Disposing of coolant

timbob

timbob

timbob

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Joined
27 Nov 2002
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I've suddenly remembered that I have a bucket of old engine coolant (about 5 litres worth), diluted with the water I flushed the system through with, sitting covered in my shed.

Is it safe to pour down the drain, or is coolant a "take it to a proper disposal place" type affair?
 
Antifreeze is toxic, and you aren't supposed to pour it down drains, though I'm sure many people do. God knows where you can dispose of it properly though, my local tip takes waste oil but I've not seen a coolant disposal facility. Might be worth ringing the local council though.

Just make sure no animals (or children) can get to it. Anti-freeze tatses sweet so animals tend to be attracted to it. A guy in LocostBuilders lost his dog because it licked up some spilt coolant from his garage floor :(
 
Dogbreath said:
Antifreeze is toxic, and you aren't supposed to pour it down drains, though I'm sure many people do. God knows where you can dispose of it properly though, my local tip takes waste oil but I've not seen a coolant disposal facility. Might be worth ringing the local council though.

Just make sure no animals (or children) can get to it. Anti-freeze tatses sweet so animals tend to be attracted to it. A guy in LocostBuilders lost his dog because it licked up some spilt coolant from his garage floor :(
Click to expand...
it sure is bad stuff
mine ran all over the grass in the middle of the 2 paths on my driveway 3 years ago, the grass and the weeds are still not back.
 
You could always ask at your local garage and see how they get rid of thiers,They might even get rid of it for you if you ask nicely.
 
I kinda cannot believe people would dump coolant/antifreeze down the drain.
would you also dump oil or petrol?

It takes 1 minute to phone the local council, or even the Environment Agency to get some information.

If I recall, some car dealers will take it from you, as they will be registered waste carriers and have a licence to dispose of it in an environmental way.

Dumping it is just lazy and irresponsible. the pollution in the water can be devastating, killing masses of wildlife, and yes it does not take a massive tanker spill. One idiot dumping a car load of cooland can kill a lot of wildlife.

think, please!

ps, this was a party political broadcast from an Environment Agency employee (albeit on the IT side, but I still see what happens!)
 
Surley if you put it down the drain it wont harm wildlife? does that water not get treated or anything?
 
if you just pour it down a normal storm drain it could quite easily seep into the water course
 
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