Plastic Recycling Issues

[Silurian]

There's a thin tree line behind my house separating another sub. It's about 20 feet deep. Some of it is my yard, not exactly sure how much, and the rest is owned by the sub as common area. I used to throw my grass clippings in there, but then I started using the mulcher on my mower and just leaving them on the grass for natural fertilizer.

Anyway, I could probably start a compost back there. Can you use that soil for potted plants? I grow potted tomato plants outside in the summer, just a few, and I have a herb garden in a box, very small, like 6 inches by 18 inches box. It enough to give me fresh basil, thyme and oregano on demand all summer. I bought potting soil for those.

If I want to make a compost do I need to box it in or can I just start a pile in the middle of the woods there?

The more you box it in the quicker it will rot. You want a little bit of water in it but not to much. Pee on the compost helps. I have two compost bins. Put stuff in the first one then move it to the second in the spring. take stuff out of the second one put it through a 10mm sieve and use it, what does not go through goes back in bin one. Have grown some nice tasting tomatoes out of it but domestic composting does not kill weed seeds so I put 20mm of commercial compost on top of my own to reduce the weeds.

 

[Silurian]

Burning oil in open containers is also tricky for the use of water because the steam from water in the too hot oil makes a fountain of your oil, spreading fire real quick
(and you do have to tell fire squads that very explicitly when they arrive at the site... they should know... your attack plan is made with that fire squad.. but nothing is certain)

Having such fires, I experienced a lot of them, is a real thrill.
I used to run towards them and do something... and later learned my people to secure other employees first and get out !
Close some big valves etc when possible and leave the rest for the fire squad and the insurance.

I have put out jet fuel fires, on a small scale. We were being taught how to use extinguishers by the airport fire brigade. They had some ponds about 2m square that they set on fire, we put it out first with foam, then powder and finally with CO2. Not everyone could put it out with CO2. Then they put a pile of card board boxes the other side of the pond and asked us to put the fire out without burning the boxes. It took me three 5kg CO2 extinguishers to put the fire out without blowing the flames into the cardboard.

I put out a petrol fire once in real life, rather than stood next to an airport fire tender, but it was only a small amount of petrol.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The navy has this concrete building filled with steel catwalks and obstructions simulating the equipment of a ship. They fill up the "bilge" with aviation fuel and light it off so people can fight the "simulated" fire for hose team training. It's amazing how much similarity there is between grated deck plates and the grills in a barbecue.

It's not just a job, it's an adventure...and an opportunity to incinerate yourself.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

We set the surface water drains on fire with jet fuel luckily we put the fire out before the airport noticed. There was a leaking valve on a fuel main.

I was responsible for getting the hot works permits off the airport which was always fun when we were welding connections onto live fuel mains. We pumped the jet fuel through the pipe to cool it.

Oh man what I'd give to have seen the first time they tried out that operation.

Wait, what? You want me to weld on a fuel duct, with fuel running through it???

 

[Hrothbern]

Oh man what I'd give to have seen the first time they tried out that operation.

Wait, what? You want me to weld on a fuel duct, with fuel running through it???

smile
Most fire extinguishers are a bit of a pyromaniac

I once extinguished a fire of a 500 litre open container, of 1000 mm x 650 mm surface, filled with petroleum aether, by cooling the burning surface with the colder petroleum aether more below in the container, by moving a load on an elevator up and down through that burning surface.
Down on the ground I could reach the pressured air switch to move that elevator, while the really white-yellow hot flame was roaring up to the 8 meter high ceiling of the shopfloor

 

[Silurian]

Oh man what I'd give to have seen the first time they tried out that operation.

Wait, what? You want me to weld on a fuel duct, with fuel running through it???

Not much to see really, one pipe being welded is much the same as another.

They would weld on a short flanged tee to the existing fuel main, which the latter fixed a valve too then a new fuel main; plus two small valves either side of the tee.. The welding took place in the middle of the night when the aircraft were not being fueled so they could control the flow. They had two wax crayons that melted at different temperatures, one just above the temperature for a good weld and the other just below the temperature that the fuel would start to cause a problem. Tankers would remove fuel downstream and return it to the fuel storage tank farm, the rate they removed it controlled the temperature. On a following night they would draw down the fuel main, drill through the valves and insert air filled bags to block the fuel main. Then they would drill out the side of the fuel main inside the tee, clean the inside of the fuel main and bolt on a valve. Then remove the bags and seal them, then recommission the main.

The rest of the new fuel main would be welded together during the day since it was empty and then bolted to the valve. A concrete chamber was built at the valve so that it could be accessed.

 

[Bamspeedy]

We reuse them too but we still have extra.

Whatever store you get them from I would ask if they recycle them. Sometimes the 'plastic bag bin' is tucked away in some corner. My walmart has one by the exit behind the side scanner thing that checks for shoplifters (most often its not shoplifters but the 'yes they bought this' flag from an electronics purchase didn't get properly released/scanned), and couldn't understand* why there was not one by the entrance as that would be the most likely place (get rid of old bags when you walk into the store, not after you are done shopping but still need the bags to take them to your car and house). But today I finally did see the one by the entrance since it was 10 feet off to the left when most people's eyes when walking in is straight ahead or to the products on display to the right (special sales) and the shopping carts.
If they don't recycle them, perhaps if enough customers ask for it they will get it. If you don't usually do your shopping at a large chain store that uses plastic bags, perhaps stopping in (or better, calling them to save a trip if you don't plan on buying anything), and if they do then you can make a trip just to drop off the bags.
Double-bag the kitchen bags since at least the walmart bags like to get tiny holes in them that leak.

*=Another thing I couldn't understand is why the cigarette disposal/ash tray thing was literally right next to (2-3 feet) from the propane tanks. Eventually they were moved 20 feet away, but eventually they were moved back closer, just not quite as close as they were before. I guess if it's too far from the door people weren't using them, but I say just move the propane tanks further away then.