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Disposing of discharged ink

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
Just toss it out somewhere. You're not going to destroy civilization. History will proceed totally unaffected regardless of what you do with it.

Do not follow bob's highly illegal advice.

Also, destroying the environment could conceivably destroy civilization, so there's also that.
 

equippaint

Active Member
I'm about 99% sure that venting solvents is against federal law, I know for sure that you can not legally do that in Florida. Not that you will get caught but printing operations are on the radar. I think there is a misconception about what defines hazardous waste as well. its not just toxicity. Flammable materials are considered hazardous and since it is against the law to intentionally vent solvents, your waste stream will be deemed hazardous. You can argue your case that you dried it out so it is not hazardous but you are admitting to another crime with that.
If you own your property and go to sell it, the first red flag in a phase 1 will be how you disposed of your waste. If you have nothing showing proper disposal, the assumption will be that it is in the ground or down the drain. If you are on septic, you are guaranteed to be getting test wells dug there. Anything that shows up in a phase 2 is required to be reported. If the DEP/EPA ever comes in, they can force the same thing on you. Get a 55gal drum, spend $250 a year and keep your paper trail. It is money well spent.
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
Do not follow bob's highly illegal advice.

Also, destroying the environment could conceivably destroy civilization, so there's also that.

Any particular law or just illegal in general? Maybe some edict or another in your village? Does it carry the death penalty? Life without parole? What?

It's a pretty pi$$ poor civilization that stands to be destroyed by me or anyone else or everyone for that matter dumping some waste ink. Eco-warriors are endlessly entertaining, setting forth thoroughly convinced that their pathetic actions are having any effect on anything. With the light of jesus burning in their eyes they march forth insisting that everyone else alter their behavior in order to cleave to their particular brand of nonsense. That and the incredible seriousness that they affect. So run now and package up your trash in a manner approved by whatever apparatus you find yourself under. I'll take care of mine as I see fit and we'll see if your or my part of the planet crumbles into the sea before the other.
 

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
So EPA just needs to look for stray cats with CYMK colored paws to know which sign shops are using the are using the kitty-litter method?
 

equippaint

Active Member
It's a pretty pi$$ poor civilization that stands to be destroyed by me or anyone else or everyone for that matter dumping some waste ink.
It's pretty piss poor that ignorance of facts and total lack of care by one person / company can have such dire effects on the health, well being and quality of life of someone else that had no control over the sh*t decisions of others. People like you are the reason we have to deal with an excess of laws and regulation.
 

Mark H

New Member
Just wondering how everyone is getting rid of the discharged ink that collects in the bottle? I have been pouring it into a bucket with a lid but Im just about full and I would like to dispose properly.

Thank you
I put it in plastic jugs of kitty litter then throw it away.
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
It's pretty **** poor that ignorance of facts and total lack of care by one person / company can have such dire effects on the health, well being and quality of life of someone else that had no control over the sh*t decisions of others. People like you are the reason we have to deal with an excess of laws and regulation.

As the blind pigs finds the odd truffle, you, sir or madam as the case may be, are correct about one item in your rant. My lack of care is, in fact, total. On all other points you not only are in error, utterly, but you are tedious and that is unforgivable.
 

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
Any particular law or just illegal in general? Maybe some edict or another in your village? Does it carry the death penalty? Life without parole? What?

It's a pretty pi$$ poor civilization that stands to be destroyed by me or anyone else or everyone for that matter dumping some waste ink. Eco-warriors are endlessly entertaining, setting forth thoroughly convinced that their pathetic actions are having any effect on anything. With the light of jesus burning in their eyes they march forth insisting that everyone else alter their behavior in order to cleave to their particular brand of nonsense. That and the incredible seriousness that they affect. So run now and package up your trash in a manner approved by whatever apparatus you find yourself under. I'll take care of mine as I see fit and we'll see if your or my part of the planet crumbles into the sea before the other.

I'm not even going to argue with you.

Anybody who thinks dumping hazardous waste in the garbage is acceptable and within their legal rights is, frankly, a moron. You might get away with it, but that neither makes it right, nor legal.

The irony of this is that if someone came and dumped a bunch of garbage on bob's property, I'm sure he'd be foaming at the mouth.
 

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
I'm not even going to argue with you.

Anybody who thinks dumping hazardous waste in the garbage is acceptable and within their legal rights is, frankly, a moron. You might get away with it, but that neither makes it right, nor legal.

You need to develop at least a rudimentary sense of scale. There's a whole hell of a lot of difference between dumping a few million cubic yards of whatever in one spot and me pouring a couple of ounces of waste ink along my fence line.

Moreover some materials are a damn sight more hazardous than others. A few drops of waste ink is way down at the end of the scale labeled 'benign'.

The irony of this is that if someone came and dumped a bunch of garbage on bob's property, I'm sure he'd be foaming at the mouth.

What, exactly, does the above have to do with the subject at hand? It would seem to be a rather amateurish manifestation of the ancient forensic technique 'If you have no argument then change the subject'.
 

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
You need to develop at least a rudimentary sense of scale. There's a whole hell of a lot of difference between dumping a few million cubic yards of whatever in one spot and me pouring a couple of ounces of waste ink along my fence line.

Moreover some materials are a damn sight more hazardous than others. A few drops of waste ink is way down at the end of the scale labeled 'benign'.

What, exactly, does the above have to do with the subject at hand? It would seem to be a rather amateurish manifestation of the ancient forensic technique 'If you have no argument then change the subject'.

