Hello heads. Spring cleanup time has arrived, and yesterday, I took several gallons of spent paint thinner to our local disposal site for re-cycling. Before doing this, this solvent was also re-used many times to wash out brushes, rollers, quills, etc.
What do you do with the various thinners, chemicals, or solvents that your shop generates during the normal course of activity? Our city operates a no-charge re-cycling depot that will accept paint thinners etc., and they have contracts with several firms which then pick up such materials for re-refining or whatever process may be required to bring them back to a useable state. I find this service invaluable, since I don't particularly wish to be contributing pollutants to the environment.
Does such a service exist in your area, and if not, do you use a commercial disposal service? Do you find this type of service to be reasonable, or expensive?
Do you feel that this sort of thing is "too much bother & expense" and just pour the used solvents "down the drain"?
Do you believe that we have a "stewardship responsibility" for proper disposal of the materials that we use in the course of our day-to-day activities?
------------------ Ken Henry Henry & Henry Signs London, Ontario Canada (519) 439-1881 e-mail kjmlhenry@home.
Some days you get to be the dog....other days, you get to be the fire hydrant.
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
Ken Many years ago I had over 10 gallons of mineral spirits in barrels and wanted to give to a local recycle company. They were very pleasant on the phone and told myself they would pick the materials (Solvents up) But the catch 22 was they would have to test the waste products and charge myself $95.00 dollars to do so. Next if the materials were not for their use there would be a disposal fee added to the price. Now I knew the solvents are only Paint Thinners and nothing else that cost $3.99 a gallon... times 10. Then the price to get it back into the system of recycle was way to much! So I asked others of how to dispose of it and someone came up with the idea of giving it to a local garage... The gentleman took it off my hands and said it will make great furnace fuel as an additive.... I don't believe in dumping it as out of sight out of mind... So off to the furnace it goes....
------------------ Raven/2001 Airbrushed by Raven Lower Sackville N.S. deveausdiscovery@sprint.ca
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
In the states 'Safety Kleen' will give you a 20 or 50 gallon container and will pick it up when called. Of course there is a price involved but well worth it envirormentally.
I on the other hand recycle all my thinners through a body shop which has a recycle machine. I carry a 1 gallon container when doing mobile sevice and when its filled, I drop it off.
------------------ aka/ HotLines Joey Madden Pinstriper and manufacturer of Killerkarts http://members.tripod.com/Inflite
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
Good topic Ken. In my area there is no one commercially that I know of for hazardous waste disposal except for used motor oil. Our neighboring county has a "free to the public" hazardous waste day every 6 months, but you have to be a resident of that county to drop stuff off. I have every battery from my phones and toothbrushes sitting here hoping my county will eventually implement a disposal plan.
As far as my solvents go, I filter and reuse them as much as possible. Once beyond any further use, I do with them what I have read in more than one report which is to let them evaporate. I simply pour them into a coffee can and let them evaporate outside behind my shop, then dispose of the dried can in my dumpster. I'd much rather recycle, but what's a person to do if its just not available in your area?
------------------ Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 ICQ: 21604027 sherwood@up.net
[This message has been edited by Dave Sherby (edited April 15, 2001).]
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Our city fire department has a disposal day every so often..
You can get rid of anything you arent sure about whether it's chemical waste or just an empty old metal gasoline can that has a hole in it.
When I first got into town I went to work at a local shop that makes carbon fiber stuff for race boats. It's a small shop compared to the big boat manufacturers that are in town, but one day we hauled buckets and 55 gallon drums of spent acetone and resins to the fire department's disposal. The only thing they wanted to know is what the drums and buckets contained so they could label them.
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ http://www.stickerpimp.com
Posted by Neil D. Butler (Member # 661) on :
Here in St. John's the local waste recycling plant wants at least $800.00 to take the waste away.. 50 GAL DRUM MINIMUM. Neil
------------------ "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF
Posted by Barry Branscum (Member # 445) on :
I just pour mine on the ground out back ---right next to all my oil changes and antifreeze....sometimes I just pour it down the drain if'n it's rainin' or I just don' wanna go outside.....
heee Barry
------------------ Master's Touch Signs & Screenprinting Clinton AR 5017456246 ICQ 17430008 "Imagine the Possibilities..."
[This message has been edited by Tasmus (edited April 16, 2001).]
