Trash Burner

[MTY]

Anyone remember these? They were usually white with a black top. The front door swung open to reveal the rocker box knobs and the firebox. There were two burners on top and the pipe leaving the stove was usually oval shaped.

Old farm houses usually had enough doors that the kitchen could be isolated. You would get up, trudge to the kitchen, fire up the trash burner, and put the kettle on to boil. Once the kitchen got toasty, you would open up the door and let a little heat seep into the rest of the house.

In the 70's when we replaced the barely adequate oil heater with an Earthstove I moved the trash burner to the shop as it was no longer needed. I miss that thing and appreciate the memories of it. I doubt that a more affluent life necessarily equals a better life.

 

[peakbagger]

I do not miss them, they were a major source of ground level air pollution. NH banned them long ago.

Unfortunately some poorly educated individuals substitute an OWB for a trash burner.

 

[MTY]

So many things were a source of pollution. I'm not a fan of big government, and at times the EPA may over reach, but this place called Earth, at least this part of it, is unbelievably cleaner than when I was a kid. I took a trip through parts of the industrial northeast in the very early 70's. I was horrified at the mess I saw.

Did the mills in NH have wood burning teepees? I can remember being amazed at them glowing red hot as the mill burned of what was then considered waste and today is considered a valuable resource.

I wonder if there really is less pollution today, or if it is just out of sight in some third world country. I can recall watching stuff fall out of the sky while working in China.

For me, the question becomes one of which caused the most damage to the planet, Ma and Pa Kettle's trash burner, or the bazillion smart phones that look sterile to us, but the production of which caused massive environmental damage most of which the users of the phones will never be aware of or care about.

 

[peakbagger]

Yes things are cleaner in the US and yes some of the pollution has been exported to the third world, its a political decision that US will accept the export of pollution to the third world and the third world will accept the pollution in exchange for improving the standard of living.

A trash burner like an OWB, pollutes the local environment. If the owner has large acreage and is willing to pollute their own land and family I guess that's is there prerogative. On the other hand in a developed area of small lots, one neighbors decision to use a trash burner impacts other people. Trash can be burned quite cleanly and effectively with modern generation trash plants. Most of Japans trash and Europe's trash is burned in central plants.

 

[MTY]

I'm guessing that you really have no experience with a trash burner. They burned wood. They were no more or less than a small wood stove without an oven made to be used in kitchens. I'm sure that some people may have put a milk carton in them, but for the most part they burned wood. They were too small to actually stuff your trash into. You would have had to smash a half gallon milk carton to about one third its regular size to get it through the fire door.