Acrylic is wonderful because of the easy soap and water clean-up. But when your painting session is finished, you are left with a bucket or container of dirty water.
What to do with this dirty water?
Dumping it down the drain is not the best solution for our environment. The generally suggested disposal method involves dumping your dirty water into a large open container, like a 5 gallon bucket, and then allowing it dry. After the water has evaporated, the idea is to peel out the dried paint and throw it away as a solid.
This keeps wet pigment and binder particles out of our waterways.
The Reality
This disposal method is a huge hassle for the casual painter as well as anyone with small children. Exactly where are we to store this mucky mess while it dries? Outside? Inside? In the Garage? In the basement? Fine if you have the square footage, but not everyone is this lucky.
I wish I had the magic answer for you. I struggle with this issue too. Since I paint very frequently I go use the 5 gallon bucket method for dumping and then I wait … wait … wait.. for the mucky water to evaporate. It takes a while since I live in the humid Southeastern USA.
The dried paint doesn’t really just “peel” out of the bucket. I have yet to successfully stick my head and hands into the dry gray, yucky bucket and peel out more than about a 3 inch square. Frankly, I have better things to do with my time. So I just re-fill my bucket, over and over, always hoping it will evaporate at a rate faster than I am uploading into it.
Dispose of solids not liquids
Overall, it is better to dispose of acrylic paint in solid form not liquid form. Most articles on this topic deal with disposing of actual acrylic paint, not paint water. Showing pictures of pouring house paint out on plastic sheets to dry then rolling it up and putting it in the garbage.
GASP !! Obviously not written by an artist.
I think all of us here can agree that artists are not going to dispose of our fine art paint, we use and cherish our paint! Not a bit is wasted. We certainly are not going to consider pouring it out to dry only to throw it away later.
But this still doesn’t solve our issue of dirty paint water.
Our best Advice:
Suck it up and use the bucket. Find a place that it can be stored and give it time to evaporate. Console yourself as you do this by repeating over and over, I am taking the high road. I am saving the earth. I am doing the right thing…
It may help overcome the huge inconvenience the dirty paint water disposal creates.
Do you have an alternative method for disposing of your dirty paint water?
Please leave your reply in our comments section below!
I think focusing on solids is the right approach. I have small containers (can even be empty paint jars) on the table and put all my palette leftovers in that. Before I put my brush in water I always wipe it with a rag first, removing most paint.
So the water in my rinsing bucket has so little acrylic in it I’d probably never get a film built up. In fact I’m fairly certain of this since I only clean out my bucket every month or two – usually just topping it up with fresh water in the meantime.
Hey Tina!
Hope things are well in the UK. Wish I could escape the coming summer heat and just “pop” over there for the summer.
Wiping the paint off the brush with a cloth BEFORE rinsing the brush is a essential. I am glad you mentioned it because I had forgotten.
It is a BASIC thing, but when a person is learning to paint, they might not realize how much this time this will save them when dealing with their dirty paint water.
Are you brave enough to send me a pick of your dirty paint bucket setup? Would love to post it here as an example from a working artist’s studio?
(I know you are pretty busy, so no worries if you don’t have time for this silliness
email: cindy@acrylicpaintreview.com
Cindy, editor
Acrylic Paint Review
~~IMPORTED COMMENTS FROM OUR FACEBOOK PAGE ~~
SUSAN : I think this is a great article. Years ago, I was part of an art group downtown and after years of dumping acrylic paint down the drain there was a massive “stopped up ” system that was very expensive to fix!!!!
WENDY: Thanks, I never really knew or thought about this. I will definitely try the bucket.
Acrylic artist Bob Burridge offers this solution:
Disposing of your Dirty Water – Pantyhose in a Bucket
For those of you who live in an environmentally sensitive apartment or have questionable plumbing and/or sewage issues, getting rid of your “dirty water” from acrylic painting can be problematic. Also, workshops conducted in community centers, old buildings, school rooms, etc. have benefited from this great studio tip I learned from the San Diego Watercolor Society. You can dump your dirty water right down the drain if you do this:
1) Drill or cut holes around thebottom edge of a five gallon bucket.
2) Next, place a pair of old pantyhose (remember those?) inside the bucket and secure the waistline around the top edge.
3) Place the bucket inside a sink or outside on the ground.
4) Dump your dirty water into the bucket. The pantyhose acts as a filter and collects any debris. The filtered colored water pours out through the holes in the bottom. Of course, replace the pantyhose filter when it becomes too clogged or ineffective.
Hi Cindy,
I love your website and I have cheekily already placed a link on our resource on our painting pages – I hope this is ok. NontoxicPrint.com (including SafePainting.com) is quickly growing into the most extensive online resource on safe and innovative practice in printing and painting; we are a nonprofit resource with more of an academic background (I am a professor of art based in Chicago).
My answer to your question on acrylic waste water, or liquid waste, would be to mix it with a packet of washing soda, stir, and let it stand for 30 minutes.
This creates a chemical reaction called ‘Saponification’ that brakes the polymer bonds, after which the solution can be safely diluted and discarded down the drain. See ‘The Art of Polymers’ on http://www.nontoxicprint.com/acrylicresistetching.htm
Maybe we could find other ways we could work together? For instance an article on the history of acrylics and their health and safety benefits would fit right into our site. Or if you have something else on your site that would fit with our mission, just let us know.
with all best wishes from
NontoxicPrint.com & SafePainting.com
Friedhard Kiekeben
(publisher)
My email address is: fkiekeben@yahoo.com
Dear Professor Kiekeben,
At Acrylic Paint Review, We love cheeky! Thanks for the link, and most of all thank you for your expertise about disposing of dirty paint water.