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Na na na nahh! Barry is gonna go to the jail!
I hope people realize that you are just looking for a reaction....otherwise the EPA, OSHA and all the other govenment agencies would be on you like stink on s***!!!
------------------ Si Allen #562 La Mirada, CA. USA (714) 521-4810 ICQ # 330407 "SignPainters do It with Longer Strokes!"
Brushasaurus on Chat
Gladly supporting this BB !
Posted by Monte Jumper (Member # 1106) on :
At a Letterhead meet in Denver a few years back we attended a "Waste Disposal Seminar" we now have an "evaporator tray" where we can pour of small amounts of various thinners, as soon as the weather gets back up over 80 I'll be evaporating the winters collection.After it evaporates the thinners off it leaves sludge...when it drys it can be disposed of just like any other dried paint or trash.No expense and perfectly legal.
------------------ Monte Jumper SIGNLanguage/Norman.Okla.
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
Monte Evaporate.. This sounds like lets put it into the air supply.. More toxic vapours to deal with. At the most with burning it off you are only adding small amounts of Carbon Dioxide that Mother Nature can handle in a turn around of Oxygen.
------------------ Raven/2001 Airbrushed by Raven Lower Sackville N.S. deveausdiscovery@sprint.ca
Posted by Pierre St.Marie (Member # 1462) on :
I really don't know where ours goes. We all dump it into a funnel on the end of a pipe. All it says is "CAN." with an arrow pointing north. WHo knows??
:^)
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
Posted by Kevin Landry (Member # 1352) on :
Letting your fuels evaporate causes ozone depletion. Not much for what you are doing but it still does. Every little chunk of poison adds up. I believe that you can recycle most of your thinners by letting them sit in a covered container. The sledge and paints will make their way to the bottom. You can then use the top part of the waste over again. But you eventually have to get rid of it. Unfortunately there is no real safe way to do this. This stuff lasts forever. Most recycling companies still have waste left over and God only knows what they do with it. The best thing that you can do is use as little as possible. This will sound hokey but we are all citizens of the earth. It is important that we all do as much as we can to protect our earth. No problem in big sky country?? Lots of room in Canada and the US? All of that stuff goes somewhere? You know this by the post (last week) about what is in our water system in our more populated areas. Of all topics we speak of this is no joking matter. By the way, I live in an area where where a huge fishing industry is gone. The same attitudes prevailed then. Lots of room, lots of fish. Proper use of these products and the disposal is everyones business and especially ours since we use these products.
OOPs I just fell off a box.
Kevin Landry KnL Signs Halifax NS
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Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
When the EPA and OSHA realize that body shops aren't the only small businesses that use paint then you will see some changes that can and will effect the outlay of monies coming from you pockets. Both EPA and OSHA can slam you will fines up to $25,000 for polluting the envirement, this together with not have the correct filtration systems in your shop area will be enough to put you in the poor house. Persons who joke about this sort of thing are a-holes who think very little of anothers right to breathe clean air......
------------------ aka/ HotLines Joey Madden Pinstriper and manufacturer of Killerkarts http://members.tripod.com/Inflite
Posted by Pierre St.Marie (Member # 1462) on :
Kevin, I don't know where it goes up here in BigSky country. We put it in 5gal buckets and turn it in to the local City Service Center. From there, who knows? Not me. QUIT PAINTING! Use vinyl films.
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
Posted by Kevin Landry (Member # 1352) on :
Sorry Pierre I didn't exactly mean to refer to Montana or to refer to you specifically. I meant Big Sky is everywhere there aren't buildings. There is a huge problem here too. I here a lot of stories that companies charge people for disposal and then it just goes into the ground anyway.
I am coming off like a tree hugger here. I am not one but I lived in Sudbury Ontario and if you want to see the effects of long term polution take a look at what a smelter can do. No green stuff anywhere. But lots of water. All green stuff was cleared from the acid rain. NASA used Sudbury as a place to train astronauts because it looked like the moon. I can remember days when the Falconbridge mine put out so much polution the sulpher actually hurt your throat. 300 miles north of here in a place called Sydney a small lake is so polluted from the years of tailings and crap from coal mines and steel smelters that it is going to cost way into the billions to clean it up. Cancer rate in that area is one of the highest in the country. It all started small. Dump that bucket of crap in the lake out back. 75 years later you are walking on the lake. You are also drinking the crap that your Grandad dropped in.
