Disposing of old Antifreeze?

[Grumpy old man 4,682]

Hi

How do people dispose of their old antifreeze responsibly? Took mine to the local recycle centre and was told just to throw it into household waste.

 

Cheers

Grumpy 

[Guest bonekicker]

I recently went to our local car recycling garage and was not surprised at all-- the air con gas is supposed to be recycled but was just opened up allowed to escape-- antifreeze disposal was onto the floor--oil in a huge metal container--the 3 young lads did not know what day it was never mind about recycling.  

[Tonyj 6,907]

That has always made me chuckle boney . An industry at the vanguard of changing the world with its recycling ethos , is generally run by some very shadey characters in or on green belt land . I think the one on theA13 has caught fire twice and required a massive response from the brigade and shutting down the A13 in the process :0)

[Tex 36,817]

7 hours ago, Grumpy old man said:

Hi

How do people dispose of their old antifreeze responsibly? Took mine to the local recycle centre and was told just to throw it into household waste.

 

Cheers

Grumpy 

 

You’ve got me thinking now. I put fresh anti freeze in the Street Triple about 18 months back and I’m damned if I can remember what I did with the old stuff. I suspect it’s still in the plastic containers that the fresh stuff came in. I need to check.

[larryblag 14,236]

I would think that especially for The small amount used in a bike it could be diluted with water to the point where it's effectively inert or at least not considered a hazard to wildlife or the water course?

[Reckless 945]

A few times, certainly when I changed the coolant in my pan1100 I've used what I've drained off for topping up in my other vehicles

[Dunnster 1,650]

I took my used/old coolant/antifreeze to the local tip or recycling centre, as its known nowadays. There was no info on what to do with it so I left it near the waste engine oil container in a clearly marked bottle. 

[Guest bonekicker]

I would think most people would just put it down the road drain--we call them suffs --don't know why--stupid name !!! 

[Mikdent 4,070]

Save it and use it in the summer as weed killer. 

Edited November 22, 2017 by Mikdent

[embee 7,288]

It definitely must not on any account be put on the ground or in any sort of watercourse, it is highly toxic but is actually liked by animals, cats especially will drink it and it will kill them. Sorry to be abrupt, but please don't dispose of it that way.

I take mine to the tip and as Mike Dunnster says, leave it by the waste oil tank. I suspect it gets poured in there and ends up being used as fuel. Waste oil can be recycled usefully, but at a council tip it is so contaminated with all sorts of stuff I doubt they do anything other than burn it.

[Trumpet 216]

To the tip for specialist disposal. Please, not down the grid. It's poisonous to animals.

[shiggsy 529]

18 hours ago, Grumpy old man said:

 Took mine to the local recycle centre and was told just to throw it into household waste.

 

Ditto.

[pilninggas 22]

27 minutes ago, embee said:

It definitely must not on any account be put on the ground or in any sort of watercourse, it is highly toxic but is actually liked by animals, cats especially will drink it and it will kill them. Sorry to be abrupt, but please don't dispose of it that way.

I take mine to the tip and as Mike Dunnster says, leave it by the waste oil tank. I suspect it gets poured in there and ends up being used as fuel. Waste oil can be recycled usefully, but at a council tip it is so contaminated with all sorts of stuff I doubt they do anything other than burn it.

Yeah it just gets burned off at very high temp in a combined natural gas-waste generation cycle.

[Grumpy old man 4,682]

Thanks guys, I thought about tipping it in with the engine oil as I was also disposing of some oil but when I asked I was told the above. In future I'll just leave it by the oil.

 

thanks

[Tonyj 6,907]

I've been diluting my Austrian white with it for years :0)

[Reckless 945]

13 hours ago, Trumpet said:

To the tip for specialist disposal. Please, not down the grid. It's poisonous to animals.

The last anti-freeze I put in the cooling systems where I used to work were safe for the environment and non-toxic, mono-pentane glycol I think, I used it to replace mono-ethylene glycol in furnace cooling systems, both are colourless.