55 gallon Drum / Barrel residue liquids

I have a source for metal drums / barrels and would like to know if anyone can give me advice on (who, how, where) disposal of the residue chemical liquids that remain.

I have the option of scrapping these at the local yards or selling on CL.

The problem is that the yards of course want liquid free / minimal residue barrels and I prefer not to have the people I sell to on CL to dump this stuff or hurt themselves in anyway.

Any advice is appreciative, looking for a low cost solution. This is to CMA (cover my a@#) and be socially responsible to the environment (ground water is my biggest worry). I have contacted the state and was referred to Clean Harbor, now I'm just waiting for a return call.

I'm located in Maryland.

You need to tailor your cleaning actions to what the actual chemical is/was. For example, you will probably do things differently between a barrel that contained concentrated sulfuric acid and a barrel that contained canola oil.

Jon.

Does your county/city have a place that you can take chemicals.

local fire dept. will take it, they use it to start control burns

First thread blues.. I was wondering why "Funny" was appearing next to my thread. Also learned how to use the "Multi-quote" option.

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Originally Posted by sawmilleng

You need to tailor your cleaning actions to what the actual chemical is/was. For example, you will probably do things differently between a barrel that contained concentrated sulfuric acid and a barrel that contained canola oil.

Jon.

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That's my plan but the majority of barrels that I come across contain enough hazardous waste to fill around 2-4 16oz bottles and each barrel has a different liquid.

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Originally Posted by brandon

Does your county/city have a place that you can take chemicals.

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Yes, the county has a hazardous waste acceptance program but strictly prohibits commercial hazardous waste. This is simply because the chemical residues are contained in barrels and are concentrated compounds that are not readily available to the public (meaning that I can't pour this stuff in a bottle/canister and have them accept it because it needs to contain a label for the chemical).

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Originally Posted by valleyscrapping

local fire dept. will take it, they use it to start control burns

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I'll call the local FD and see if that have any connections to safely dump this stuff and then donate. Donating always helps the bottom line, as long as you itemize that is.



On another not, I read somewhere that 1 liter of oil can contaminate 1 million liters of water. Of course, I wasn't the the person who conducted the study or experiment but oil or not its not an option to let this stuff simply run down any drain.

It's hard to do things the right way, but so easy to do it the wrong way. Guess, I'm just a big "green" tree hugging softy. I just can't stand the idea of having this stuff run into the ground in any kind of way because I know people who use well water at their houses.

OMG I'm scared.ahhhhhhhhh O_o°

Lupin,

That's probably why you can get the barrels cheap or free...the company that empties the product out of them doesn't want to pay for the (proper) disposal or cleaning of them so they fob it off on unsuspecting people who may not know any better. I wouldn't be surprised if it actually is against the law for them to do that, as they are liable for properly disposing of their own waste!!

You still have to deal with the right cleaning procedure....just asking the fire department to "burn it" only works with a few products, oils likely being one of them. Wanna try burning concentrated sulfuric?

The other question that we scrappies always ask, "Is there any resale value for the product?". Maybe 16 oz. of concentrated industrial cleaner might be worth a lot to a home shop guy who needs to clean an engine block or something... Also, if you could come up with a way of reliably removing the remnants out of a barrel you might be able to accumulate this stuff and sell it back to the original user!!

Just some ideas to consider.

Jon.

What's in the barrels?
Any single sources barrells will all tend to be similar in nature.

The residue of some drums may be worth money too.

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Originally Posted by eesakiwi

What's in the barrels?
Any single sources barrells will all tend to be similar in nature.

The residue of some drums may be worth money too.

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This is what need to be answered first. waste disposal is easy after that.

Eric

when you pour it into bottles be sure to label it with a permanent marker exactly what's in it

I would walk away from that deal. Dealing with unknown chemicals can put you in the hospital or six feet under.

we had a almost identical post a week or so ago.

Know for sure what was in them.

Do not sell them as burn barrels.

You could be stuck with a nightmare.

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Originally Posted by olddude

we had a almost identical post a week or so ago.

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It's a constant state of Da Ja Vue around here. Thankful for the humor, patients and camaraderie of the base and the desire of a few that wander in to soak up knowledge like bread on a good plate of SOS.

Most of us wouldn't last an hour on the gold forum:).

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Originally Posted by olddude

Most of us wouldn't last an hour on the gold forum:).

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Ain't that the truth. Their a good bunch over there, but they take it very serious, as they should. I imagine they have a hidden section where they all get silly. They just don't let the general public see it. ha ha.

Sirscrapalot - When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, 'Did you sleep good?' I said 'No, I made a few mistakes.' - Steven Wright

VM Naptha (thinner/Varnish); Isopropyl Alcohol, and three other things that I can't remember off the topic of my head. I'll edit when I get those names.

Most of these chemicals can be had by the public, the problem is the concentration of the chemicals. Like some of you have suggested I may just have to walk away from it. I'll give Clean Harbor a call again to get an idea oo disposal cost. I'll have to talk to my source about leaving no residue since it would be beneficial to them.

If neither of those two ideas bear any fruit I'll just leave it alone. I'd rather tight rope walk on the line of legality issues and be "liable" for any mishaps. It'd be nice to get scrap price though...
By the way I'm not stuck with a lot of barrels I just know that I have the option of picking them up.

For those that stumble across this post in search of a solution to similar issues try the following:
Contact State/County Health Dept. and ask about Hazardous Waste Disposal acceptance
Google "Drum Waste Disposal companies"
Check to see if the Drum / Barrel has "U.N." or "HAZ-MAT" markings and/or labels and Google it for more info on chemical / class of Hazardous Substance

Things you should NOT do:
Sell a barrel with liquid residue still in it ( You never know who you could be selling to )
Illegal dumping (never know who's watching)
Directly touch or breathe fumes of residue (Don't blame anyone but yourself if your wee-wee turns into one of the X-Men because you had to go pee-pee after handling a barrel with no gloves)

For any curious...Naphtha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Suspected carcinogen, highly flammable. Both two words is all I need to read. lol. They mention VM in there, but I'll spare you all that, an let you read the link at your leisure...and one more link. MSDS for it, if I found it right.

PETROLEUM ETHER

I was curious so I hope you don't mind me researching it, Lupin.

Edit: Fun fact from the wiki page.."In medieval times, pots containing naphtha were used in battle as a form of primitive grenade."

Sirscrapalot - I was bored, and Google is my friend. Sometimes.