How is one meant to get rid of white spirit after cleaning brushes in it?
I took some jars of dirty white spirit to the local (Edinburgh Sighthill) council tip yesterday, amongst other stuff, and was told to take it away again, because they had nowwhere to put it. I was too polite to make my own suggestion, though I was sorely tempted.
apparently if you leave it to settle then decant off the now clear liquid you can use it again
Yes, BTDTWTTS. You can use it over and over again for brush cleaning. I usually end up with a few bits of gungey goo on the brush because I don't decant it carefully enough but a final wash in warm water and washing up liquid sorts that out.
In message , Jeremy Nicoll - news posts wrote
Tip it down the nearest drain.
I have a better idea.
Why don't you pour it over your clothes (with you in them) and set fire to it? The world would benefit from having one fewer grossly irresponsible person.
It's a lot less damaging than all the detergent you probably tip down the drain on a daily basis.
Where do you think 90% of the white spirit purchased for the DIY market goes at the end of its life? Have a few more tips that refuse to take it and that figure could soon be 100%.
In the rivers and canals, unlike detergents that end up in treatment plants. Drains frequently just discharge into rivers, sewers don't.
But why would someone irresponsible know the difference?
That would make a nice change Bruce.
And you can demonstrate the technique to him, so he knows how to do it correctly. It would be a first in here as a practical contribution from you.
It seems to me that the shops that sell it should take it back. But I have a nasty feeling that if they had to do so, no-one would sell it any more.
Mix it with detergent and pour it down the drain
pour it on a bonfire and set light to it.
Mix it with washing up liquid and make 'swarfega'
better still pour it all over you.
In time it evaporates from everywhere, so you would need to strike a match quickly.
Dumoping a few tanker lorry full down a drain is nad news, A few cc is meaningless: theres probably more in the after booze up piss of the average pub, or similar organic chemicals.
From advice given in this group several years ago I recycle. White spirit from washing brushes goes into a container. After a few days, when the solids have settled, the liquid is decanted into another container. This is used to wash brushes and the dirty spirit goes back into the first container. The original post suggested that the final clean as doune with new white spirit. This will keep the system 'topped up'
Malcolm
I previous years where the sun has actually appeared in summer, I poured it onto some rags on a metal or china plate, and let the sun's heat evaporate it over a day or two.
Not sure that would have worked this year or last. Mind you, it might have floated away somewhere else...
Indeed you can, but it's as well to keep a fresh batch for cleaning hands etc. The solids can just be binned eventually.
It takes an awful lot of washing up liquid to disperse white spirit, probably an equal amount
Hard to believe there are those here recommending illegal dumping of waste solvent. Hope the EA is monitoring!
Treating the road drains as waste disposal chutes is, along with plumbing-in waste outlets to the wrong system, the main source of pollution incidents to our rivers. Seems there are no anglers in this group.
Also, emulsified solvents do much more damage than plain solvent: the emulsion introduces the poison much more effectively into the water environment. In fact, some of the worst pollution incidents the old NRA used to report were when things like milk - an emulsion - got into the water.
By the same token, water soluble solvents are even more dangerous. When in some states they began to add water soluble ketones to fuel as a 'green' measure, the pollution around filling stations was much more severe and the migration of the solvents into the water supply was much more difficult to prevent and nigh impossible to clean up.
Also. waste solvent is an increasingly valuable commodity which should be offered up for recycling. If your tip is currently unable to deal with waste solvent, then ring your council's environmental health department and ask them where you should take the solvent for recycling.
That said. There is rarely enough 'waste' for the home user, after the various reusing suggestions here have been followed, and if you do have an emulsion left over to get rid of, it will make a handy weedkiller (though indeed, not an approved one!).
S
Oh, and by the way, as I recall, most 'white spirit' is already recycled from waste solvents: it has an extremely variable composition, which used to make formulating stuff from it very tricky, with every barrel having to be individually tested, and a wary eye kept out for the water that was likely to be at the bottom too!
S
The various chemicals that do eventually make their way to "sewage" (more accurately "waste water") treatment plants cause all sorts of problems. In some ways its a good job that a few noxious chemicals bypass them as they can damage the bacteria necessary for the plant to work effectively!
Please don't use white spirit for cleaning hands, try Solpol
Never said it didn't...
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