Anyone into compactors?

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Compactors - WHY ?

I think it's just me, but I have never grasped the concept of why someone would purchase an appliance that turns 40 pounds of garbage, into 40 pounds of garbage..... I just don't see the point. It's not as if it gets rid of anything, like a Sink Disposal does - One still has to schlep it out to the can or the curb or the dumpster etc. Seems easier to just take it out on an as-nescessary basis.
Additionally , there is the continuing expense of getting the proper bag / liner for your particular model - we all know how parts become unavailable - when it suits the manufacturer. Also, some things can't go into a compactor, for various reasons - some are already as " compact " as they get - such as newspapers / magazines etc. Some present a hazard to the user - Pressurized cans in particular and I'm sure there are other dangerous no-no's.
Lastly, the idea of keeping a week's worth of mess in my kitchen seems an unsanitary practice...Deodorant sprays not-withstanding.

Goodness - I did get carried away... appologies.

Neptune 2000
 
compactors why?

Totally agree,I know of no one, that has one here. Down here in the south trash goes to the outside can, on a daily basis. I don't want a roach motel in my house. just my 2cents alr2903
 
I have owned one for about 20 years because "America's Home Town" does not have municipal trash pickup. You have to pay for a service or haul it to the transfer station yourself. I would much rather haul 20lbs of trash in a nice neat bundle (though heavy) rather than deal with many trash bags. I do not put aeresol cans or garbage in it, and like any appliance you have to keep it CLEAN! Bags cost about fifty cents apiece: worth it from my point of view.
 
Could see large apartment buildings compacting trash, but agree with others, our trash goes out each night. Besides, collection is every other day, how much compactable trash builds up between then.

Cans and bottles are recycled, as well as some plastics and foil (mandatory), food scraps go down the disposal (except bones). Not much left to compact after that.

Launderess
 
South Florida

Back in South Florida, depending on your City, you pay for trash pickup by the bag. So a trash compactor can pay for itself rather quickly. A thirty pound bag of trash might cost 2.00 for pickup. If your trash was not in a City bag, they would just leave it at the curb.

Our Kenmore compactor was still running when we sold thr house two years ago.

MRB
 
I like compactors

Compactors are interesting devices-but like disposals-a love or hate relationship.They are not popular here.Instead I take my trash to the "dump"-or transfer station.They have separate dumpsters for cans and bottles,newspapers and another for boxes-and even another bin for "white goods"-can't salvage here though.You throw the remaining trash into their big compactor.Everyone then watches their trash get "squished"Watched it squish a computer discard the last trip.At one building I worked in they had a similar compactor-had a 15Hp motor on its hydraulic pump.-Squished anything you put in it.Was similar to the one at the dump.None of the apartment buildings I lived in had a compactor.One had an old Morse and Bolger incinerator-looked like it hadn't been used in years.Used a dumpster instead.I suppose with recycling-home compactors are less common.The "compacton" now occurs in the trash truck or the dump.Industrial companies use them-not just for thier trash-but to destroy return items.
 
compactors

I didn't want to press on the subject too much but I own a white Sears Best Lady Kenmore from the 70's.Unfortunately,I can't carry this compact in my purse.
 
Compactors

I have a KM compactor purchased the same time as my LK electronic washer-dryer set, KM electronic DW, and Wards microwave (with the now-extinct browning element), 1978. In the house it was originally installed in, it was somewhat more useful than now because the garbage cans there were in the backyard. I had to take the trash all the way out the front door, across the front yard, and down the driveway to empty the trash. Before the cmpactor, we had a regular trash can, which would often fill up with just 2-3 things if they were bulky items like milk cartons, cereal boxes. Even then, we didn't put garbage in it, that went down the disposal. Glass, cans went in then, but nowadays that's recycled. Where it is now is actually only a few steps away from the side door where we keep the trash cans, so it's not used as much as before, but it still gets used a lot, especially when cooking where it's a few steps closer and we just leave it open to chuck things into and not have to go more steps, open the side door, then open the lid to the trash receptacles. Never had a problem with flies or roaches with it. And it's only broken down once since 1978 (plastic bag got wrapped around the jackscrew, WP incorporated a plastic protector sleeve on the jackscrew on later models) and the automatic deodorizer mechanism doesn't work anymore, but otherwise OK. So far bag availability hasn't been a problem with Sears, and one doesn't actually HAVE to use the "official" bags, so the directions say.
 
Magic Chef

I see it's just like my KM compactor. My Dad had a KitchenAid compactor in the 70's, it had a unique feature in that it had a litle door that one could open to drop things in without actually having to pull the drawer open. BUT, it had a ROUND basket, which apparently was "oddball" among compacters, and it was wider than the "standard" width most compacters seemed to adhere to, too. He also had a GE range where the bottom oven was a combination regular/microwave oven and it had the first example of a turntable I'd ever seen.
 
Wow!

I didn't know they actually existed - I just thought it was some made up appliance they put in The Sims!!!

Here in the UK our wheelie bin is collected every other week, whilst the recycling bin is collected the week that the wheelie bin isn't. Although this may seem to some people that the wheelie bin would fill up in less than 2 weeks, we find that with our family of 5 we hardly even fill it enough until the wheelie bin is collected, whilst the recycling bin gets so full that we only put paper in it and recycle bottles, cans etc ourselves at the local supermarket.

Jon
 
recycle pickup

When I lived in Manassas VA,they had 2 trash pickups per week-one of them was for recyclables.-that was cans,plastic bottles,newspapers and magazines.A plastic bin was provided.One morning I watched the recycle pickup-the truck had a multicompartment body-3 compartments had compactors-for plastic bottles,steel cans and al cans.The other compartments were just large bins on the truck.The truck had only the driver-no loader or other crew like a regular trash truck.The man would stop his truck frantically run and pick up the bins and quickly put the items in the appropriate truck bin. It was comical to watch.Bet he was tired at the end of the day!-sure earned his pay!.
 

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