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Bug infested white sugar -- flush or trash?

Muse

Muse

Lifer
~3 lb. of white sugar in a plastic container with twist top, there are tiny little bugs crawling in it. :hmm: From an ecological standpoint, flush it or drop the container in the trash? I don't want to pour it in my compost pile because I figure it will attract ants and I already have a sometime problem with ant colonies invading the house.
 
Grooveriding said:
eat
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This is certainly an option. 😳 There aren't millions of them in there, but they seem to be not just at the top but way down too. I don't cook with sugar much these days. I suppose I could add it to fruit and make jam and just forget about the bugs. If I lived in Africa or some other impoverished region, or gave it to someone there I'm sure they would eat it.
 
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Thebobo said:
Pics of bugs?
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I would like to but they are so tiny, they are probably less than 5% the length of a small sugar ant. Incredibly small insects.

I really should buy a microscope, I had one or two as a kid, really fun thing to have. I imagine I could get one that allows me to take pictures somehow... but that might be pretty expensive.
 
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Bury it in your compost pile. I only get animal, insect and odor problems when the fresh stuff is thrown on top of the pile. There is already plenty of stuff in your compost pile that attracts bugs, ants etc... and sugar is no different than the organics in there already. I bury veggies and all kinds of food in my pile and never had an ant problem. Mine is also far away from my house...

Otherwise flush it, it will become feedstock for the bacteria the sewage treatment plant uses to digest the effluent
 
WR-spreader-h-8-12-03-500x375.jpg
 
never seen anything alive in sugar before. i would think it would dessicate the shit out of whatever decided to live there.
 
I texted my environmental engineer friend (she consults for a waste disposal company) and she said NOT to flush it, but to throw it away as solid waste. Didn't get an explanation other than its a common question.
 
In college, the campus apartments had little ants due to the sandy soil. I remember a neighbor had his sugar attacked in his pantry. He got so mad he went to the gas station and came back with a cup of gasoline. He dumped the sugar on the sidewalk, splashed it with gas and ran a small trail for a fuse. You could hear little screams as it burned and smell caramelized sugar for days.
 
NetWareHead said:
Bury it in your compost pile. I only get animal, insect and odor problems when the fresh stuff is thrown on top of the pile. There is already plenty of stuff in your compost pile that attracts bugs, ants etc... and sugar is no different than the organics in there already. I bury veggies and all kinds of food in my pile and never had an ant problem. Mine is also far away from my house...

Otherwise flush it, it will become feedstock for the bacteria the sewage treatment plant uses to digest the effluent
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My compost pile is ~ 35 feet from the back of the house, maybe far enough away. The pile is really big. I haven't turned it. I could get out there and move it to the side, dump the sugar and cover it up, probably a reasonably OK solution, and the turning of the pile is smart. Yeah, I like your thinking about flushing being smarter than throwing the container in the trash. Then I can recycle the container. :thumbsup: I'll do that anyway if I turn the compost pile on top of the spread-out sugar. One of my projects for this week.
 
PottedMeat said:
never seen anything alive in sugar before. i would think it would dessicate the shit out of whatever decided to live there.
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It's amazing what organisms can survive in. I don't remember seeing anything living in pure sugar before. I think there are organisms that can live in boiling temperature water.

These things are crawling around, happy as clams.
 
slugg said:
I texted my environmental engineer friend (she consults for a waste disposal company) and she said NOT to flush it, but to throw it away as solid waste. Didn't get an explanation other than its a common question.
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Cool, thanks!
 
Muse said:
This is certainly an option. 😳 There aren't millions of them in there, but they seem to be not just at the top but way down too. I don't cook with sugar much these days. I suppose I could add it to fruit and make jam and just forget about the bugs. If I lived in Africa or some other impoverished region, or gave it to someone there I'm sure they would eat it.
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Weevils?

FLOUR_weevils_unknownsource_300x300_edited-1.jpg


If so you could simply sift them out. But to be honest I would probably dump the sugar somewhere outside. Far from the house.

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Weevils-(Flour-Bugs)
 
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Scarpozzi said:
In college, the campus apartments had little ants due to the sandy soil. I remember a neighbor had his sugar attacked in his pantry. He got so mad he went to the gas station and came back with a cup of gasoline. He dumped the sugar on the sidewalk, splashed it with gas and ran a small trail for a fuse. You could hear little screams as it burned and smell caramelized sugar for days.
Click to expand...

:awe:
 
Muse said:
My compost pile is ~ 35 feet from the back of the house, maybe far enough away. The pile is really big. I haven't turned it. I could get out there and move it to the side, dump the sugar and cover it up, probably a reasonably OK solution, and the turning of the pile is smart. Yeah, I like your thinking about flushing being smarter than throwing the container in the trash. Then I can recycle the container. :thumbsup: I'll do that anyway if I turn the compost pile on top of the spread-out sugar. One of my projects for this week.
Click to expand...

I know it is a common guideline to rotate the pile but lately I have found myself not needing to. Turning the pile sucks and its a ton of work as you literally pick up and move the entire thing by shovel. What I did differently this year was add compost starter as I built the pile. And as I added to it, I layered starter with alternating green and brown materials. I figured if it is built right it wont need turning...

I checked my pile the other day before the snow starts to fall on it. Top 2-3 inches is halfway decomposed but after that layer down to the center is rich black soil. I'm pretty happy with that result and saving myself the work of turning it. The pile is in a spot where it receives sunlight so it gets hot inside, accelerating the process. I water it if there hasn't been rain for a while too. I'm not going to turn the pile to compost the outer 2-3 inches; the entire pile gets spread in my garden come spring and its plenty decomposed enough.

I'd just dig a hole and dump the entire bag in. Moisture will dissolve the sugar eventually so you wont have this big mass of buried sugar.
 
Dissolve in boiling water
Pour through a filter
Place in a vacuum chamber or oven to boil off the water
Grind residue back into sugar.
Watch for sugar thieves
Sugar.gif


First you get da suger. Den you get de money. Den you get de power. Den you get de weemen.
 
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