Garbage Disposer Advice Needed

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Raccoons are hunted not for meat-but their pelts-pelt buyers pay good dollars for pelts that are in good condition-no large bullet holes.Pelt hunters use traps to catch the raccoons-then shoot them thru the head to save the pelts.Done a lot here.May sound sort of gruesome but keeps them at bay.
 
As I typed my other entry-thought of a raccoon incident when I first started working in Greenville.I was driving in for the mid shift and hit a raccoon with my car.The next morning when I left--Someone skinned it for the pelt-one rather "nude" raccoon was left by the road!Other creatures took care of it-natures Disposers!Other raccoons,possums,bears,vultures.
 
The problem with bears is not bear proofing enclosures...

It's that they are attracted to the scent, stick around and attack and kill people.

Here in Cheyenne, we recently had a number of smaller dogs and rabbits go missing. 'Smaller dogs' being defined as 'smaller than a rottweiler'. Turns out there was more than one mountain lion living in the middle of town.

Composting of vegetation is an excellent thing. Of foods which attract bears, not so much.

Oh, yeah, raccoons. They're taking over Germany. It's a really good example of what happens when you have an imported species and not enough (or no) indigenous predators. What makes things worse - a lot of kids find them 'cute' and they're smart enough not to attack the kids. Like the coyote mothers bringing their pups (that's the right term, dahlinks, coyotes, not wolves here) to school yards in LA to entice the kids into feeding them and, well, gosh. We're not the only invasive species on the planet. 
 
when I owned a now-deceased Rhodesian Ridgeback dog, we had no raccoon problem: he killed dozens of them, just for fun. Now that he died, they are coming back.

ps to Panthera; aus, ausser, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu brauchen immer DATIV..... ;) Amis müssen ihre Präpositionen auswenden lernen.
 
Multiple topics to address:

 

1) Chipper-shredder: I've had a 6 HP Patriot chipper-shredder for nearly 20 years now. It's essential for processing various garden and landscape trimmings, which are mainly the english ivy that has infested three side fences on the property. It's a noxious weed, but it does afford some privacy and it also makes excellent compost. If shredded. I *might* use the chipper/shredder for post processing finished compost to deal with any bones that linger, but it's far too much of a PITA to haul it out of its cover and run it just to shred some kitchen scraps. But like I said, it's not really necessary to pulverize meats/etc to get them to decompose. It's the leaves and stems that need the reduction.

 

Good compost requires both nitrogen rich and carbon rich ingredients. Dead leaves are a good source of carbon ("brown"). Recently living leaves provide nitrogen; meat and animal remains are even better for that ("Green"). Back when I as planning my compost strategy, I consulted a number of sources. Dedicated compost advocates have no problem with adding meat etc. to compost bins. The extremists will even add human solid waste. I'm not about to do that!

 

People who clutch their pearls over the prospect of adding meat to compost bins or piles: where to they think wild animals go when they die? Sure, some wind up scavenged, but scavengers don't get everything, and natural decomposition of dead animals enriches the soil. I've read that river salmon wind up fertilizing forests - the bears catch the spawning salmon, take them into the forest, eat mostly fat rich skin and eggs, and discard the rest to enrich the forest floor. And then we all know what else bears do in the woods.

 

2) Raccoon pelts: it's illegal in this state (California), without the proper license (presumably a fur-trapping one) to kill a depredating raccoon for its pelt or meat. I imagine fur-trapping licenses are difficult to obtain.

 

3) Dogs as raccoon control: Not sure I'd want to subject a dog to the fangs and claws of a wild raccoon. But I applaud that canine anyway.

 

4) Meat etc in compost bins - if done properly, it should not emit off odors to attract large scavengers. There is both an art and a science to it. Still, bears will dig for grubs, so who knows? As far as attracting bears that then attack people: if the bears don't get rewarded with scraps they probably will stop coming around. They are not stupid animals.
 
Rich nailed it in #4

Rich wrote:

'Meat etc in compost bins - if done properly, it should not emit off odors to attract large scavengers. There is both an art and a science to it. Still, bears will dig for grubs, so who knows? As far as attracting bears that then attack people: if the bears don't get rewarded with scraps they probably will stop coming around. They are not stupid animals.'

 

Bears' noses are going to beat any reasonable (or unreasonably thorough) sealing system for garbage. They're not a problem here in the middle of town, but we have people attacked and killed by them regularly, so it's a genuine concern. The way to prevent it is not to tempt them. They don't come around then. As much. Interesting animals and nearly everything people 'know' about them who don't live in bear country is wrong, wrong, wrong. I remember in school having to describe the 'current' range of the grizzly bear ending in Cody Wyoming back in the early 1970s on an exam...whilst the local newspapers were full of the death of a young couple from a thoroughly documented grizzly attack just up a canyon in our town nearly 400 miles to the south of the very, absolute last tip of the ultimate range of that bear.

We have deer, antelope, mountain lions, a slowly recovering fox population and raccoons to deal with in the middle of town every single winter. No reason to add in bears. Even mountain lions will back off if they calculate the risk outweighs the food. Not so bears.

 

Compost is a wonderful thing. So are garbage disposers.
 
Been watching "Alaskan Bush People", and their second home was on an island in the Alaskan peninsula that has some of the highest concentration of bears. None of the family ever got attacked by bears, but their house was broken into at least twice by bears while they were off the island. But these people were very bear savvy and knew how to discourage them. And they always went hiking in pairs and armed. Well, almost. The oldest son is a bit crazy and would go off alone, and one of the last episodes saw him getting injured by explosives he said he was preparing to use to repel the bears.

 

I've back packed extensively in the Sierra Nevada - alone and unarmed - and knew how to avoid bear confrontations. Hang your food as high as possible every night, bury your own scat, etc. However, the bears here are "black bears", which are smaller and less aggressive than "brown bears" or grizzly bears. Basic lessons: don't leave food out for bears; never try to take food from a bear; never get in between a mother bear and her cubs; never run from a bear; make lots of noise on the trail so any bears know you are coming. Nearly all of them would rather avoid contact with humans. I don't blame them!

 
 
I have a old 1970 Wasteking SS3000 . Its a 1/2 Hp cast steel grind ring .Stainless steel everything else . The disposer also

has under-cutters below the flywheel. 

Waste-king and Old Maytags and Old G.E. disposers are by far the best disposer I have ever used and I have owned over 200 different brands.

The ones out today are junk compared to what the used to make. I have never had a clog with those three brands

and I put everything down mine.

The I.S.E. Excel is pretty good but so $$$ and my old ones still grind much finer.

Hit me up if you need any help..

 
 
Thoughts on replacing a badger with 5 with the Evolution Compact supposed to match up with the Badger plumbing dimensions vs the Evolution Excel or Waste King 8000 for a two-person home with moderately sized (not super small or super big) under sink area?
Looks like company evolution would fit in with existing plumbing for badger and hold up to our small house use.
 
Matthew,

The Evolution will fit those parameters nicely. Don't expect the plumbing to ever line up perfectly - it rarely does!

However, thanks to the flexible connections now sold by The Home Depot (and others), it's easy to correct even a major mis-match.

 
 

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