight and one curved edge about 2' long, lots of 4" and 6" wide 3/4 stock in various lengths, etc.


Pen blanks. Glue scraps together to make turnings or cutting boards


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## jacko9 (Dec 29, 2012)

Cut off scraps I donate to a local arts and crafts school for children. You would be surprised at the creative designs they make with cut of dovetail fit cuts, etc.


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

Much of the stuff is mundane pine - not much good for pen blanks, I do use some of the really white stuff on occasion for a laminated blank, but if turned into blanks, would have hundreds of them. Rural area, not much in the way of any kind of craft schools, or whatever. I have turned a lot of scrap walnut, maple and oak among others into pen blanks, so don't want for blanks.


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## RepairmanJack (Aug 4, 2013)

I burn my small bits of scrap, planner waste, and manageable quantities of sawdust in an outdoor firepit. This creates ash which I add to my compost. 

I've only just attempted putting sawdust directly into one of my composters (as an experiment). I'm hesitant to put wood directly into or onto soil as it encourages fungal growth. 

Often I just bag it up with my regular non-recyclable shop waste and it goes to the landfill. I'd like to stop doing that as I recycle just about everything that I can. Once I get a proper dust collection system going, I'll find a better way to recycle it. 

IMHO - burning it is probably the best way to ensure that the cellulose gets back into the environment w/o upsetting the soil or water. It does make smoke... but I think it's a smaller impact. I can really only do that with the coarse stuff. 

I also save some of the fine stuff for wood fillers, but generally only Fir and Oak.


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## VIFmike (Jul 21, 2012)

I use the large thick drum plastic bags and catch my shavings and give them to people who have horses. I stack the bags outside and they come by when they see them out there. I make about one and a half bags a day. Large 55 gal drum bags.


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## TwelveFoot (Dec 30, 2015)

Cut-offs and such go into the stove to help heat the house. Most of the chips/dust go into the big chainsaw-dust pile at "work" then sold as horse bedding.

Worth mentioning again in this thread, walnut is somewhat poisonous to plants and animals (no walnut goes in our sawdust pile).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglone


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## Davidcarl (Feb 1, 2016)

In the winter I use the sawdust for traction on an icy driveway. The salt just melts it's way down to the cement. But the sawdust just stays on top and provides quite a bit of grip. The darker color also attracts more heat from the sun so it defrosts the driveway faster. Usually not to mush cleanup in the spring. 
I just toss it in the trash in the summer.


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## dat (Nov 11, 2010)

I melt the ends of my brides old candles and mix in sawdust for firestarters, will burn even when wet, good to keep in the boat, truck or back pack, other than that I spread it out in the woods around the house


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## Bob in St. Louis (Feb 11, 2015)

Firestarters.....That's a great idea!


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

Take it back from whence it came....lots of piles in the woods behind the shop.Welded/fabbed/painted hopper that goes on the back of wifeys hot rod tractor.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

The 2 most common methods of disposing of saw dust that I have used is:

1) Garden and landscape mulch for myself. 

2) When I had commercial shops and lots and lots of sawdust, shavings and chips I had some local potters come by and take it away. 
They used it in making Raku which is a low temp. firing of pottery. It is usually done in metal garbage cans and they pieces are very attractive. The greatest part of giving it to potters is that you dont have to be careful in your sweepings. Any old nails or screws that get caught up in the sweeping actually add to the beauty of the fired piece. The heat with the metals gives flashes of color to the Raku Pottery. 
get in touch with art centers, galleries and find the local potters - they will love you. The mixture of shavings and chips in the sawdust makes it burn better because more air/oxygen can get to it. Most of the potters that came to my shop gave me the large plastic garbage cans to put the stuff in when I cleaned up. They came by weekly and emptied the cans themselves into trashbags, so it took no extra effort on my behalf.


