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If you've been using it to strip paint, just strain it through a paint filter and put it back in the container it came in for use later.

If you need to get rid of it, refer to this link to the MSD (material safety data) for the specific chemical makeup, and dispose if it in strict accordance with your local laws concerning proper disposal of the material as described.

https://www.hsolc.org/sites/default/files/documents-forms/public/english/castrol-super-clean-tough-task.pdf

NOTE: The product is sold as a concrete cleaner, so it's obviously considered safe to dispose of relatively small amounts of it, well diluted with water, into the storm drains. It's really not the right thing to do if you care about the planet, but hey...some toxic waste disposal companies just take drums of material out to counties where there are no EPA guys looking, and dump or open-air burn the stuff.

If you CARE about doing the right thing, look into the applicable Federal EPA regs for disposal.

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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I've always heard that Super Clean is completely biodegradable.

What I'm getting from the link Bill posted is that any material "added" to it may make it hazardous.

The question should be what to do with the particulates left after using it to strip paint.

The Super Clean itself can be dumped down the drain as far as I know.

 

Steve

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Isn't the active ingredient lye, same as in Drano, a drain cleaner, which gets...uh...washed right down the drain?

Here's the deal with that. Have you ever gotten Drano on your skin? Burns like the devil, right? OK, you want to put that in the sewer. Fine and dandy. You assume that by the time the water gets back to you through the normal water cycle on the planet (it boggles the mind the number of people who don't realize that EVERY drop of water you drink was somebody's pee at one time...and ALL the water on the planet gets recycled...there ain't any new water being made...) it'll be all nice and clean.

So let's just shorten the water cycle. Say you have a well and a septic tank. Do you really want to dump something that burns your skin into the septic tank and take the chance it MIGHT get into the aquifer your well draws from and end up coming out the tap? Probably not.

Now let's suppose you live near a river that supplies your drinking water. The town just above yours on the river allows folks to dump drain cleaner in the water. Then a mile or two down stream, your city has its own water intake from the same river...drain cleaner and all.

And now think about this. How many of you KNOW for sure that your municipal water supply is filtered and treated to remove the active ingredients in drain cleaner? How much is too much? Do you have any idea how the water treatment facility works? Do you know what chemicals are tested for? Do you ever even read your municipal water reports?

See, the thing is, just because it's OK legally to dump something in the water system doesn't mean it's really smart to do it if you look at the big, long-term picture.

The government doesn't really know whether it's OK to dump a lot of the stuff we dump constantly. Remember how the government gets things wrong sometimes? Ever hear of that?

We're ingesting all kinds of things in our water now that may not be removed by conventional water-treatment processes, from antibiotics to the female hormone estrogen...all that stuff that gets "innocently" dumped or flushed down the drain.

So why not just dump some more, right? 

Have a nice day. :D

 

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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But don't take MY word for it. Here's an interesting article that just might make you think twice next time before you flush or pour something down the drain.

There's a fair bit of disagreement and "we just don't know" about how all these things, even in trace amounts, may interact to pose health risks.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/birth-control-in-water-supply/

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OMG, now I am afraid to drink water.  Nuff said!

Hey, you can always buy "designer" bottled water--almost all of which has actually come out of some other city's tap, if the truth were known. B):D

(If you haven't seen the Penn & Teller episode on this topic, it's well worth looking up. I think it's available on youtube.)

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OMG, now I am afraid to drink water.  Nuff said!

Hey, you can always buy "designer" bottled water--almost all of which has actually come out of some other city's tap, if the truth were known. B):D

Do yourselves a favor and get a GOOD filtration system for your drinking water. And kinda try to limit or eliminate the chemicals and drugs you put down the drains. 

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OMG, now I am afraid to drink water.  Nuff said!

Then don't ever take a tour of a water treatment plant!  I worked construction (as a clerical worker) for twenty years, the first ten for what was the biggest contractor in my area at that time.  They were building a lot of treatment plants the first few years.  You wouldn't want to see the solids they pull out of the water...let's just say that every Monday morning, the "latex navy" pulled into port.  That said, it's nothing short of miraculous how plain old water comes out of the faucet, clean and safe in the vast majority of places.  Like Snake says, a lot of the bottled water out there is just that: out of the tap and into the bottle.  I was glad to have that a couple of months ago though, when a water main broke and we were out for a day or so. 

As for the disposal, how about straining out the solid stuff and disposing of it separately?  Or maybe dump some sawdust into it to absorb everything, then toss that as a solid?  Around here, to get rid of unused house paint, we're told to open the can and let it dry out (for small quantities), then toss the can.  There's a product you can buy and mix into a more full can to dry it out for disposal.  As for unused meds, a lot of towns have places where you can take those.  Even the pharmacies should be able to help, or at least steer you in the right direction.  There's no excuse to just dump stuff down the drain.

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Do yourselves a favor and get a GOOD filtration system for your drinking water. And kinda try to limit or eliminate the chemicals and drugs you put down the drains. 

A good filtration system might be a good idea.

I've been drinking tap water all my life with no apparent ill effects (unless bad water causes a snarky personality....) :D

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