[joecool1029]

I still find big chunks (like bigger than softball) of anthracite coal around where the Morris Canal used to be in NJ. Always assumed some just fell off as they were transporting it from PA to NY for industrial use. I don't think trains normally used chunks this large, when I was a kid we used the more thumb-sized pieces of coal to heat the house when we weren't using wood.

In coldest part of winter I think we'd go through roughly a 5 gallon pail per day of it. (stove would need charging every 12 hours)

[nimbius]

I apprenticed repairing coal cars and mining equipment and I can confirm the industry is pretty wasteful. we used to get cars that still had nearly a hundred pounds of coal in them. we used to quietly shovel it out in the winter and use it to run little shop stoves we called dumpers for heat.

[bombcar]

That's called gleaning and dates back to biblical times or before.

If you look at in based on percentages, you see whilst the amount may be large on a human scale, the time to 'get' that last bit isn't worthwhile.

[Gibbon1]

The bible literally says you have to let widows and orphans glean your fields.

[adrianN]

Do you perchance have a reference for that?

[marvin]

https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/24-19.htm

[markdown]

We're deep into late stage capitalism now, so nobody gets to glean... expired (but perfectly fine food) doesn't even get donated lest the corporation get sued when someone chokes on a pretzel.

[xyzzyz]

For 100 pounds of coal, the bulk buyers paid less than $5, typically $2-3. That’s hardly worth the hassle for them.

[joecool1029]

Nowadays we have waste oil burners to heat shops around here. We used to give all our used engine oil to a mechanic neighbor with a big shop.

[implements]

Regulated now in the UK - dirty engine oils are ‘hazardous” and need an expensive local council permit.

[ars]

How do you light the stuff? I toured a coal mine once, and brought some home, and even with a blowtorch I could not get it to ignite - it just popped little pieces off with some sparks.

It was very hard and black and shiny.

[joecool1029]

It needs a lot of heat and air to get anthracite going. We'd start a fire with wood, get some wood coals built up and then add the coal. It was important to close the door quickly on coal stove as the coaldust is explosive and we once cracked the glass on our stove. There was an electric draft fan on the coal stove we had, I don't know if this is needed or makes it easier to burn.