I try to at least walk the talk when it comes to sustainable practices in my work on my home. So, I don’t pour the used solvents down the drain but into a 5 gallon bucket & save for the next local hazardous materials drop-off. My question for you chemists is: what can be or should not be mixed in that bucket? (no bleach + ammonia, obviously) The main ingredient in the bucket is mineral spirits.
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I would try to limit it to petroleum-based products. What they typically do with the material is mix it into boiler fuel and burn it (after settling/filtering), and any water-based material would only hinder that process.
But you can call your local recycling biz and ask.
Can't answer that but......
I was a chem minor but I can't remember any of it so I wouldn't suggest what you can pour together.
However I never have paint thinner/ mineral spirits to toss away. You may well know this but you can use the stuff indefinitely if you let it set for the solids to settle out. I don't generate any other solvents to dispose of.
old
Like you, I've reused thinner for a long long time. The solids settle down to a thick mass and you can pour off without it remixing.
I wouldn't mix any differing oils and solvents, course I also submerge used rags in a bucket of water. Could never get used to watching what I built go up in smoke.
Yeah, I've generally recycled paint thinner as you suggest. You do two or three rinses with the recycled stuff, then one rinse with fresh stuff, and the brush is usually plenty clean. And then all the thinner goes into the recycle jug. (Keep two jugs, one you empty into and one you use out of. When one fills or the other empties you swap, or, better, decant the "into" jug contents into the "out of" jug, leaving the solids behind.)
I do get other solvents, plus sometimes paint thinner that is contaminated with something I don't trust to settle out, and that goes into a different jug that goes to the recycle place.