Waste Disposal Issues For Screenprinting – Advice please

[Martin Forsyth]

Any screen printers on here able to advise please?

[Nicola McIntosh]

hi martin as i remember i wasn’t allowed to put any thinners/paint etc down the sink, I did for a while when i was mixing thinners & bleach, then the authorities were able to trace where it came from, so I had to buy a recycling unit for the wash-out booth, and they are not cheap, so I would probably avoid doing so 😀

nik

[David Rowland]

basically what Nic ses but if you wreck your sewers or get caught then you are in trouble, but when i used to do it with a company, we had fume and filtration equipment everywhere as the fumes are bad and the chemicals were not disposed correctly. shed loads of crap when down the drains. You don’t want that near kids or pregnant mothers or anyone to be honest.,

What you do in your home is up to you to be honest.

rushed answer

[Peter Normington]

so what about the fumes and disposal of waste from solvent printers?

Peter

[Jamie Wood]

It’s certainly not legal to do this, and if you have a septic tank, the chemicals
are harmful to the bacteria which break down the effluent. I know of companies
who do put their waste down the sink, but they run the risk of heavy fines or
closure if caught.

We used to have a washout trough which was pumped into large waste containers
for collection by an authorised waste disposal company. Expensive, but more
environmentally friendly.

[Martin Forsyth]

Thanks 🙂 Appreciate the answers.

Glad I asked 😮 Better to know now, than a little while down the road.

Probably only do screening if I ever decided to move into a unit one day perhaps.

Cheers
Martin