What to do with empty cubes?
August 3, 2010 - 3:01pm
My wife and I are developing quite a collection of empty plastic cubes, some with very little sludge left in the bottom, some with a good amount of sludge. We want to find a way to get rid of these cubes without just throwing them in the garbage and sending them off to a landfill. We've thought about cleaning them out and putting them in the recycling, but the cleaning would be a herculean task at this point.
Does anyone have any ideas about how to get rid of empty cubes? Is there any place or anyone would want to use them for something?
Thanks in advance for your help!
August 5, 2010 - 8:08pm
#2
I've tried cleaning out my cubies but have had little luck. I think it would require hot water and soap. I don't think our recycling center likes to take dirty plastic containers. So unfortunately I end up throwing most of mine away.
But would be nice if anyone has any other ideas.
August 9, 2010 - 5:43pm
#3
I'm trying to give my really dirty ones away as sludge for campfires, biodiesel, bair bait, etc. If no one takes them I'll clean them out enough so that the recycling takes them (hopefully). Then atleast I tried.
The ones that are reasonably clean at the bottom can be washed out and reused as clean wvo containers. I just cleaned out 7 of them a few days ago and now they have dried and I have that many more containers to put my clean oil in on long trips. I think about all the water and cleaning products I used to clean them out, but I'm reusing them many times after that so I feel okay about it.
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-Daren
R.I.P George. 12k greasy miles in just under a year. Running great and rearrended June 2010.
Now running a 1980 300D with Greasecar Kit.
August 15, 2010 - 9:45am
#4
I keep a dozen or so for winter when I accumulate cubies from my supplier instead of keeping pace with my filtering.
I find sludgy ones easy to clean by running a couple of inches of hot water in the laundry tub, then heationg the sludge by pushing the bottom of the cubie sown into the hot water, they pouring it into a one-gallon jug, which goes to our recycling center.
The last little bit of sludge and particle bits is rinsed out with a cup of Mineral Spirits shook up in the cubie, then poured ot for reuse in another rinse later.
These cubies are now clean enough to take out on the road full of filtered oil, except that I use 5-gallon buckets instead of cubies on the road for better security against leaks.
Nick
August 22, 2010 - 7:54am
#5
I look at this way: They were going to get thrown out after they were used one time. I use them a second time. If they are clean enough for me to rinse them with some diesel, I will do that in order to have clean cubies for filtered oil. I just dump my sludge into one or two cubies and donate it to a collection barrel once a month. When I am done with the cubies, I crush them and toss them. There is no easy, efficient, clean way to recycle these unless you fill them with concrete and make building blocks out of them.
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I just recycle mine. I dont think it matters if there is a little residue in the bottom. I pour the sludge into one cubie and use that for fire starters. You can mix the sludge with sawdust to make fireplace starter bricks.
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