can you clean water based inks safely in the kitchen sink?

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crowley
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Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2015 6:32 pm

can you clean water based inks safely in the kitchen sink?

Post by crowley »

Pretty much what the subject said I was just watching a video on YouTube and this dude said not to clean water based inks in the kitchen sink. I do my shirts out of a super small place and really have no choice. Thanks in advance Crowley
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Catspit Productions
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Re: can you clean water based inks safely in the kitchen sin

Post by Catspit Productions »

Yes, technically water based inks should not go down the drain as is the case with plastisol inks. In fact water based inks pose a greater disposal challenge than that of plastisol but today people have been convinced plastisol is toxic and bad. But when used properly it is not. Same with water based inks.

For a once in a while hobbyist level you're fine washing things out in your sink. If you were producing on a commercial level then I would tell you to get a filtration system but as long as we are talking about hobbyist and DIY levels of production then you should fall way under the requirements for waste disposal. Your output of waste per year should be below the levels of tolerance.
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WinterWooskie
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Joined: Thu May 24, 2018 10:32 pm

Re: can you clean water based inks safely in the kitchen sink?

Post by WinterWooskie »

Hi. I'm following these old posts about filtration systems. I am currently printing textile yardage at a hobbyist level with hopes to grow in the near future, but at this point washing screens maybe 50x/year. I use waterbased inks. I live in Alaska where there are basically no regulations, but I'm concerned about what gets flushed down the drain in general, and also because I'm on a septic system. I'm having a difficult time understanding what level is harmful (any? certain # of washouts/month?) and want to just go to a filtration system, but most of the premanufactured options I'm finding are way overkill for my solo artist setup. I'm leaning toward a basic DIY filtration setup...does this sound reasonable? Any particular tips? One of your posts mentioned using media filter paper from a professional setup in a home setup.

Thank you.
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