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What do you do with acrylics waste?

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Pat Harrison

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Posted
Since the search did not reveal anything on the subject other than pages of unrelated topics I should like to ask if anyone has a better idea than putting dry acrylic paints in the bin and spent water down the sink?

Keith Orange

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Posted
Here's some advice from Golden Paints about paint disposal. I believe it's an American company but the principles apply to the UK as well. http://www.goldenpaints.com/waste-disposal If you pour a very thin solution of acrylic paint and water down the kitchen sink, then eventually the liquid will be treated at the local sewage treatment works. I don't know how effectively the plant will remove the pigments.If you tip the solution down a surface water drain in the road outside your house, then the untreated liquid will flow into a stream or river. If you put painting cloths or waste acrylic from palettes into a dustbin (black bins where I live) then the paint will be dry before the rubbish arrives at the local tip. And dried paint is less harmful than liquid paint. Alternatively you could leave the stuff in the paint disposal area of the tip. but most of the paints I've seen there have been domestic paints in big cans. It hardly seems worth making a special trip to dispose of small amounts of artists acrylic paint which is already dry.

Pat Harrison

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Posted
Thank you both for your suggestions. I was just wondering wether I had been doing the right thing all these years. Bit late in the day I suppose.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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Posted
The water gets tipped down the drain, any paint left over (and I really don't like leaving any paint - too expensive..) gets wrapped in paper and put in the rubbish. The dilution is sufficient to avoid any environmental problems with the paint water, and the dried paint is inert anyway. Disposing of oil paint and solvents is somewhat more complicated, but - you didn't ask about that!

Phil Kendall

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Posted
Nothing to add...dried Acrylics in the landfill bin. Liquid Acrylic waste down the outside drain well diluted with water from the waterbutt.
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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Posted
Cadmium waste was considered by the EU last year, and disposal of paint water containing traces of cadmium was deemed not to be an environmental risk. Whether a drain is outside or in, waste water from the kitchen sink discharges into it. If you're concerned that it should go through the sewage system, you could tip it down the loo, I suppose.

Phil Kendall

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Posted
Keora..its part of the sewer system, I live in the Urban environment. The Memsahib won't allow any mess inside the bungalow. And I'm very familiar with heavy metals in the environment...I just don't visit here as often as I once did.