Do Your Still Bottoms Pass the Test?

You've just cooked out a batch of paint waste and dropped it into a plastic bag and tossed it in the dumpster. It's "beer-thirty" time and you want to go home. Before you head out the door, there's a couple things you should know.

That little plastic bag full of paint waste in your dumpster is a fine waiting to happen. If that still bottom is "gloppy" on top and cooked dry on the bottom, it's a clear indicator that too much paint waste was put in there at one time. In a less-than-solid state, there are also large flash point concerns. The whole "cookie" should be hard - similar to a big ugly brownie that has set out too long. A good way to cure this problem is to reduce the amount of paint waste that you cook out at any one time and cut the mix with some of your recycled solvent thinner (ideally a 50/50 mix is recommended).

Once TCLP testing is successfully conducted on a still-bottom sample, the particular waste stream product can be treated as a CESQG waste and disposal of this item can be negotiated with local landfills or incinerators, thereby reducing a shop's hazardous waste management costs.

Copyright © Tara L. Munro. All Rights Reserved.