How to Recycle Coal Ash

A difference of opinion between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of the Inspector General on the safety of coal ash, known as fly ash, puts a question mark over its large-scale use in industry and agriculture. However, the fly ash produced in your grate or stove is recyclable. You don't have to send your ash to landfills; the small amounts you generate at home are easily absorbed in a handful of helpful and economical ways that can increase vegetable yield and decrease your household spending.

Instructions

- 1
  Dig in an amount of fly ash equivalent to under 5 percent of the amount of earth you're cultivating to increase drainage and add nutrients, particularly if you are working heavy clay soil. This percentage reduces soil contamination to the absolute minimum, according to "Scientific American," which notes that ratios of 5 percent and upward have been linked to toxic metals, such as mercury and titanium, leaching into the soil on agricultural land.
- 2
  Deter slugs and snails from chewing your greens by using coal ash around the base of flower pots and in small barrier rings around your plants. The ash looks and feels fairly smooth to you, but to the soft tissue of these mollusks it feels as sharp and unpleasant as ground eggshells.
- 3
  Scatter ash along your driveway and garden paths during icy weather. Not only does it help to prevent you from slipping over on patches of ice or snow, or losing traction in the car, but it absorbs and transfers the heat of the sun to the ice and snow underneath, resulting in an ice-free driveway and garden path.

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