Been doing a lot of woodworking recently and have many bags of sawdust and wood shavings. I haven't the facility to compress them into the pellets I get from my local woodyard which are useful for my woodburner, but am reluctant to take it all to the local tip.
Tried the local garages, but they seem to already have their own supply for absorbing oil and water spilled.
So, question is - what do other woodworkers do with the sawdust and shavings they produce, in the way of 'recycling'?
Easiest is to use it for mulching of gardens/lawns.
If lucky your neighbours will bake cookies for you.
For me:
If the sawdust is not from treated lumber and free of trash or contaminates, it's perfect for composting. Many people compost their food scraps, but many people don't know that adding carbon-rich biomass to their compost piles significantly improves the quality of the compost, reduces the smell, significantly reduces the time it takes to biodegrade, and boosts the nutrient value if you put the compost back in your garden.
I do enough composting that my own wood shop doesn't supply enough sawdust, I have to get more from a local sawmill.
Are these shavings and sawdust from particle board, manufactured or glued woods like plywood/customwood/MDF, from ground-treated timber or from painted timber?
If any of this is true then the output is no use for recycling in any form so pack it into the waste stream.
If you only work on "dirty" woods like this occasionally, then consider emptying your dust systems before and after, to separate the contaminated dust from reusable dust.
If you enjoy camping or having outdoor fires (or already have a small business that sells things) you can always make them into fire starters!
I haven't tried this one exactly (so you might want to read up on them) but this is the kind of thing I'm talking about: https://www.instructables.com/Sawdust-Firestarters/
For particularly fragrant woods, grab a cupful and put them in your house. The aroma can be very pleasant.
Macrocarpa and Sandalwood are delicious, and fresh Pine smells wonderful. The smell of pine drops off quickly in strength though macrocarpa can last for months.
Stir the bowl-full occasionally to expose other surfaces to the air - I guess this is like pot-pourri from the `80s but without the flowers.
Do remember it's a fire hazard so common sense and keep away from ignition sources.
Lots of good suggestions for the dust and shavings and I have one not listed for the scraps.
If you have independent (locally owned) paint stores or hardware stores that do a lot of transparent stain matches, they would love to have the scraps.
In my store, we use them to match transparent stains. It's often the homeowner doesn't have the wood they are going to be staining for us to match on. When you have the same species of wood to match on, you can be much more accurate in the match.
HI I use my sawdust for soaking up oil spills in the carport as I also do automotive at home.
