This is a 'which is worse' question...
Do you clean your dirty shop rags, or bring them to the local hazardous waste facility just like old paint, oil, gasoline, etc.,...?
Our shop rags are actually cut up t-shirts that were extra from a cycling event over a decade ago -- so we have plenty and they cost us nothing. But once they are dirty, they not only produce a fire hazard but a cleaning / disposal issue.
The chemicals required to effectively clean rags aren't good for the water supply / sewers -- since we all live down stream. At the same time throwing something away (even properly) after one use seems like a waste too.
What does everyone else do?
We've cleaned ours at least once, but I'm not personally sure it's worth while. At the bike dump, rags get used until they are so full of grease they can't even be used to clean a chain. At that point they tend to head towards the garbage. We're not going for zero environmental impact, just minimal. IMO, the energy and detergent used by washing rags is worse than putting some reused cloth and possibly biodegradable grease into a landfill.
Rags are in endless supply and an easy donation to get.
Graham from the bike-dump
Jonathan Morrison wrote:
This is a 'which is worse' question...
Do you clean your dirty shop rags, or bring them to the local hazardous waste facility just like old paint, oil, gasoline, etc.,...?
Our shop rags are actually cut up t-shirts that were extra from a cycling event over a decade ago -- so we have plenty and they cost us nothing. But once they are dirty, they not only produce a fire hazard but a cleaning / disposal issue.
The chemicals required to effectively clean rags aren't good for the water supply / sewers -- since we all live down stream. At the same time throwing something away (even properly) after one use seems like a waste too.
What does everyone else do?
At Free Cycles Missoula we throw rags away too, after lots of use. Perhaps the deeper root to work on is lessening the chemicals used in the lifecycle of a bike. We have experimented with a bio lube produced locally from veggie oil- it was really good (and edible), but not as 'good' as tri flow for longevity. Also- all the de-icer used on city streets eventually comes into our shop. It will be longer term, but lets get the poisons out of the system. Short term- I like the idea of sending the rags to haz waste facilities instead of land fills. I'm interested to hear more ideas. -Bob
Andy here from Neighborhood Bike Works in Philly
I tried washing NBW's rags one time, and spent two hours cleaning my washing machine afterwards... The answer would be to have a washer that is just for that... not out of the question, I suppose, especially if you have aprons and so on that need cleaning. We usually trash 'em after a while. Rag service seems too expensive...
I know people who used edible oils on bikes from when I worked in bike shops... those were the bikes that cockroaches would fall out of by the handful when you went to loosen the stem bolt... mm... tasty!
Philly has hazardous waste drop offs... I guess we should be using that facility rather than the U Penn dumpster... thanks for the heads up
Peace,
Andy
Bob Giordano wrote:
At Free Cycles Missoula we throw rags away too, after lots of use. Perhaps the deeper root to work on is lessening the chemicals used in the lifecycle of a bike. We have experimented with a bio lube produced locally from veggie oil- it was really good (and edible), but not as 'good' as tri flow for longevity. Also- all the de-icer used on city streets eventually comes into our shop. It will be longer term, but lets get the poisons out of the system. Short term- I like the idea of sending the rags to haz waste facilities instead of land fills. I'm interested to hear more ideas. -Bob
I started a wiki topic on it feel free to contribute by clicking on the 'edit' button at the top (you DON'T need to login first).
http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Shop_Recycling
thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
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Andy Dyson -
Bob Giordano -
Graham Stewart -
Jonathan Morrison