Safely Dispose ISO

Now that I have an Ultrasonic cleaner, I have been reusing larger amounts of ISO.
I am not planning on using it for any extraction and I’ve heard from others it is bad to toss it down the drain.
Is this true? If so, what am I supposed to do with it when it gets too brown to clean well anymore?
I live in a city - so I can’t just toss it in the backyard somewhere...
Anyone have any suggestions?

Sorry if this is somewhere else - searching for ISO is pretty impossible.

Oh, and btw - Ultrasonic Cleaner FTW!!

Considering the things that people routinely shoot down drains the addition of a little alcohol and reclaim would not be a big threat. However I have all the ecological maturity of an eighteen year old with muscle car.

Good way to clean the drain?

The alternative is to evaporate it. Won't take but a few minutes on a warm sidewalk, for instance. The city would prefer that too over using the drain or toilet.
When I cleaned my combustion paraphernalia, I would toss the alcohol and salt in the sandwich bag in the trash.

Alcohol or vape oils are not particularly toxic to anything. The little dab of methanol they add is just so you don't drink it.

I use it as firestarter, but I like fireplaces and wood heat...

TommyDee said:

The city would prefer that too over using the drain or toilet.

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Why is this? What does it do to the system? I am very interested in what issues it causes.

Jill NYC said:

Why is this? What does it do to the system? I am very interested in what issues it causes.

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Nothing worse the liquored up sewer alligators. Sorry TommyDee but I couldn't resist.

Combustible fumes mostly. A small bowl of alcohol is one thing but a significant dumping could trigger alerts.

Shouldn't pour alcohol down drains. Unlike gasoline or oil, alcohol mixes with water making much it harder to separate out later. Frankly, I've never understood ethanol mandates--it's like mandating ground water pollution.

Thanks @Brewervapesalot - that makes sense to me. That convinces me not to just pour it down the drain.
@howie105 - liquoring up the alligators almost did it as well.

But still back to my original question - how do I get rid of it?
Pouring on the sidewalk does not sound ideal to me.
And throwing out in a plastic ziplock feels wrong as well - no doubt it will get punctured in the trash and leak all over the maintenance people handling the garbage.

Can I evaporate on my stove or microwave or something? (Without blowing up my entire building?)

ISO is flammable, you don't want to try and evaporate it with heat. I did a little research, and all I could find is that your supposed to dispose of it per your state guidelines. Whatever that means...

Have you thought about not using ISO and switching to something else? I recently started using PBW after reading a thread here about it. Works great, far cheaper and safer than ISO, and it can be disposed of down the drain.

I just leave the nasty ISO or Acetone in a old open glass jar on my balcony, eventually all the liquid evaporates and I just toss the old jar.

I wonder if a by-product of sewage water aeration (adding oxygen) would be the evaporation of alcohol?

Jeeshy said:

I just leave the nasty ISO or Acetone in a old open glass jar on my balcony, eventually all the liquid evaporates and I just toss the old jar.

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Ding, ding, ding! This seems like an excellent option for me.
Although my “balcony” is actually a fire escape, but same - same.
Thank you! That is exactly what I will do.
And if a pigeon decides to take a sip, it should have quite an interesting afternoon!

macbill said:

I wonder if a by-product of sewage water aeration (adding oxygen) would be the evaporation of alcohol?

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I dunno what this means. Way above my pay grade.

I live about 3 miles downriver of our community's sewer treatment facilities. To facilitate breakdown after solids and water are separated, they put oxygen in the water to help break down the sewage by sprinkling the water through the air. Oxygen is a principal ingredient that helps to break down the waste. I would think that would also help dissipate any alcohol placed in the sewer.

Ahh. That makes sense to me now. Interesting thought.

3 miles downwind... hope you aren’t getting any of the stink on windy days.

Evaporate quickly on a sidewalk or slowly from an open jar, the result is the same, it goes into the air. Still a mild green house gas.

The best solution for anything green house gas related is recycle. Unfortunately most people do not use alcohol for stoves anymore. You can use it as you would any alcohol knowing it will leave behind a particularly good stiction surface (not sticky but good traction). Vape honey doesn't smell... much so why not recycle it where you can?

