Disposing of ground glass

[helenM]

Hi, I've just bought a diamond pad to grind some glass edges before fire polishing (and to learn how to use it - just bought Paul Tarlow's book to help, excellent book) but I was wondering what the best way of disposing the waste glass is. I thought I would do the grinding in water, let it settle then drain of what water I could and throw the rest in a plastic bag and wrap up for throwing away in my normal waste.

What do other people do when coldworking? I live in the UK so I'm not sure if there are any rules about this (may have to do a bit of research on that). Also I like to be as ecofriendly as possible when disposing of waste craft products.

[jim burchett]

I,personally do not consider ground glass as a hazard to anything but plumbing. I treat it as I would diatomaceous earth and spread it around plants in the garden.

[JestersBaubles]

Ditto. Pour it on the plants.

Dana W.

[helenM]

Thank you!

[Ed Cantarella]

Just run it down the largest drain in the house - probably the toilet. Seriously - you've probably washed larger grains of sand off vegetables from the store.

[Buttercup]

DON'T put it down the toilet if you have a worm-powered sewage system. It'll tear their little guts out!

[Marty]

Don't put it down ANY drain.

[Ed Cantarella]

Don't put it down ANY drain.

OP is only talking a little powder - what's the harm? Glass is sand(roughly), sand is glass. We all habitually wash dirty clothing with embedded sand down the drain and same for dirty vegetables,dogs, etc. And we eat a fair amount which comes out . . . https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellne ... t-year.htm

But I would fully agree that one shouldn't dump grinder sludge down a drain - the particles are much too large to be carried away and could start to accumulate in the trap (u-shaped piece on the drain pipe).

[Terry Crider]

Any thoughts on washing very small brushes out in the bath room sink --- Brad's and Barry K's "paints"

[Barry Kaiser]

Terry,
The politically sensitive answer is to not do so.
I did it all the time. Our paints contain very little (relatively) solids and those are ultra fine.
However, I have now installed a Gleko Trap since I do a lot (and I mean a lot) of painting and washing. After the first year, I cleaned out the trap and it was amazing how little solids there was.

Barry

[JestersBaubles]

I have a Gleco trap on my utility sink. I wash anything glass related in that sink (glass itself, brushes, etc). If the piece is small enough, I'll coldwork with handpads in that sink. The grinder sludge, I scrape out and dispose of. Other coldworking water usually ends up in the yard (the water bucket for the lap grinder & saw).

The utility sink is also great for washing dirty vegetables .

Dana