It has been an ongoing issue for me over the years. Last summer we moved to a nearly pristine environmental in Northern Arkansas, with some of the nations clearest rivers loaded with trout. I am becoming more and more concerned and aware of our watershed, and I want to do everything possible to protect it and keep it beautiful.
Cindy
one quick question, when you speak of mixing it with washing soda, what exactly do you mean? Commercial laundry detergent in powder form? Liquid form? or commercial dishwashing detergent, powder or liquid? Or baking soda? Down in the Southern USA, “washing soda” usually means baking soda to some of us.
Thanks again,
Cindy
Thank you Cindy! One more note on safe disposal of acrylic paint water: The proper name for washing soda is sodium carbonate. Arm & Hammer sell it in cheap boxes, and many hardware stores sell it too. Best to use hot water when mixing it, so that the remaining acrylic polymers can be fully broken down before disposal.
Regarding how to properly, i.e., safely for the environment, dispose of acrylic waste water (or oil paint waste solvents), one of the simplest means is to empty same into a container of cat-litter, following cat-litter instructions, and when “full” (meaning the cat-litter fully saturated), dispose as solid garbage waste. Perhaps not as chemically precise a disposal as some, but still simple and effective.
What a brilliant resource. I am so grateful. Thank you. I am going to buy some sodium carbonate, find some old tights and buy some cat litter. Hopefullu I will find a mehtod whihc works for me to manage to be environmentally friendly as a painter, as this is such an important issue. Thank you so much
Hi- I am a painter and an elementary art teacher. This is something I am concerned with, and taking the above steps when I am painting at home is relatively easy- but when I teach Kindergarten through 4th grade… that’s a whole other story. Due to the nature of back to back classes, and young kids, I can’t seem to get around dumping paint/paint water down the sink!! I would love to find a different method. Is it better for the environment for the kids to use/mix their paint on a paper plate, so it can dry up and I throw it away?? I always thought I was helping by using the plastic mixing trays and not always throwing stuff in the landfill… It’s a challenge. I’ve tried to search for other art educators (particularly for the young kids) and their safe practices, but I can’t find much out there! Anyone have some thoughts?
Using a 5 gallon bucket of sand to pour your dirty water into will filter the paint particles. The water will evaporate leaving “solid” paint which can then be scooped and thrown out every so often. I keep mine outside in my garage. In a large studio with lots of students, a barrel of sand could be placed outside so all to use. Let’s all Save the Earth…
Thanks so much for sharing this. As a newcomer to the field of visual art, I’ve been very interested in where all the waste goes from an environmental standpoint. This is great information. Another question: In the community studio I work at, we use corrugated cardboard paint palettes. After the paint dries, can these be recycled even though they have a bit of dried paint on them? I’m having a hard time finding an answer to that one….
Not sure about the cardboard palettes, they are both paper and plastic so not certain which recycle bin I would put them in. Sorry, I’m not much help either, Karyn. Thanks for ready Acrylic Paint Review, look forward to hearing from you again! Cindy Davis, Sr. Editor
THANK YOU!!
I’ve recently gotten very interested in painting, but have been having the hardest time to find a method that won’t hurt our environment D: My mom told me to flush the dirty paint water down the toilet, but I figured that would probably end up the same place as down the sink ._.
I outta try one of these methonds sometime :’D
Hi,
I’m new to acrylics…used to be an oil painter, but when I found out I had copd, had to leave oil (with the turpentine, etc) so I could breathe. Anyway, when I used turpentine with the oils, I just waited for the dirty paint to settle at the bottom and poured the clean oil into another jar. Maybe the same thing can be done with acrylic and the water. Wait for the acrylics to settle at the bottom (which probably would only take a day) pour the water into another container and re-use. recycle the water. Or another idea I just thought of is using kitty litter? You know! how it clumps up when the cat uses it, and you just put the clumps in a disposable bag and throw it out?
Hi Laurel,
Yes, I love to use the glass jar with the silver spring inside for my oil painting. I use two, one for dirty, and one for a final rinse. A trick a learned from an older Italian gentleman. Bristle brushes stay clean and flexible.
As for acrylic, it’s not so much about saving the dirty paint water to reuse, but getting rid of the solid particles in a responsible way. I have found they do indeed settle in 2-3 days, but then they stick permanently to the bottom of my paint bucket.
Try it out as well as the kitty litter and tell us how it works. It’s hard to know until you test it.
thanks for the ideas! sorry to hear of your copd.
Cindy
Just wipe the brushes really well with a rag – then wash with soap and water. The rag will remove most of the solid part.
If you have an attic, especially if you live in warmer climates, you can put your bucket up there and it wiil dry out very quickly, at least in the warm parts of the year. I would only do this with water, not solvents, and you need to set up a very solid, sturdy place for the bucket…you don’t want a couple of gallons of that leaking down through your ceiling.
Re: Washing Soda/Sodium Carbonate: This is not baking soda as it is known in the US. Baking soda is Sodium Bicarbonate.
It is harder to find pure Sodium Carbonate in the US.
I’m going to try the kitty litter bucket method.