Paint thinner should be absorbed by paper towels, tied up in plastic bags, and taken to the dump on toxic waste days.

Water-based latex paint can be cleaned in sinks; I've heard it's both okay and not okay if the house is on a septic system.

Oil based paints have to be cleaned up with toxic materials and should never ,ever go into a sink or any other water system; cleaned with rags and, again, disposed of at dumps on hazardous waste days.
No one should be dumping anything toxic anywhere other than the dump on hazardous waste days.

People do the wrong thing all the time, then they get pissed when the government steps in with regulations, say, to keep people from getting poisoned by the bad actions of others.

This post was edited by Tibbrix on Thu, Jul 24, 14 at 9:06

I don't want to risk clogging up my sink and I'm on septic, so I rinse my water-based paints out on the lawn with lots of water...the lawn likes the water and any color dissipates quickly. I then bring it into the house for the final washing with soap and water, once most of the paint is gone.

What Annie said.

funny... we have had septic too last few yrs and it seems that painters have always wanted to wash their brushes in our sink--- a couple of times i have had to direct outside!! i had read that latex paint should never be washed into a septic system and i called the septic co to confirm and they said never! ... will clog holes to leach field. (strawberry seeds apparantly can also wreak havoc for those who have garbage disposals...)

I also wash outside where the lawn can absorb it. Done properly, there isn't that much water to run off. I can't imagine any brush or roller I've ever washed using more than 10 gallons of water.

If you haven't used it, get a 5 in one tool for painting. In addition to things like a paint can opener and a scraper and a point all built into one, it has a u shaped carve out which is actually a roller scraper. It is amazing how much paint you can save out of a roller before cleaning it...you keep the paint and you get a roller that's a lot easier to clean.