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Anyone have any clever ideas for how to remove trash from a pit?

We have a pit with a 20-30 ft vertical entrance drop and then another shorter drop into a large room.

The base of the pit and floor of the room are filled with trash - estimated 5-10 tons - mostly metal, plastic - apparently all of it is 20+ years old.

We're going to offer to the landowner to remove the trash.

Was thinking of hauling it up in a homemade cargo net - made from 2-3" flat webbing woven/sewn with long slings left on each corner for connecting to the hauling system - lined with a tarp to keep the small stuff inside the "bundle".

Anyone have any experience or ideas about how to get trash up a pit?

The largest/heaviest items appear to be <200 lb - e.g. thrown in my hand so we can remove them by hand (no car frames, appliances, etc.).

Could you get a back hoe or small track hoe like a mini-ex close to it? you could rig a haul system to the bottom of the bucket and drop the stuff right into the dumpster. Cargo net is definantly the way to go.

The SKTF (SERA Karst Task Force) uses such a net as you described. On Rope 1 made it for them, I think. I've seen pics of it in action somewhere.

Thanks Scott - that's what I needed - someone with prior experience in making the net - I'll contact On Rope.

Hi! What fun! We just finish a clean up just like that. We used a great big grain seed bag from a grass seed factory. It would hold up too 2000lbs of grain. It worked out fantastic. Made really quick work of getting all the trash out. We used a simple haul system with a high line and and pully system. It took longer for us to get the trash at the bottom of the pit ready for haul out than the 2 weekends to haul out all the trash. It took about a year the get the whole project done and a lot of planning. If you like to borrow the haul bag that we used you are welcome to it. We can find a way to get it to you. Might be able to get an extra too.

Here's a couple of youtube videos of the clean up that might help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8z5SPuA4BI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoj9IpoLNis

Here's a link to my flickr set of the clean up
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26119631@N08/sets/72157622781850242/

You welcome to pm me I'll give you any info I can.

Good luck and have fun.

caveflower wrote:Hi! What fun! We just finish a clean up just like that. We used a great big grain seed bag from a grass seed factory. It would hold up too 2000lbs of grain.

I've been doing some trash excavation with the Rockeaters (a cave digging and exploration group in the northeast). We use something similar, but a lot smaller. To haul trash, rocks, and dirt, we use 100 lb poly mesh feed bags (available at farm supply stores). These are very useful for cave digging where hauling is involved, generally. Of course, you'll need lots of them. The bags are sturdy enough that you can pierce holes through the sides with a carabiner, for an attachment point. The bags can be reused many times. For rocks or big pieces of trash (e.g. fuel drums) that are too heavy, you can tie some webbing around them and haul them up by themselves.

George,

We did a large pit cleanup a few years ago and I still have copies of the liability release, safety rules and a detailed description of the project written for the NSS News Conservation Issue. If you PM me your home address, I'll be happy to mail copies to you.

Some pics of the project can be found on the EIG web site...
http://www.caves.org/grotto/eig/photos/ ... -26-03.htm
I also have some better pics on discs I could copy and send you as well.