Property with Existing Trash

My partner and I just moved into our first home which is on a 5 acre wooded plot and I have begun my adventures with permaculture. Something I'm looking for advice on is dealing with existing trash on the property. There are a few medium-small piles of trash  around the house and in some spots deeper in the woods. It would not be impossible to remove it all but I'm wondering if its worth it. Most of the items seem to be rusted cans or glass bottles but there are some of miscellaneous objects too like cushions, shoes, tires, plastic object etc...

I'm wondering what peoples thoughts are on just burying what's there. I'm planning on taking down younger and dying trees to open up the canopy more, using the wood to create on contour hügelkultur berms along with soil from digging swales. Would stacking functions and burying this trash under the wood and soil of the hügelkultur be such an awful thing to do?

Thanks in advance.

Ryan Bass wrote:My partner and I just moved into our first home which is on a 5 acre wooded plot and I have begun my adventures with permaculture. Something I'm looking for advice on is dealing with existing trash on the property. There are a few medium-small piles of trash  around the house and in some spots deeper in the woods. It would not be impossible to remove it all but I'm wondering if its worth it. Most of the items seem to be rusted cans or glass bottles but there are some of miscellaneous objects too like cushions, shoes, tires, plastic object etc...

I'm wondering what peoples thoughts are on just burying what's there. I'm planning on taking down younger and dying trees to open up the canopy more, using the wood to create on contour hügelkultur berms along with soil from digging swales. Would stacking functions and burying this trash under the wood and soil of the hügelkultur be such an awful thing to do?

Thanks in advance.

Personally, I would bury glass and old rusted metal, but I wouldn't bury rubber, old furniture cushions, styrofoam, things like that.  Glass is inert, so I'm not worried about it.  Iron and iron oxide don't bother me.  The other stuff, I wouldn't want leaching crap into my soil.

Do you have a trash service or a place to dump what you remove?

I am not too keen on burying stuff on property that I might want to use someday.

I would if I had to bury glass and cans as Trace suggested.

The other larger stuff is best hauled away.

We have hunters so we designated a specific area where they are allowed to dump deer carcasses only.  They are required to take all trash with them when they leave.

My suggestion would be to not try to remove it unless you have somewhere to take the stuff you remove. Then start with small piles close to the house.

I have an old “dump” on my property. It is mostly glass and a little tin. Already mostly buried and well away from anything so I am leaving it as is. I have dreams of recycling glass myself when I build a rocket kiln and will haul it out as needed.  

As the others have said, I would deal with the “trash” now before they degrade further and are harder to pick up.

Having dealt with a lot full of half-buried items on my current property, I would recommend getting on top of it sooner rather than later.

You may find at some point you have kids running around the land (maybe unrelated to you) and you are suddenly worried about that pile of rusty metal and glass.

Trash gets harder to find the longer you wait (in most places).

There's also the broken window philosophy - I think that's the name. When you see a pile of trash you're more likely to add to the pile. When you see a tidy place, you're more likely to keep it tidy. Or something like that.

Thanks for all the great replies, I appreciate the insight and feel I have a good way forward. I will pick through for the non glass/metal and bury the rest.

Anne Miller wrote:Do you have a trash service or a place to dump what you remove?

...

My suggestion would be to not try to remove it unless you have somewhere to take the stuff you remove. Then start with small piles close to the house.

We have a few  waste facilities for our county and ya closest first makes total sense.

Definitely one of my top things to do for the fall/winter to get it before it gets worse as others have said as well as to help me enjoy and use the space better.

Thanks again,
Ryan

Ryan,

The property I bought has this same issue.  The previous owners, well I don't know exactly what they were up to... but the contents of the house that burned ended up in numerous junk piles, storage buildings and even out in the pasture  (WTF!!!)  My neighbor whom rents the pasture dug a trench for me and started burying trash.  I am certainly the look on my face when he told me ensured that won't happen ever again.  

Here is my best advice.  Go buy a old trailer, or even a new one and resell it when you are done.  Make a regularly schedule chore to load it up and haul it to a land fill/dump/facility.  The metal and glass is not so bad.  I won't put household items (synthetics) in the ground.  It cost me a lot to take a load to the dump, but it is worth it to me.  My ground water is around 55'.  I don't want to ever have to worry about contaminating my well.  I am not against burning the trash if that is an option, but since we have been in a burn ban for most of the last 30 months, it is not an option.    Burning is bad, I know.  But the air can be cleaned a lot better and safer than the water.  Most government facilities are built and designed to contain contaminants without spoiling ground water.     Pay the fee and have it done safely.  Just my thoughts.

When I purchased my property I found a trash dump on it.   I have been gradually removing it over the past 20 years. My guess would be I have taken out some 1500 gallons of trash.  Maybe more.

My process has been to search through it for treasures. I found a few.

I contacted a person I know who supports himself by taking metal to recycling centers.  He went through it.

I then made arrangements with a small business with a large dumpster.   Their pick up is 6 am on Friday.   I have permission to fill their dumpster on Thursday night.  No charge.  Every year I remove a minimum of ten 55 gallon bags.   Sometimes much more.  

If I find material suitable for recycling, I take it there.

I put in serious work on the pile maybe one or two days a year.  It is a spring ritual. The pile of trash is getting smaller. But, I have at least 10 more years of working on it.

The world is full of assholes, and some of them think rural property is an invitation to dump trash. Yesterday, my county had their recycling day, so I dropped off four tires that had been left by the tire fairy on the property. The other things that get dumped (mainly beer cans) just get added to my regular garbage bin.