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## Jig_saw (May 17, 2015)

When I began woodworking, I used to save sawdust in jars. This passion has now passed a long time ago, but I still keep some of the hardwood sawdust for making repairs. Mixed with glue, the sawdust is a quick and cheap wood filler.

Most of the sawdust usually goes into my garden as a fertilizer for rose bushes. 

I give the wood shavings from my bench planes to my gardener for starting cooking fire at his home. Many poor village people in India still burn wood for cooking.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

*Jig Saw*

What happened to the nose diving airplane in your avitar?


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## Jig_saw (May 17, 2015)

Tony B said:


> What happened to the nose diving airplane in your avitar?


It crashed ... :surprise2:


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Thats too funny.


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

Mostly in the garden. I just made a bunch of planter boxes and used a lot of shavings in the bottom of the boxes for drainage and fertilizer. 
Now when I was a kid one of our teachers made some sort of mixture with sawdust that we would use for sculptures of different types and darned if I can remember what was in the mixture. I do remember that it was easy to work with and fun. 

My wife wants me to save the shavings that curl up. I don't have the first clue what she wants them for and she won't tell me yet so I guess its going to be a big surprise.


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## Bob in St. Louis (Feb 11, 2015)

Question for you folks that use the sawdust in gardens;
Are you allowing plywood in there too? I was wondering about the added chemicals.
Most of my woodworking (and therefor sawdust) is baltic birch based.


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## michaelpugh (Dec 31, 2013)

I have racks I've built out in the yard to hold some of my old lumber. I take the saw dust out and dump it around them to help keep the grass and weeds out. After a few rains it gets nice and "spongy". Wish I could have a floor like that in the shop


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

michaelpugh said:


> I have racks I've built out in the yard to hold some of my old lumber. I take the saw dust out and dump it around them to help keep the grass and weeds out. After a few rains it gets nice and "spongy". Wish I could have a floor like that in the shop


Odd you might say that because I leave shavings on the shop floor quite often just because I no longer have those nice, strong ankles that boot camp thought I had. I do sweep up from time to time, but only after the Mrs starts in on me about tracking it all through the house which surprisingly isn't very often. She loves the smell of it. I wonder if there's a market for saw dust carpeting..


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## Hwood (Oct 21, 2011)

It gets burned one way or another. I heat with wood in the house and garage. And about this time now that the snow is about gone the bugs will be out. The hungry kind. I have a couple metal ash cans I let the shavings smolder in up wind and the smoke helps keep them away. I have made some fire starters with wax from left over candles and used egg crates. Just break off a section when need. Works just fine but takes a fair amount of wax.


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## allpurpose (Mar 24, 2016)

I've been informed that it isn't 'dust' at all. This 'STUFF' we've been calling dust is in fact MAN GLITTER!
Gee.. I feel all sparkly suddenly..

The Mrs. says 'Manly yes, but I like it too!' There's little leprechauns all over the shop!


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## Bob in St. Louis (Feb 11, 2015)

"Man glitter".
I like that.


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

Walnut is separated and the rest goes to a horse farmer. The trailer has a conveyor to move saw dust to the front. The saw dust is free as ;long as he supplies the trailer and removal...


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## new2woodwrk (Mar 16, 2015)

I don't create that much dust myself, but the little I do create goes in the trash - guess I'll start dumping it behind my fence near the creek.


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## rbm328 (Dec 13, 2015)

If anyone has chickens or has poultry houses near by, they use 1"-2" of sawdust on the floors. My wife has a few chickens and uses on the floor and in their dust bathing box.


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## mat 60 (Jul 9, 2012)

Just dump them out back on my brush pile using the tractor..The sawdust seems to help the brush pile rot faster..


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

I finally found a use for those small pieces.


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

............


