We are having a new home build in Vermont. This house will be sited in an area where septic systems and wells are used extensively. We will be doing some of the interior finish painting (latex only) and will have to dispose of the tool cleaning water.
After we move in I will also have a workshop and along with the wifes studio have this as a continuing problem.
What is the best and safest way to handle this disposal? Some of the readers here must have had and solved this problem.
Thanks
Marty
Replies
Let the water evaporate away and take the residue to the land fill. Basicly the same process as for solvent based.
Many communities have hazardous waste collection facilities that let you take paints and solvents to be disposed of properly. This could be as little as one day a year, however. But it's worth checking with town hall.
I don't remember exactly where I saw it but someone out there is marketing some kind of additive that you dump in old cans of latex and it turns it into a gel or something like that. Supposedly the rules for disposing of "solid" latex type paint are different than for liquid paint. Apparently some jurisdictions allow you to simply toss the can in the garbage as long as it's "dry".
"Incidental to the load" that's called. One half-full paint can per load. That's how waste is handled in Southern Maine and into the incinerator it goes. It's shamefull...To the original poster: Do as mentioned. Dry the paint in an open container and bring the solid waste to your recycler, landfill or hazardous waste cleanup day of choice.
A 5 gallon, 25 gallon, or some other conveniently sized, solvents/paints/finishes disposal drum might work for you. Dump all the nasties in it, put the lid on and get it picked up by a local specialist waste disposal comapny when required. They'll bring out a new drum at the same time.
I've no idea what this will cost you as I live about 3,000 miles east of Vermont, but it's worth looking into. This how we dispose of all our bits of dead lacquer, varnish, old shellac, dyes, stains, thinners, etc., from our finishing room.
Your water based stuff should be easier. Let it dry to a solid and either take it to the appropriate dump, or maybe your local council or government, or whatever agency does that kind of thing your way does pick-ups on specific days. Slainte.
Richard Jones Furniture
Edited 5/21/2007 5:22 pm by SgianDubh
Most wells are very deep. I suspect human, bodily waste that developed from a hard night out on the town would be harder on the environment than a few gallons of latex paint cleaning water. Painting tip - if your using a roller and it’s not a one day job, wrap the roller in something and put it in the refrigerator or the freezer. For a few days it will be fine. There has been a time or two when I simply wrapped a roller in a rag when there was no refrigerator available and it was fine the next day. When your done, toss the roller pad away. It takes more water to properly clean a paint roller pad than the pad is worth.
Martyjk
let it dry out and then trash it. I've volunteered at the local haz disposal day before, working the paint cans, and SOP was mixing a shovel full of kitty litter into half-full paint cans to solidify them, then cart them over to the disposal area.
At home I've used the commercial "paint hardener" from the local hardware store. which does about the same as the kitty litter - maybe the same stuff. I've also used excess sawdust and shavings, although it takes a lot to solidify a half can.
Marty,
Up here in Chittenden County (in South Burlington) there is a facility called Environmental Depot, where you can get rid of latex paint waste -- and they make recycled latex paint. I never heard of this before, but now a few friends have painted their houses with it.
Here is the link:
http://www.cswd.net/facilities/hazardous_waste.shtml
I don't know where you are in VT, but perhaps there is a similar facility near you.
Best,
Andy
I think the gentleman is refering to the waste water for clean-up of tools etc...
I think the gentleman is refering to the waste water for clean-up of tools etc...
If this is normal household use, I wouldn't worry aout it too much. The water-based latex isn't all that toxic, and you're diluting it alot. 'nver had a problem with my septic, even through the remodel.
For disposing of whole cans of paint, the local authority here prefers you to turn in the can, which they mix with others and re-sell as utilitarian paint. Barring that, you can leave it open 'til dry, and dispose in regular trash.
Jimmy,
I was aware that the OP refered to disposing of waste water, but I agree with the other poster who mentioned evaporating. If you evaporate the waste water in the sun (we do get a week or two of summer here in VT), the latex will be left behind, and then it can be disposed of in the manner mentioned above.
-Andy
We have a septic system also. Mostly, I seal and re-use rollers when painting something large like a room, then toss the roller rather than cleaning and saving for some other project. Brushes are too expensive to do that with. I save the first-rinse water and either take it to a friend's house that's hooked to the city sewer, or dump into a bag of kitty litter or sawdust and dispose of it. The subsequent rinsing water, where you're really getting the final residue off the brush can be poured out in the grass somewhere. Super-dilute latex paint is probably less "nasty" than the stuff you wash off your car after a road trip, and the vegetation will filter it out.
