10 Ways to Dispose of Charcoal

By
Jeremy Bivens
Jeremy Bivens
Research Writer
Jeremy Bivens is a passionate writer and grilling enthusiast. He's been working as a freelance journalist for over 15 years now and has a particular interest in food writing read more
reviewed
Reviewed By
Bruce Williams
Bruce Williams
Expert Consultant
Claims that grilling is the art that he has been learning all his life long and is not planning to stop. Has been grilling for as long as he can remember. Author of numerous read more
Last updated: September 08, 2023
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Charcoal offers one of the cheapest ways of cooking.

People prefer to use charcoal for other methods of cooking due to its convenient burning. Charcoal has several uses and can do more fantastic cooking than some of the techniques out there.

Don’t watch your bag of charcoal lying around your compound. Notably, charcoal is made from hardwood. A common type used in most homes is charcoal briquettes. These types are primarily used for grilling and cooking. They produce a great amount of heat and burn for enough time to offer a great cooking experience.

They are made from burnt wood, and their disposal is not that complex. Experts recommend the Kingsford professional briquettes as the best type of charcoal in Amazon. It comes in a 12-pound bag, consistently burns, and offers temperature control for the best results.

You can also go for the Jealous Devil lump charcoal. It’s waterproof, made of high quality, and a pure flavor. You should know how to dispose of charcoal once it gets depleted.

Further, understanding what to do with charcoal ash will save you a lot in the long run.

How to Dispose of Used Charcoal

10 Ways to Dispose of Charcoal

Learning how to dispose of used charcoal is important.

Charcoal ashes can be a nuisance when left undisposed. Understanding how to dispose of charcoal ashes is part of the cooking experience. Excellent cooks do not leave remnants of their cooking once they are done.

Therefore, adapt to disposing of the charcoal ashes that remain to have an easy time cooking your next meal. These are the best methods of disposing of used charcoal.

Method 1: Extinguish your charcoal. You need to ensure your charcoal is completely out before you proceed to the next step. Take great caution to ensure every charcoal is extinguished. Handling burning charcoal has unforeseeable risks and may harm you or the people around you. You will need to close the lid and the grill vents and let the charcoal burn out. It is advisable to let it burn for forty-eight hours. Do assume that your charcoal is extinguished but confirm after the duration.

Method 2: Wrap in a foil. This process applies to different charcoal. Charcoal briquettes burn for long durations and may not be completely extinguished within forty-eight hours. Some types of charcoal briquettes have additives, and others are not made of wood. Such kinds should be thrown away. Aluminum foils are the best materials used for wrapping charcoal when disposing of them. Find one and wrap the burnt charcoal and as, then dispose of them in a non-combustible garbage bin. It would help if you did not leave the foil around your cooking area.

Method 3: Fertilize. There are specific types of charcoal whose ash can be used as fertilizers. Notably, wood charcoal free from additives produces ash that can be used by farmers. It saves costs that would otherwise go to purchasing expensive fertilizers. The ash has high levels of potassium carbonate (potash) that are exceptionally nutritious for plants. Furthermore, potash increases the level of pH in the soil, enhancing plant growth. You should be cautious in the level of potash you use as different plants utilize different amounts of potash for growth.

10 Ways to Dispose of Charcoal

Method 4: Deter Pests. Ash can also be used for deterring pests around homesteads. You should mix the ash with water or lime to use it for this purpose. It can then be spared around vegetable gardens since these environments are subtle to invasion by beetles. Mix one ounce of ash and the same amount of lime to a bucket of water and apply it around plants and the entire homestead if infested with parasites. Wood ash can also be used to keep away lice and mites.

Method 5: Cleaning and controlling. You can use the ash to make lye-soap. Furthermore, wood ash is useful in de-skunking pets and leaves silver sparkling clean. Ash can also be used in ponds to control algae.

How to Dispose of Unused Charcoal

Unused charcoal should also be disposed of in the right way. Since charcoal briquettes are commonly used in homes, you should know how to dispose of unused charcoal briquettes.

Unused charcoal around homesteads is not a pleasant scene. It would be best if you disposed of them as quickly as possible and set your apparatus for the next task. Use these methods to dispose of these charcoals.

Method 1: Eliminate odor. You should use a perforated bag in this process. Take the charcoal and place them in the bag, then put the bag inside a refrigerator. You can also place these charcoals inside shoes that have bad odor to reduce the stick.

Method 2: Compose the charcoal. Putting charcoal in compost increases the amount of carbon. This is useful in breaking organic matter.

Method 3: Make your flowers flourish. A single piece of charcoal in a flower vase will make your flowers healthy.

Instead of throwing away unused charcoal, spare them and drop some in your vases. You will notice your flowers last longer than usual. Why spend money purchasing plant nutrients when it can be done using unused charcoal?

Method 4: Reduce rust. Charcoal absorbs moisture well. Preserve some of it and apply it to appliances that are prone to get rusty over time. There are few things out there that can perform this trick.

Method 5: Use it for gardening. Charcoal also assists in gardening. Crush the charcoal and sprinkle it in your garden area. It suppresses weeds and kills harmful insects. They absorb toxins, a factor that enables the soil to be healthy. They also reduce alkalinity in soils.

Final Thoughts

Charcoal should be disposed of appropriately after cooking. Charcoal briquettes are the most known charcoal and offer the best cooking experience. It is only right that you learn how to dispose of charcoal to enhance your experience in cooking.

There are used charcoal and unused ones. They should be disposed of differently. Therefore, understanding how to do away with used charcoal is as useful as knowing how to dispose of unused charcoal.

Learn these methods on your way to becoming a professional cook. Professionalism aside, you still ought to learn how to dispose of charcoal to pave the way for your next cooking.

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