What do you do with the contents of your vacuum cleaner bag/canister? Obviously you don’t keep it and put it into specimen jars to admire later unless you’re a weirdo, but seriously, what do you do with it?
Do you throw it in the trash? Add it to your compost pile? Toss it out back outside where {most} of it came from?
Here me out.
For the past 20+ years when it comes time to empty the canister I empty the vacuum canister outside.
Usually into the garden {but sometimes over the fence} because the way I see it, things like dog hair, dirt, dust bunnies and wool fibers belong OUTSIDE.
Not sitting in a plastic bag in a landfill somewhere that will take 10 million years to degrade. This drives my husband BONKERS. And I have no idea why.
He thinks it’s absolutely strange that I send our dust back to nature. If I happen to vacuum up glitter or something that does not belong in nature, I will in fact empty the canister into the trash.
But for the most part, he thinks I’m weird and is worried the neighbors will see me out there emptying the canister into the garden and in turn think that he’s married to a nutter.
Spoiler alert… I do the same thing with my dryer lint. 🙂
Who knows. Maybe I’m the crazy one.
How about YOU? What do you do with YOUR vacuum dust and dryer lint? I need to know.
~Mavis
Tracey says
good morning!! pro “throw it in the side yard” here. I love it when I find a birds nest with identifiable detritus from my craziness…
Mavis Butterfield says
That has happened to me too. The birds love the little bits of string.
Jeanine says
Most of the time the vacuum dust is in a paper vacuum bag that I throw into the trash. The other small canister vacuum has no bag and goes outside. The dryer lint, I make firestarters and use cardboard egg cartons and old candles wax.
Lesley says
I remember reading about those firestarters in The Tightwad Gazette! Kudos to you. Ditto tossing the vacuum contents outside unless it’s glass, glitter, plastic, etc.
Paula says
Ah, the Tightwad Gazette! I subscribed to that in my early marriage – loved it!
Book Club Elaine says
My sister uses dryer lint as an ingredient in home made fire starters.
Trish says
If I’m vacuuming it the car, I’m likely to empty it in the yard where it came from. Never considered the house though. Makes sense.
We collect dryer lint to use as a fire starter when we burn all our cardboard trash that doesn’t get used as we’d barrier in the garden. The ashes get used to fill holes and low spots in the yard when the fire pit gets full. My dog has also resorted to burying bones in the fire pit so nothing can steal them.
linda Noss says
I throw mine in the compost pile along with dryer lint. Carry on.
Diana says
If you use dryer lint as a fire starter in toilet paper tubes, or if you use it in compost you need to consider what types of fibers you are drying. If they are cotton and natural fibers they work great, but anything that has a synthetic compound has microplastics and should not be used. We use organic cotton sheets and towels so that lint is great to use.
Virginia says
I thought this was an interesting question since my uncreative mind just puts dryer lint in our garage trash can (to keep dust out of the house).
After a little Googling, it seems the main concern with putting lint outside would be chemical residue and microplastics from synthetic fibers. You can use it, but with certain caveats. I pasted something below that explains it well.
“Using dryer lint in the garden could help with a variety of issues, but it’s important to ensure the lint is free from synthetic fibers and chemicals. If you plan to use dryer lint in your garden, also be sure to use natural detergents and softeners so that your lint does not contain potentially harmful chemicals. Dryer sheets, which may leave an unwanted chemical residue, should also be avoided.
Lint from natural fibers like cotton and wool is ideal for gardening. Fibers from clothing made with synthetic materials like nylon, polyester, acrylic, and rayon contain microplastics that pose health hazards to humans and wildlife.”
Susan says
I’ve never thought about this but it makes sense to throw it into the yard waste bin (live in suburbia, so no throwing over the fence, I’m sure the neighbors wouldn’t like it).
For your hubster – back before vacuums, everything would get swept out the door! Back into nature, that’s not weird, we’ve been conditioned to think things are weird because we haven’t done them in so long.
I’ll start throwing ours into the yard waste bin!
Sue says
I think if your carpeting is only natural fibers (wool, cotton, linen, jute, sisal, etc) I think it’s fine to send it to the compost.
Not that I do. I just toss it in the trash.
Margo says
I do a lot of composting. If you have only all natural fibers in your dryer lint, compost it. Same for any rugs you vacuum. Dirt from a hard floor should be all natural. Compost sounds reasonable.
Jamie says
As you said, unless it’s something that isn’t organic like glitter it goes back into the garden. I have terrible allergies so the thought opening the bin up in the house and seeing the whoosh of dust and particles redistribute themselves through out the room I just spent vacuuming.
Sandy says
the carpeting I have is synthetic, so I throw it away. I always figured it would be harmful to wildlife as it isn’t natural.
Lee says
Dryer lint and home vacuuming debris is not safe for wild birds due to laundry product chemical residue on lint and home cleaning chemicals and synthetic fibers according to the Audubon Society
Lori says
I always empty my dryer lint outside. I have a twine ball I put it in and hang it for the birds they love it! The vacuum canister gets dumped into our compost pile unless something wired gets vacuumed up; glitter, tinsel etc. then it goes into the trash. The birds and squirrels pick thru it and take stuff back to line there nest.
Jules says
I am so glad you posted this! I would never have thought to throw it back out on the farm where it came from! Ok, from now on I’m doing it.
Millie Martin says
I throw it in the garbage. Also side note, do you think that dryer lint would keep the snails away from my bean plants? They always eat the top leaves and I don’t know how they get there.
Nancy says
Apparently, dryer lint is not good for birds to use in their nest as it will flatten out and make the nest cold for the baby birds. Same for strands of yarn, string, etc. the babies can get their feet and wings caught.
Mrs. M says
I toss mine in the trash because we have terrible goat heads that get vacuumed up. (Yes, we wipe/remove shoes, but we still manage to have some in the carpet.)
So, in order to NOT plant more goat heads, it goes in the trash. But, if I vacuum something specific… potting soil spill, sand from the grands socks, etc, it gets tossed outside.
tc says
put it in net bags that you get produce like avocados in, hang it outside and the birds will take it for their nests. You will be helping nature
Lissa says
I love how you make me think about “new to me” topics. I have never thought about this, but returning the dust outside is genius and now painfully obvious. I don’t have carpet, so no synthetic fibers to worry about. From now on, my vacuumed up dust is going outside!
Kirsty says
Erm……I empty onto a sheet of newspaper, check for any tiny Lego bits, if none I wrap newspaper fish and chips style and it goes into the rubbish.
Dryer lint is polyester so into rubbish that goes also
There is plenty of compostable items in my compost
Jenny Young says
I throw mine outside. I live in the wilderness…my yard is surrounded by woodland…so I just toss it into the edge of the woods.