Kevin Landry KnL Signs Halifax NS
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Posted by Pierre St.Marie (Member # 1462) on :
No sweat. We have so much "big sky" up here even Joey could draw a breath without hacking.
:^)
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
Hi Pierre. I'm just curious as to what you use to thin out the Pelucid that you use? Isn't that a solvent, regardless whether you're using paints or vinyls?
You seem to imply that since you don't "paint", and use vinyl, that you don't generate solvent wastes.
------------------ Ken Henry Henry & Henry Signs London, Ontario Canada (519) 439-1881 e-mail kjmlhenry@home.
Some days you get to be the dog....other days, you get to be the fire hydrant.
Posted by Pierre St.Marie (Member # 1462) on :
Sorry I misled you, Ken. We do paint.........a lot. Solids on carvings, airbrush work, Backlit signs etc. etc. AND we do vinyl film as well. Pelucid is thinned with Xylene, but I virtually never thin it. Not necessary. Our solvents are put into a 5 gal bucket with a sealed lid and transported to a local disposal facility. I have no idea what they do with it.
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
Posted by Pierre St.Marie (Member # 1462) on :
Ken, I should have asked if you've been on our website. Mostly paint there.
------------------ St.Marie Graphics & Makin' Tracks Sound Studio Kalispell, Montana stmariegraphics@centurytel.net http://www.stmariegraphics.com 800 735-8026 We're chiseling every day of the week! :^)
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
Hi again Pierre. I just checked out your site...very nice stuff indeed! Glad to hear that you're disposing of your solvents in a way that'll allow you a "clear conscience".
Watch them xylene fumes though...enough of those, and you'll get so that you can't shoot straight.
------------------ Ken Henry Henry & Henry Signs London, Ontario Canada (519) 439-1881 e-mail kjmlhenry@home.
Some days you get to be the dog....other days, you get to be the fire hydrant.
Posted by VICTORGEORGIOU (Member # 474) on :
Here's an EPA story for you. There was a commercial sandblaster in a nearby county who was tossing his used sandblast material in the trash bin. One day the EPA stopped by and asked to see his hazardous waste disposal receipts. Of course he did not have any. The fine was $10,000. They closed him up and told him to forget about ever reopening. That's pretty onerous, I would say. Vic G
------------------ Victor Georgiou Bob Loves Signs Inc Danville, CA email blssign@pacbell.net
Posted by Monte Jumper (Member # 1106) on :
Hey guys...I didn't imagine this "evaporation" method of disposal...hopefully someone else made that seminar and will put in their 2 cents worth. Now I could be wrong but if my memory is correct it was EPA information that was presented at that seminar. Now it has been a while and I suppose things could have changed since then...but rather than making announcements that "we are killing the ozone"it would be handy if someone possessing first hand knowledge of what can and can't happen would post on this subject.I certainly am not an expert by any means ...but I am telling you what we were told to do by someone we took as an authority.And payed good money to get that info...If it's eronious, lets hear the "facts". Anyone here have them?
------------------ Monte Jumper SIGNLanguage/Norman.Okla.
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
Hi Monte. I don't doubt your information at all. Problem is that it MAY BE legal and proper in your State, or Country...but illegal elsewhere. This is an international forum, and laws do vary considerably from place to place, and from time to time as well. What was good in past practices, may also be illegal today. We all have gotta stay current with whatever applies in your immediate area, and follow those rules or laws.
------------------ Ken Henry Henry & Henry Signs London, Ontario Canada (519) 439-1881 e-mail kjmlhenry@home.
Some days you get to be the dog....other days, you get to be the fire hydrant.
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
I am confused...how is it that Chloro/fluoro hydrocarbons ...which are heavier than air...get way up there in the atmosphere and deplete the ozone...when Los Angeles, Mexico City, Dallas, and a whole bunch of cities are creating tons of ozone...and it doesn't get up there to replenish????
------------------ Si Allen #562 La Mirada, CA. USA (714) 521-4810 ICQ # 330407 "SignPainters do It with Longer Strokes!"
Brushasaurus on Chat
Gladly supporting this BB !
[This message has been edited by Si Allen (edited April 18, 2001).]
