Crusher for Boxes, Cans, Plastic

[btulloh]

This might be fun to kick around for all the creative types on the FF.

I'd like to make a crusher / processor for boxes, cans, plastic bottles that are going into the recycling bin.  Actually boxes are the bigger pain, and the cans and bottles aren't the main priority, but a comprehensive solution may be the ticket.

No matter where you stand on the merits and benefits of curbside recycling programs, we have it here and it's a way to get rid of stuff.  At least it's a single-stream approach and everything goes in the same bin without the needed for sorting.

Breaking down boxes both big and small is the biggest annoyance.  I've been trying to come up with something short of a hydraulic ram-based contraption to make life a little easier.  Something compact that could actually be in the kitchen area would be the most convenient but maybe not the easiest thing to invent.  A regular kitchen trash compactor is not a bad thing and they're pretty low-priced, but it would be hard to retrofit into my base cabinets.

Anyway - just throwing it out there to see what sort of ideas this might generate.

[Stephen1]

Not really what your looking for but, The house I just sold, I had set up 3 holes  with swinging doors  to the garage in the Kitchen wall, plastic, cardboard and Beer cans. It worked great, infact so nice I will set it up in the next house. 

[florida]

You can buy a freestanding trash masher that rolls out of the way but it will take a long time to get your money back as they aren't cheap. We had one but my wife and I came to hate it. If you leave it until it's full it will stink and if you don't it just wastes space.

[Ljohnsaw]

If you leave it until it's full it will stink and if you don't it just wastes space.

We have neighbors that don't use their trash compactors because they smell bad. 

We never have that problem.  I rinse cans and jars to eliminate food rotting.  The big thing is meat and poultry packaging.  Those pesky little absorbent things that soak up the blood and such.  I put the packaging in the microwave for 60 to 90 seconds.  Cooks it up so you don't get decomposing stink.  We have garbage pickup once a week and that is when I empty the compactor.  A little maintenance goes a long way.

[btulloh]

We had one but my wife and I came to hate it. If you leave it until it's full it will stink and if you don't it just wastes space.

This is for the recycling stuff, and there isn't supposed to be any food waste on the items for the recycling bin.  (Just so we don't end up with a composting thread or a garbage thread. ;)  Not that thread-drift EVER happens.  :D)

[florida]

Washing a can for recycling takes more water and energy than the can is worth, if it's glass it's even worse.

[lxskllr]

I put my cans and bottles in the box, and put the whole mess out for collection. That's what I like about aldi. I can get a box for my groceries, and then get to use it for recyclables.

[wisconsitom]

"Washing a can for recycling takes more water and energy than the can is worth, if it's glass it's even worse."said Florida.  Yet I can simply use the left-over wash water from doing dishes and zero additional water is needed to clean recyclables.  Grey water is all that is ever needed for recycling.

[Wudman]

We used to bale dark fired tobacco into 75 pound bales.  The contraption we used for that may fit your bill.  I'll drop by the farm and get a picture of it.  It is a simple machine.  Construct a box the size that you want your bale.  There is a fulcrum and lever attached to it with a pivot.  A plate fit inside the box to compress the bale.  A shaft (a 2x4 in our case) was placed on top of the plate and the lever came down from above and compressed the product.  You would compact, add more product and compact again.  With tobacco, strings were placed inside the box and left hanging over the sides.  When the bale was complete, you tied it off and opened the front of the box to remove the bale.  You could probably line the box with a heavy trash bag or compactor bag for recycle material.

Wudman

[Wudman]

 



Hard to tell much about this from the photo, but here goes.......Ignore the Delta dust collector sitting behind it.  It is a simple box where the front door can be removed to access the bale.  This one used a bumper jack for the ram.  We had another one that we used a lever and fulcrum to compact the material.  You could size this to your needs.  You could probably build one where your recycling bin would fit in it.  Not something I would want sitting in my kitchen, but out in the garage it might not be too bad.  For what it's worth.......

Wudman

[btulloh]

Thanks Wudman.  Something like that may be just the ticket.  I think I'll throw something together and try it with a lever arrangement.  Sized right, it should handle 90% of the boxes, then the big ones will still need to be broken down.  It's amazing how much time I spend stepping on boxes and I've got some foot issues that don't appreciate that particular activity.dancing-jack


Whether they're going into the trash or the recycling bins, the boxes are just too much bulk without doing something to them.

Stephen1's deal with the swinging doors sounds good, but I've got a detached garage, so . . .

I want to keep it simple, but the current approach needs some improvement here.  Without going overboard.    scuba-smiley

[btulloh]

Wudman, how are things in Keysville these days?  I used to get down there to visit some old family friends (Al and Peggy Keeling) but not in the last few years.  We used to enjoy eating at Sheldon's, but it seems to have lost some of it's charm these days.  Changed hands or something.  Thanks again for the pic and the idea.

[Wudman]

I know the Keeling Family.  A couple of the girls are my age.  Grover Sheldon retired and the restaurant has been sold.  Food there is hit and miss these days.  One day it will be ok, and another not so good.  You know things are bad when the Subway is the best bet for lunch in town.  Pino's Pizza is ok if you get back this way.  They have pretty good sandwiches and pasta.  That's where I normally take folks if I have a business lunch in Keysville.  Take Care.

Wudman

[Greyman]

I was just thinking today of using my hydraulic wood splitter to crush cans - put a large steel tube at the bottom (for a vertical splitter) and attach a plate to the ram.  Just keep cycling it and throwing in more cans until you have a solid block of aluminum.

[Crusarius]

I have been after the same thing for a while. will be back with ideas.

[Cedarman]

Oh, Wudman, you do bring back the memories.  I can smell the tobacco curing now.  Glad they are memories from the past and not just last fall.

[kantuckid]

Like most people who had tobacco bases mine went bye bye but the bigger KY farms (think rich guys on horse farms getting richer) still grow it on contract (hundred's of thousands of pounds) and it is baled as shown above. China grows much of it now.
My county is called a "Certified Clean County" on road signs yet we don't recycle here in spite of countywide trash pickup.
My trash compactors are: feet for milk jugs, pocketknife for boxes and driveway for alu cans :D