Can I wood-chip and compost my son's wood toys?

[Canadian Chick]

Hi everyone,

My son has a large bin of wood toys that my dad made for him. They're pine and maple and have no paint, dyes, stains, etc. Just natural wood.

He's outgrown these toys and I'd like to dispose of them in an environmentally friendly way. I called my local waste disposal centre and they said that it's considered garbage.

Does anyone know if I can throw them in the wood-chipper and then compost them?

I can't seem to find an answer to this online. If you have any suggestions on where to look, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you,
Shannon

[rainbowgardener]

If they are small enough to go through a chipper you could do that, but hand made wood toys sound wonderful. If you don't want to keep them, why not donate them to a day care center or something like that? I'm sure more generations of children could enjoy them. (Maybe stuff a few of the favorites in the attic for when you someday have grandchildren.)

[cynthia_h]

You might offer them on Freecycle before wood-chipping them.

FreeCycle.org is a worldwide but local organization dedicated to keeping things out of landfills. I'm not sure how many people are involved right now, but in August 2008 FreeCycle hit 4,000,000 participants worldwide.

Go visit their site and see whether there's a list near you. Sometimes, depending on population density, there's a city list or maybe a county/region list. Maybe someone else in your area has a small child who would love these toys!

It's all free; no money exchanged.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[applestar]

[url=https://www.whywaldorfworks.org/]Waldorf[/url] and [url=https://www.montessori.edu/]Montessori[/url] preschools/schools might welcome hand made wooden toys as well.

But... are you sure you don't want to keep at least some of them for future generations in your family?

You could also use them as garden ornaments to weather down then compost them. Sorry, I can't imagine destroying them, but if that's what you want to do, I don't see why they can't be put in the compost or even simply buried. Pine would probably go through the chipper if the toy is small and the chipper is powerful enough, but maple is a harder wood so the chipper may have problems with it -- like jam. Be careful.

[Canadian Chick]

Thank you for your replies so far.

I live in a very remote region in Canada so disposing of these toys locally really is the best solution for me. I've got a few set aside but I have quite a large bin as my father loves to make toys for him on a weekly basis almost. (Not much else to do here, we're that remote.)

What I'm really looking for to find out is if there's any reason why I couldn't re-use this wood as wood chips? Can I hurt my garden by using wood chips made from these toys?

Thank you again for your help!
Shannon

[applestar]

You could also burn them, for that matter.... Maple ashes would be considered hardwood ashes and we've talked about using them in compost an around the garden in other threads.

[rot]

..

>Does anyone know if I can throw them in the wood-chipper and then compost them?<

Yeah. You can do that among other things as mentioned.

..

[cynthia_h]

Just a follow-up to my earlier note about FreeCycle. I picked a fairly rural area in Canada whose name I could think of without a map at this time of night: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.

I checked, and there are 124 members of that FreeCycle list! So there may indeed be an active list wherever you're living.

Good luck, whichever way you decide to go.

Cynthia

[a0c8c]

If you're gonna chip them, I'd use them for mulch rather than compost. Wood takes a very long time to compsot, some woods take years. Why wait, when they can serve a purpose sooner as mulch.

[vermontkingdom]

Shannon,
You could certainly chip and compost but I recommend you wait. I'm a big fan of gardening and composting but I'm also a grandpop. Quite frankly, I would be a bit hurt if I found out my daughter had done something similar with things I've made for my grandson. IMO, even if your dad is giving your child a present a week, consider yourself fortunate and don't chip them.

[gixxerific]

I second freecycle but there should be no problem composting them. But why compost homemade toys especially made by your own family.

I still have a pretty fancy toy box my dad made for me I'm 40 now, it's not in the greatest shape but I just can't get rid of it. My dad is gone now. My kids use it now as well.