Paint Sludge Disposal

How can the sludge from a Powder Strip tank be disposed of?

Most of the sludge in the bottom of a Powder Strip tank will be pigments.

Careful management of incoming paints will prevent the presence of any environmentally hazardous materials. As long as there are no environmentally hazardous materials present in the paints, there will be none in the sludge.

However Powder Strip evaporates many times slower than water. The sludge should be mixed with water, be neutralized if needed, and allowed to settle. The solution above the sludge can be disposed of down the drain. After several washes the sludge will contain mostly water and in most states, depending on local laws, can be thrown in with other solid waste one it has dried. Sludge with high amounts of liquid usually cannot be simply thrown away until dry.

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