Toxic Plastic Barrels

[snohare]

Well there we are on a tiny wee allotment site with only five plots, and the council (which is going into financial meltdown, resignations and closures everywhere) refuses to lay on a water tap for us. There's another allotment site that has a tap, they say, so we can carry water - it's just 200 yards away, across the road, along the lane, up the steps, through the garden, past the gate....you get the idea.
So all us newbies are desperate to get water butts of one sort or another. Both myself and my neighbour have managed to get a hold of green plastic 55 gallon drums - but, we don't know what was in them. My one may have had brine used in drilling for oil offshore, but her one she found in a ditch - not even a label to look at ! And definitely not cleaned out.
How toxic are these barrels likely to be ? Is there any easy way to clean them out ? ( I take it that fill, scrub and rinse is not a good idea on a site with no drains !) Are there companies that specialise in steam cleaning such things, and if so how much does it cost ?

[vicky]

You could ask a company that clean out wheelie bins?
My local farmer likes to dump old plastic containers in ditches, some still have the hazardous waste skull and crossbones on them from the pesticides....be carefull!

[rustylady]

The good news is that plastic doesn't tend to absorb chemicals. Once your barrels have had a good wash they should be fine to store rainwater in. The companies (or guys) that clean wheelie bins just tend to use pressure washers, no special technique or chemicals, so you can do it yourself with a bit of elbow grease.

[Claire72]

You could ask a company that clean out wheelie bins?
My local farmer likes to dump old plastic containers in ditches, some still have the hazardous waste skull and crossbones on them from the pesticides....be carefull!

Wish my local farmer would dump a few, been hunting desperately for a free water butt or 3, even freeshare didn't throw anything up

[coffee time]

you could try your local neighbourhood garage. i got three from the one at top of my street that had oil in so only needed a good jet wash out courtesy of nephew

[Snadger]

Just thinking..........sorry if I am deviating from the original thread enquiry but why can't you...........dig a deep hole, line it with polythene............wallah, instant underground water receptacle. I've never tried it but it has a few distinct advantages......it doesn't cost nowt, it's not unsightly (I have eight water butts and a 1000ltr container and they are all quite ugly specimens), it will be easy to get water out with a bucket and a rope and will fill naturally from runoff off the land!

[snohare]

Unfortunately Snadger, there is a great muckle tree right next to my shed, where I want to collect the rainwater. When I say "great muckle"....the trunk is eight feet across. (You can guess why I put my shed there - I wasn't going to grow anything in that shade, was I ! ) No doubt if I was foolish enough to try digging through its roots the council would tell me it was subject to a tree preservation order - ironic enough since it has outlived the last ancient gardener on the site and looks fit to outlive me.
I had thought of making a wooden frame butt with carpet lining to protect a plastic sheet inner, but it's not so easy to make when you're as short of timber as I am...!
I do have a wee pond across the way a little, in another patch of shade.....six months old and already filling in nicely with twigs and ash leaves from The Mother Tree. Blooming great for watering trays of plants while you go on holiday though, worth it just for that - not to mention the web-footed anti-slug patrol. I wouldn't be without some kind of underground water receptacle now that I have started using my pond/bog area.