The biggest challenge for me is the solvent-based stuff. Fortunately, we have hazardous household waste drop-off about 30 miles away.
I agree with Steve. Tecnaically we are not suposed to let oil based paints dry like that because the fumes burns holes in the ozone layer. But I haven't found another solution. For Latex paint there is a powered product that you can add to the paint which speeds up the hardening a lot. It is sold at Home Depot. If the landfill still gives you a hard time remove the paint from the can to dry in a disposable baking pan then stomp the cans flat. I have never had them say anything about the flattened cans.
Pardon my spelling,
Mike
Make sure that your next project is beyond your skill and requires tools you don't have. You won't regret it.
If the landfill still gives you a hard time remove the paint from the can to dry in a disposable baking pan then stomp the cans flat. I have never had them say anything about the flattened cans.
More than likely that's because they are recycling the metal. I'm sure that they actually prefer it be done the way you're doing it because otherwise I don't think the recyclers will take the cans with a lot of dried paint in them.
No it is because the the person in the booth or on the back of the garbage truck was told NO PAINT. As far as they are concerned dried paint is still paint. I've tried to argue with them but it don't work. If the can is flattened then it is junk, not paint acording to their logic.
Who knows....Pardon my spelling,
Mike
Make sure that your next project is beyond your skill and requires tools you don't have. You won't regret it.
In my area the local hazardous waste recyling center takes oil based paints and solvents but not latex. We're told to dry out the latex paint by spreading it into a "lagoon" created by laying 2x4's on a flat surface to form a rectangle and lining it with plastic. Where the plastic goes up over the top of the 2x4's it forms a lip so the liquid can't run out.
You pour the paint into the lagoon, and because of the large surface area it dries pretty rapidly. Then you roll up the plastic and dump it into your household trash. I suppose you could do the same with your brush and roller washing water, or at least with the first washing. After that the septic tank will be able to handle the diluted subsequent rinsings...
Zolton
Regulations will vary by area, but in MN they are ok with mixing kitty litter to either oil or latex finishing products -- and then tossing them in the regular trash. They do, however, ask that you mix in enough so the product contains no residual liquids at all. I use enough so the resulting mixture is dry and crumbly, and I can just dump it in a regular garbage bag, followed by the empty can. Obviously, this system is not very practical for near full gallons of material. But it does work well for those times when you open a can of something that is less than half full and it has turned to unuseable sludge. After a while, I started using the oil absorbing clay pellets sold at any auto parts store. A 20 lb. bag costs about $5********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
As far as the persons you've dealt with directly I'm sure that's been the case. But it could be that whomever is giving them directions on what is acceptable or not is at least partially motivated by recycling concerns.
We recycle emply metal cans here at my work and have done so for years because instead of paying someone to take them away, someone pays us for the opportunity to take them away... presumably to turn into Toyotas and Nissans. The recycler won't take them unless they are "empty". Dried paint on the sides of the can doesn't matter to them. The temperatures of the smelting take care of that in short order. But larger masses of dried paint apparently cause both technical and environmental problems for them. In addition to that, at least here in my little corner of the world, the landfills are increasingly moving towards recycling everything that they can turn a profit on, and metal is at the top of that list. Not for environmental reasons as much as for good old capitalist reasons of money. Landfill space is an increasingly expensive proposition for them. So anything that they can easily recycle means more money in their bank account.
I never thought of recycling them. I recycle everything from our home. But, to be honest, other taking coke cans home I never think about the steel cans I toss out. There is a junk guy in my business park who sells scrap metal. I bet he would take them.Pardon my spelling,
Mike
Make sure that your next project is beyond your skill and requires tools you don't have. You won't regret it.
Tecnaically we are not suposed to let oil based paints dry like that because the fumes burns holes in the ozone layer.
Nope, that's CFC's. Oil-paint solvents are VOC's, they contribute to smog and ground level ozone formation (i.e., the bad type of smog), and can have adverse health effects.
In that case we should embrace the New Ozone layer. It's closer, and it's growing every day.
Just kidding, I stand corrected.Pardon my spelling,
Mike
Make sure that your next project is beyond your skill and requires tools you don't have. You won't regret it.
Hi Marty,
I'm going to add a bit of Vermont-specific information that you might find helpful:
http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/wastediv/solid/swmdlist.htm
The site has links to lots of info about how waste is handled in VT.
-Andy
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