And not to worry about my sanitation crew sanitation. No one touches trash here anymore. 10 miles down the street is goes into a huge pile to join all the other remainders of Whiskey, Bourbon and EverClear bottles. Basically a repository for all things 'questionable'. The alcohol will eventually evaporate from the dirt they cover the trash with when the ziplock gives up in about 50 years. To be sure, it is no different than a cocktail on a table in a bar when it does release. It is what is known as carbon capture, home grown, and it can save the planet if it were more widely administered with purpose behind it. I feel perfectly okay about what I do. Now there are agents I would never say any of this about... and that is everything else stronger than alcohol which is only toxic in great concentrations, I may remind. Do you use nail polish remover? Now that has a bio-effect on me and should always be disposed of properly.

If you would like the right answer, get in touch with your City and ask if they have a waste disposal program. This is normally managed by the Fire Department. You safely bottle up your waste and they pick it up on recycle day or they can arrange a pickup or you can bring it to them by appointment. If your city is not involved to this degree, make them! That is what will keep this Earth green.

Jill NYC said:

3 miles downwind

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Down river. No es lo mismo. Although it's not stinky. I ride a bike trail near it: in our community it's a "Water Center".

macbill said:

I live about 3 miles downriver of our community's sewer treatment facilities. To facilitate breakdown after solids and water are separated, they put oxygen in the water to help break down the sewage by sprinkling the water through the air. Oxygen is a principal ingredient that helps to break down the waste. I would think that would also help dissipate any alcohol placed in the sewer.

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Aerating definitely encourages certain biological growth and mixes waste water .. that's all good. But alcohol also kills much biological growth. It radically changes PH, which is a big no no for waste water plants.

And when it gets into ground water, rather than waste water going to a treatment plant, it's a real problem if there is enough of it.

Alcohol is also corrosive and destroys manmade creations, certain metals, seals, plastics, and things (engines have to be specially made to burn ethanol for example), including old New York city sewer pipes and the like....

Edit: methanol corrosion is the worst I think. Whether rubbing alcohol is up there, I dont know. I'm not overly environmental, I dont recycle anything but glass or metal because I think the chemicals, methods, and resources used to recycle plastic and paper are WAY worse for the environment, or just wasteful make work jobs, compared to just tossing paper and plastic in modern catacomb land fills. (https://www.perc.org/ writes on this a bit, if anyone is curious)

We had recycling in Maine in the 1990's. Not a wealthy area. They stop doing it because it was just fake. Everyone sorted their shit and put it out for recycling. Town employees were hired to pick it up (extra garbage man to vote for the mayor... lol), and 90% of it all got tossed in a land fill anyway.

Recycling today ain't much better.

That all said I try to not deliberately spill or dump chemicals. I think the cumulative effect of everyone doing do is costly and wasteful and not polite to others or tax payers or our grand kids.

Can't say I haven't dumped some iso down the drain. But starting a fireplace or bbq is my preference, if for nothing else it saved some coin on starter fluid.

The fire escape is a fine idea--maybe add some vinegar and kill some fruit flies! Lol

If you want to try to re-use the ISO you could filter it, probably a Buckner Filter would work best.

Even if the ISO doesn't come out clear, with the solids removed you could re-use the ISO indefinitely. If you need the ISO clear to reuse you could use a carbon filter also.

The "evaporate and toss the bottle" is much easier and cheaper.

Wipes, paper towel, and smaller quantities, I toss in the wood stove, it is going 24/7 this time of year in northern Ontario. Larger amounts, I do as others have stated, and evaporate it off, in the colder months it can take longer. I tried burning off a large quantity once (a liter or so), not a great idea, eyebrows don't grow back quickly, and the beard took a growth hit, so I would advise against that one lol.

What about using it as weedkiller on your driveway? (no pun intended)

Jeeshy said:

just toss the old jar.

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sickmanfraud said:

toss the bottle

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Do I need to toss the jar?
I was planning on evaporating and then reusing same old jar over and over - is there any reason this is a bad idea?

I definitely reuse the bottle multiple times before tossing, I don't think there is any reason to avoid reusing the jar.

Jill NYC said:

Do I need to toss the jar?
I was planning on evaporating and then reusing same old jar over and over - is there any reason this is a bad idea?

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You could always drain the contests into an old paper cup (treat yourself to a coffee) and move the contents when you wish to evaporate your alcohol.

that way you can toss a paper up filled with iso reclaim and keep your jar for the next clean batch of alcohol or to repurpose for other things.