Sense of scale? If every bob in the world just dumped their waste wherever they wanted, we'd have a huge problem. Maybe you should check out the environmental landscape of the US before the EPA. I think YOU are the one that needs to think about scale. 'A few drops of ink'... :rolleyes:

Second, you're talking about poisoning the community landscape. Waste that gets into the water tables is EVERYBODY'S problem, bob. My point is, that if someone was dumping garbage on your property, you'd be livid. You dumping ink into the storm drains or whatever insane and illegal disposal process you use it the same as dumping garbage on community property.

No man is an island, bob. Your libertarian BS is ridiculous. It's offensive that you care so little for anybody else except yourself. Move to the moon.
 

ikarasu

Active Member
We use a waste company. We do a lot of screen printing, so we have a big 50 gallon drum we fill with waste ink / solvent / uv ink, and now the evaporator bottle from out latex machine.


Once a year they come pick up the drum, and 100s of screen print paint cans.


It costs more than kitty litter for sure... But it's the proper way to do it. Not sure if kitty litter way is legal here... But we go through so much chemicals it wouldn't be feasible.

As for bobs comments... Just ignore them. Seems like half his posts are for bating people. Would be funny if EPA got an anonymous call about illegal dumping from his shop though.
 

unclebun

Active Member
I'm about 99% sure that venting solvents is against federal law, I know for sure that you can not legally do that in Florida. Not that you will get caught but printing operations are on the radar. I think there is a misconception about what defines hazardous waste as well. its not just toxicity. Flammable materials are considered hazardous and since it is against the law to intentionally vent solvents, your waste stream will be deemed hazardous. You can argue your case that you dried it out so it is not hazardous but you are admitting to another crime with that.
If you own your property and go to sell it, the first red flag in a phase 1 will be how you disposed of your waste. If you have nothing showing proper disposal, the assumption will be that it is in the ground or down the drain. If you are on septic, you are guaranteed to be getting test wells dug there. Anything that shows up in a phase 2 is required to be reported. If the DEP/EPA ever comes in, they can force the same thing on you. Get a 55gal drum, spend $250 a year and keep your paper trail. It is money well spent.

The thing that's funny about that is that the vast majority of the ink that a sign shop purchases is used to make printed vinyl signs and banners and so on. A portion of the ink ends up in the waste bottle to keep the heads alive and the tubes unclogged. Where do the VOC's that get sprayed onto the vinyl to make the signs end up?

Or, I buy some Rustoleum spray or brush paint to repaint my wrought iron deck furniture. Where do the VOC's go that are in the paint that goes on my furniture? Yet out of the quart of paint I bought, there's 4 ounces left over when I'm done. But that is hazardous waste and can't go in the trash. And someone says (some gov't agency) that I can't let it evaporate? What if I just kept a board on hand and painted the leftover paint on it? Is that illegal too? (We actually used to do that in the old days when everything went on MDO. We dumped all leftover mixed color paint into a bucket and used it to coat the backsides of the MDO)
 

DerbyCitySignGuy

New Member
The thing that's funny about that is that the vast majority of the ink that a sign shop purchases is used to make printed vinyl signs and banners and so on. A portion of the ink ends up in the waste bottle to keep the heads alive and the tubes unclogged. Where do the VOC's that get sprayed onto the vinyl to make the signs end up?

Or, I buy some Rustoleum spray or brush paint to repaint my wrought iron deck furniture. Where do the VOC's go that are in the paint that goes on my furniture? Yet out of the quart of paint I bought, there's 4 ounces left over when I'm done. But that is hazardous waste and can't go in the trash. And someone says (some gov't agency) that I can't let it evaporate? What if I just kept a board on hand and painted the leftover paint on it? Is that illegal too? (We actually used to do that in the old days when everything went on MDO. We dumped all leftover mixed color paint into a bucket and used it to coat the backsides of the MDO)

I don't think you're going to get much argument from anybody that a lot of the rules and laws are either confusing or flat out dumb. The real issue isn't disposing of it, but the fact that we're using these hazardous compounds at all. That's a completely different subject though, and a hill I'm not willing to die on. We all have to make a living, after all, it's just that we should probably try to make that living doing as little harm as possible, IMO.
 

equippaint

Active Member
The thing that's funny about that is that the vast majority of the ink that a sign shop purchases is used to make printed vinyl signs and banners and so on. A portion of the ink ends up in the waste bottle to keep the heads alive and the tubes unclogged. Where do the VOC's that get sprayed onto the vinyl to make the signs end up?

Or, I buy some Rustoleum spray or brush paint to repaint my wrought iron deck furniture. Where do the VOC's go that are in the paint that goes on my furniture? Yet out of the quart of paint I bought, there's 4 ounces left over when I'm done. But that is hazardous waste and can't go in the trash. And someone says (some gov't agency) that I can't let it evaporate? What if I just kept a board on hand and painted the leftover paint on it? Is that illegal too? (We actually used to do that in the old days when everything went on MDO. We dumped all leftover mixed color paint into a bucket and used it to coat the backsides of the MDO)
VOCs emitted in use are considered ok printing, painting etc up to a certain limit because it is unavoidable. We have an air permit and a cap on how many we can emit since were over the exempt amount. Spray cans are exempt on VOCs but for disposal, they make an apparatus to punch a hole in the can and catch the remaining liquid contents. I've only ever seen them in large manufacturing facilities. You're not even allowed to clean your spray gun by atomizing solvent through it. For homeowners, I don't think there are rules. Id assume that painting a board over and over is fine, tell them you don't want it to rust.
 
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