Preacher wrote on Nov 9^th, 2011 at 5:59pm:

Yes, polyethylene is for all practical purposes a pure hydrocarbon. It will burn much more cleanly than the wood used to build the fire in the first place.

FWIW it is against BWCA regulations to burn trash.

This past summer I used several 8oz, 16oz and liter sized light plastic bottles that you initially buy things like salad dressing, catsup, water, juice, or soda in.  I repackaged ground coffee, coffee creamer and sugar, cooking oil, pancake mix, pancake syrup, and so forth into them.  They are sturdy, generally do not leak, and you can pour out the contents conveniently.  I also use 1oz, 2oz and 4oz (Bailey's Minis) individual drink alcohol containers for very small amounts of some items like vinegar, olive oil, etc .

Doesn't that presume a reasonably pure hydrocarbon fuel source?  What happens when something that isn't pure is in the mix?
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Re toxic fumes from burning plastic:

It depends on how complete the combustion is. At 100%, all that gets produced is carbon dioxide and water.

If you have a good hot fire going and the plastic has lots of surface area (like ziplock bags), combustion is essentially complete. If you have a smouldering fire, or the plastic is in a solid chunk, then there can be some harmful emissions.

I like the paper towel idea for both stated reasons.  Lots of things I dehydrate (OK, to be honest most of my dehydrating is tomato stew of various kinds like spag sauce & chili) end up with pointy bits that poke tiny holes in the zip-locks.

I'm a little split on burning garbage.  Mostly I don't want to deal with someone else's garbage.  Foil bits, that sock that got too dry, etc...  If the wind is right & the fire is HOT I may start burning.  Usually it accumulates for a couple days.

Really Mat? Is that true? That is so disappointing to hear. I am always a bit leery of burning trash as the fumes seems especially noxious. I try and stay upwind.

"Ideally, all plastics would be packed out."

yep - ideally, we could bring all the plastic out to be recycled:  so that it can be burned by someone else at a cogen facility - that's how most of it gets "recycled" - very little gets reused as plastic.

There is a major environmental issue with burning plastic.  I don't know what chemicals are produced, but I do know the toxins released by burning plastic are very bad.  So while many may burn some plastic, it would be best to minimize (eliminate) how much we burn.  Ideally, all plastics would be packed out.

Westwood

I pack to minimize weight, minimize volume (both so I can take more stuff!) and minimize odors.

So I'm with Preacher: I put everything I can into freezer ziplock bags, and burn them as they get emptied. Store-bought foil packs get repacked at home into burnable ziplocks, and little ziplocks get collected into big ziplocks (all soups together, for example).

No plastic tubs (all plastic picks up odor, even Nalgene) and only a few small Nalgene bottles for veg oil, lemon juice, and S&P. I use stashed olive barrels for canoeing, hung packs for backpacking.

Fun to read everyone's idea's, Lord knows we are all unique.  I use bear Vaults. The BV500.  I repack everything in zip locks, much like dd.  I double package some items, so they don't come open.  A lot of times, I package two paper towels around noodle product or dehydrated meats.  This doubles for two things.  The towels keep the noodles, meat, or whatever from poking through the zip locks, and I use the towels to clean up after I am done with dinner.  I use small nalgene products for soaps, honey, etc. works peachy.  SunCatcher