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## DerlC (Mar 5, 2013)

*Sell those shavings ! ! !*

I sell my shavings! I live about 65 miles east of Dallas, TX and a man that lives near Dallas owns horses and likes to use my cedar shavings for the horse bedding material. I bag it up in 55 gallon bags and he drives over here and picks it up. He pays me $5.00 a bag for them. Two months ago I had 6 bags that made his trip worth while. I've got 3 bags now and will have another 2 bags by the end of next week.
I say, find a horse breeder, horse stables or anyone that takes good care of their horses and cut a deal with them. At $5.00 a bag it's not a lot but it is better than throwing them in the landfill and the $5.00 covers the cost of the 55 gallon bags with a little left over to cover the cost of my glue each month.
Let me know if any of you need more info.:vs_cool:


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## kwoodhands (May 1, 2020)

I empty the sawdust, shavings etc into the trash. Some species like walnut can kill plants. Wood sawdust will leach the nitrogen from the soil. I do a lot of metal work too so metal swarf can get vacuumed into the dust collector bags.
For me, just getting the stuff hauled to a landfill is my best option.
mike


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## redeared (Feb 7, 2019)

Compost pile, garden, or lawn. I also mix it with shredded paper with a press from the 70's that makes bricks that my kids use in their fireplaces


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## B Coll (Nov 2, 2019)

I used to give it to horse farms, but they can be fussy about what woods are in there. Don't know why, I figure horses may be sensitive to certain species. These days it goes to the dump.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

I don't have much choice where I live. Sawdust goes in the trash, which goes to the landfill. I wish I could think of a productive, environmentally friendly use for it, but there is too much of it.

Ignoring sawdust, a problem I would like to overcome is how to organize, manage, and reuse smaller scraps. The problem there is that I generate more scraps than I have time to reuse. Making nice projects from the small scraps (including scrap management and locating appropriate pieces for a project) takes a lot of time. They take time away from other projects, which generate more scraps. 

For example, I have a large bag of small pen turning cutoffs from nice woods that I make into bracelet beads for the young members of the family. The problem is that turning those cutoffs into beads takes a lot of time, time that could be used to make other, larger projects.

Simply put, I have more scraps than time. Of course nobody else wants the scraps - they all have large piles of their own.


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## Rebelwork (Jan 15, 2012)

B Coll said:


> I used to give it to horse farms, but they can be fussy about what woods are in there. Don't know why, I figure horses may be sensitive to certain species. These days it goes to the dump.


They won't take walnut

Read the trailer on post #56...


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## evilboweivel (Nov 3, 2018)

City has separate pickup for yard waste, sawdust/chips go into that.
When they are not picking up during the winter it goes on an old garden where I grew up at.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

Update: 

Where I live, we have three trash cans:
* Brown - Yard waste, trimmings, small branches, etc.
* Green - Recyclables - certain plastics, glass, metals, and paper.
* Black - Household waste that does not go in the brown or green trash cans.

Waste collection in our city is provided by Republic Services, a Fortune 500 company. After seeing some of the posts here regarding composting sawdust, I called Republic Services and specifically asked whether sawdust can go in the brown trash can. 

The answer from Republic Services is no. Sawdust should NOT be placed in the brown trash can. Sawdust is placed in the black trash can. From there it goes to a nearby landfill.


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## phaelax (Dec 24, 2018)

That probably has to do with not knowing what the sawdust is from and not wanting to mix potential chemicals with yard waste. Or species of wood could be an issue too. Maybe walnut that's not local to the region could kill some kinda native bug? I'm just guessing.


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## Frost (Sep 24, 2018)

Tool Agnostic said:


> Update:
> 
> Where I live, we have three trash cans:
> * Brown - Yard waste, trimmings, small branches, etc.
> ...


My little town takes brush and limbs up to 3 inches in diameter for free and runs it through a chipper a few times a year. I once took a few bags of sawdust there and explained that it was from trees and was way under 3" and already chipped. Could not believe that he wouldn't take it, must have caught him on a bad day. I give my sawdust to a few local horse people. It's sold for $7 per bag at the local feed store, so they're happy to get it for free. Still, I wouldn't be insulted if they chipped in some beer once a year, I even deliver it, but that doesn't seem to happen.


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