Hi guys,

I use primarily acrylic paints in my airbrush, but I find that I often need to use lacquer thinner to clean the airbrush after I paint. I use very sparing amounts, but enough (say, 2-3 thimblefuls) that there is residual liquid. I was wondering how you dispose of this waste. I know it's hazardous, and up until now, I've simply absorbed it into paper towels, let them air out, them put them in a sealed ziplock bag and dispose in the trash. There must be a better/more efficient way to dispose of this stuff.

There not much more you can do except what you've done already !

Have you considered using Iwata/Medea airbrush cleaner, especially since you using acrylics? I have been using it for a few years and don't find it as harsh as lacquer solvents and cleaning is excellent.

I agree with Craig: Iwata Medea Airbrush Cleaner ... great stuff!

If there's enought waste lacquer thinner you could collect them in a container and allow the sediments to settle to the bottom , use an eye dropper to take the clean liquid at the top and reuse that again , but that's a lot of trouble .

Throw it out on some concrete or the driveway and burn it…...

Strain it through a coffee filter. Let the filter dry and toss it, along with any collected sediment. Of course, this is for larger amounts. I let my brush soak in a jar of lacquer thinner I have attached to an ultra-sonic cleaner. When I am not using it, I can easily keep it in the air-tight aforementioned jar. And, since I am not loosing much filtering it, a small can of lacquer thinner should last you something like two years(assuming you are only using to clean your brush).

Contact your local hazardous waste disposal department for their guidelines on disposing solvents.

What i do is purchase an empty 1Gal metal paint can, most Lowes or HD carries them @ $5.00. Like you, I use paper towels to absorb the residual thinner, but I just shove the rag in the can, once the can is full, I take it to my city's hazardous waste disposal site and they take care of the rest.

Oh, yeah I mark the can "USED LACQUER THINNER".

Burn it…thats all the waste department is going to do anyway…… get a small metal bucket throw in in there and set it on fire, it will burn really quick and you don’t have to throw anything away…...

Surely you don't collect that much lacquer thinner do you ?

Thanks to all those who have answered my post. To answer this last one, I don't use much, maybe 15ml per cleaning. Oh, and by the way, I just ordered some of the Iwata Airbrush Cleaner. Looking forward to seeing how well it does. All I know for sure is that lacquer thinner takes even the dried acrylic paint off the inside of the color cup of my airbrush with no problem. Hope this cleaner works as well, without the nastiness of lacquer thinner.

. Don't let the neighbor see you or they might call the fire department on you .

Why not just put it in an open container outside and let it evaporate?

...what, and have the EPA Nazis up your wazoo?