peripatetic

I kind of get this, but not quite. Maybe it's because I'm from California. Are you basically saying to just throw junk wherever you feel like? Please enlighten us. Since you work in an industry germane to the topic, I'd appreciate elucidation on the matter.

And BTW, as I'm sure you're aware, some bureaucratic gov't agencies classifications for substances are not the be-all end-all authority on a subject. Classifications of substances are determined as much by the amount of lobbying money thrown at the agency as by any other 'scientific' factor. There is no way to determine how a large combination of many substances in tiny amounts--or 'microdoses'--will affect the environment or people.
How something is deemed 'hazardous' or not has to do with the amounts determined under 'ideal' clinical conditions and the uses under which they're put: under government health regulations, while coal dust in large amounts is considered a hazard and carcinogenic pollution to a normal citizen, it's not considered a hazard to a coal miner in W. Virginia, even though he's 10x more likely than the average citizen to contract lung cancer.

Personally, I'd rather err on the side of non-hazardous, in this case, whether or not the definition is entirely accurate. Basically, I'd rather limit how much I add to the thousands of 'non-hazardous' substances in the environment around me. I'd prefer that whatever I contribute that goes into the fish, cows, corn, rice, tomatoes that I will eventually eat is as least bad as possible. While it might be tiny, lots of tiny is still lots.

So how does one do that?

oilman_15106

Used oil is deemed non-hazardous by regulation in most states and by US EPA by regulation. CA classifies it as hazardous waste but it is recycled in the same manner in CA or PA. It is a regulatory layer that does nothing to get more of it recycled. Now if you drink a gallon of used oil it may be hazardous to your health but the same could be said true of drinking alot of Coke or Pepsi.

I did not imply that you simply dump your chain cleaning sludge just anywhere. Every state has regulations about landfills and the water is collected and treated from those landfills. So what I am suggesting is that whatever method you used to clean your chain remove(or let evaporate) as much liquid as possible and put it in your trash. If you take it to an oil recycler it will be removed in the recycling process and end up in the same landfill.

As to the use of the term toxic waste it just irks me that it is used with no knowledge of either the regulations or the actual hazard of the product. Just look at how many posters on this single subject called their chain cleaning sludge toxic waste. After all what is the chain sludge composed of: the cleaning solvent and dirt. If you use something like Simple Green you could most likely eat the stuff without serious harm. I have seen the term toxic waste thousands of times in the press or on TV.

Now a must dig - elucidation I can not spell very well but neither can Jay Leno. Hope this helps.

Katzenjammer

If you can't eat/drink snack-sized quantities of it without significant harm to your health, it's hazardous regardless of what any bureaucrat says and regardless of how any disposal facility treats it. That's most of the meaning of "hazardous"--poisonous. Solvents are poisonous. All petroleum products are poisonous. Dumped into the environment, they find their way into all sorts of places where they don't exist naturally, and they kill living things that the ecosystem depends on for health. And they kill the successors to those creatures too, because the non-volatile part of the damned stuff hangs around for a long time.

The law of entropy guarantees that there is no activity that doesn't result in degradation of the system. But some activities are worse than others. Capitalist activities are horrible. Capitalism is a non-viable, destructive system because it depends on ignoring costs such as unsustainable use rates and pollution, and those unacknowledged costs are killing us all even though most of us are still in denial about it. As Feynman said: Nature cannot be fooled.

keemex

ohh try the old school way Vinegar ya'll

peripatetic

I love vinegar. Miracle solvent. Best dam* deodorizer out there, too.

Oilman, thanks for the explication: you spelt 'elucidation' just fine. Though I don't think I'd want to drink a gallon of coke or a gallon of Simple Green + chain sludge. I wonder if one followed by the other might work? And as a law student, I understand your frustration with people's common misunderstandings of terms and labels.


Katzenjammer, I love the equivalency relation between capitalism and nature as being an entropic one. Though I've dwelt on both things with similar thoughts I've never actually put the two together in that way; funny. Followed by the quote by Feynman, perfect.


A: "I recycle, that means I'm saving the planet."
B: "No, it means you're killing the planet at a slower pace."

peripatetic

PS Who cares if this has strayed OT? At this point, anyone who's still thinking there's five pages of great information on cleaning their chain is just a big sucker. Sometimes it's just fun to chat away.

jstar1000

I haven't read all the post as their were too many but I use brake parts cleaner and spray down on the lower section as I pedal and it completly washes away all the gunk and the spray pushes it out of the links, it dries super fast, I then lube and wipe clean and I'm on my way. I use the nashbar chain tool that allows you to spin the chain without the wheel on so I dont get it messy.