As my barn is not connected to water/sewer, I have a utility sink in my shop that is gravity fed by a 50 gallon tank, and then drains to a 5 gallon bucket.
Upon calling my township asking how they would like me to dispose of rinse water for cleanup of water-based finishes their reply was to just bring the 5 gallon bucket into the house and dump down the drain.
I guess most just wash brushes and spray gear in a sink connected to sewer anyways, but seeing what's in the 5 gal bucket gives me pause (a lot more paint goes down the drain than I'd realized!) and makes me want a better way. While I'm small volume, and following a township directed approach, I'd like to save a bit of this from the environment.
Note: I do know that some folks will dehydrate their cleanup water and throw the solids in the trash. This just isn't realistic in my opinion - takes way too long to evaporate 5 gallons each time.
In addition to pre-scraping/combing as much finish off of gear prior to washing, I was thinking that perhaps there's some sort of colander / strainer that can be used during cleaning to catch some material before it goes down the drain.
So, the question is... Do you know if the strainer idea has merit, and do you have experience with a specific product that would be a good option?
Or, do you have other ideas on how to reduce the amount of water-based paint spoils that go into the water treatment center?