Disposal Issues

Hi everyone. I'm new, (first post!) So I'm not sure if this is the appropriate area to ask this. Like many i had some preps and when Corona came knocking I got more. I live on an apartment complex and during shelter in place periods it was a comfort to have supplies they do take up a lot of space. It occured to me that if the situation got really bad that that throwing out empty mountain house cans even in black bags could eventually lead a hoard to my door. Can anyone offer advice on disposal? Thank you.

Welcome, Tin! Personally I wouldn't worry about that but I guess if things got bad enough it could be an issue. To start you'd probably want to heat & eat your food by a window so the food aroma didn't waft down the hallways. The best bet would be to clean the empty packages as well as you can (depending on if there's still running water) and shred the packages into thin strips (a shredder would be ideal). Maybe put the shreds/confetti into zip lock bags and stuff them into black garbage bags. Dump them in the dumpster as inconspicuously as possible (eg middle of the night, early in the AM, etc).

It's good to have you here at ETS! I hope you stick around to learn and share.

If the water doesn´t run that means toilet doesn´t flush either and you have "do the #2" in a plastic bag for example. Those tins might be used to keep the #2 bag until you dispose of it outside.

If you had a place to store them full, then you have a place to store them empty. Especially when flattened.

Not sure how your garbage collection system works, but in apartment buildings, you generally can't see whose apartment it came from right?

Ty. My concern with keeping them us that they would attract vermin

Yes i have human waste disposal planned out. Bottles bags double doodie bags and bucket toilet. I do have as much water stored as possible. But apartments never have enough room. Ty for your advice.

Thank you for the welcome. Great advice. Im in ground level apartments there. 4 per strip. Open lot with one dumpster. I assume in a bad situation that the overflow we experiened at it would be nothing compared if they stopped emptying it. Ive searched youtube and have never found anyone addressing this subject.

Howdy, Tin. Yep, OPSEC is important. There's already been some great suggestions for disposing the cans in this thread without drawing attention. Maybe somewhat risky...cut them into "hobo stoves" and leave them around for people to find for use as an emergency cookstove?

There are a lot of ways to repurpose the cans for survival but with your storage space they may still be problematic. https://www.survivopedia.com/10-tin-can-projects-that-can-save-your-life-one-day/
-Blast

We are talking bout a freeze dried product, correct? My MH FD items are the usual backpacking pouches, and I understand the #10 cans have the chow loose in the can. If you want individual servings, you scoop out and measure. At the end of that process, there would be little or nothing to attract vermin, even the human kind. At most a few dry dusty particles....

Blast's recycling into stoves or other items would make a lot of sense. Empty tin cans are supremely useful in all sots of ways.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much, if at all, that desperate scavengers would find MH discards in a communal trash bin, make a determination that someone in the unit must be very well prepared, and commence searching and raiding. If the situation is bad enough, they will be raiding anyway.

I do keep some MH stuff around. It is great if you will be backpacking or climbing in adequately watered places, but my stash of emergency food is based on ordinary canned foods, many of which cna be consumed right out of the can. They are essentially MREs, uncamouflaged. heated up, they are decent, basically normal, non SHTF chow. And no additional water is needed!

Welcome,
As regards Mountain house or similar doomfoods, I agree that if you had the space to store the full cans, then this same space may be used to store the empty cans.
Doomfood is a freeze dried granular product, and the empty cans should not contain any residue that is liable to attract vermin.
Mine have a reuseable push fit plastic lid, intended to keep the contents of a part used can fresh for some days. Use these lids to seal up the empty cans as a second line of defence against vermin.

If things got really bad it would be most unwise to discard ANY food packaging where it could attract unwelcome attention.
This applies to other supplies also, spent batteries, empty gas cartridges, boxes that contained candles, empty kerosene containers and the like should not be discarded in any way that could attract attention.

Howdy Blast. Thanks for replying. Im always happy for new ideas on this problem. Still looking for as many options as possible. I'll add yours to the list. Thanks again.