[lynspottery]

I recently retired and have discovered I had hoarded (yes, hoarded) tons of glazes that I will not ever use. Over the years because of the economy I had to actually go to work in an office to pay the bills. So my art languished.

I've just started to look into getting back into it. But...I won't use these glazes. I donated what I could but still have some left over that I need to dispose of. I cannot find any information from local disposal locations as they have no idea what to do ....any help would be appreciated

[Mark C.]

I'm sure someone will freak on this answer-for me I'd just dry them out with the lids off till they are in a dry state and throw the dry powder away as trash
Thats for high fire semi non toxic glazes with simple colorants.
cadmium glazes and the like need more drastic measures
Mark

[bciskepottery]

Most waste/trash sites have a capability for collecting unwanted paint, etc. You could probably deposit the glazes there, also. A medical waste collector might also be an alternative . . . although you'd likely have to pay.

[neilestrick]

I'm sure things have changed over the years, but when I was the tech at a ceramic supply company about 10 years ago, we had to dispose of some glaze chemicals. Most materials were not an issue, since they were simply powdered rocks that weren't immediately toxic (whiting, feldspar, flint, etc.) but the metallic oxides and barium carbonate were in question. After researching the local hazardous waste disposal requirements, it turned out that none of them were in a great enough volume to be of concern. But like I said, the requirements have surely changed over the last 10 years.

That said, I agree that you should just dry them out, bag them and put them in the trash...

[Wil]

neilestrick, on 02 February 2012 - 02:26 PM, said:

I'm sure things have changed over the years, but when I was the tech at a ceramic supply company about 10 years ago, we had to dispose of some glaze chemicals. Most materials were not an issue, since they were simply powdered rocks that weren't immediately toxic (whiting, feldspar, flint, etc.) but the metallic oxides and barium carbonate were in question. After researching the local hazardous waste disposal requirements, it turned out that none of them were in a great enough volume to be of concern. But like I said, the requirements have surely changed over the last 10 years.

That said, I agree that you should just dry them out, bag them and put them in the trash...

Do you still have the glazes? If you do, are they dried out? I would immagine that they would be. The reason is... I have kept the unused portions of the glazes that the students mixed and we kept them in buckets from some home improvement center. Mixing them up and letting them settle for a few minutes, gives me the most uniques glazes after a few minutes. It cannot be duplicated, the different compounds settle at different levels and gives you a rainbow of affects which are fantastic.

What cone range are these glazes?

What ever you do, do not dump the wet glaze compounds in the land fils or water reclamation system. You just wasted a fortune in glaze materials and probably broken a dozen other laws in the neighborhood.

[Round2potter]

At the University of Washington they USED to dry out the scrap, fire it into bricks and dump it in the ocean; in your case it might be best to fire the scrap before tossing it in the garbage. or maybe use it as garden decor or something. i have seen interesting things happen to scrap glaze chunks.

[Marcia Selsor]

Firing them is the best solution. Maybe fire them on bricks or just fire them in bowls to make them unsoluable. There could be a lot of toxin/heavy metals in those glazes. In many places you could be fined for dumping the raw material.
Marcia

[Mark C.]

Round2potter, on 01 December 2012 - 06:00 AM, said:

At the University of Washington they USED to dry out the scrap, fire it into bricks and dump it in the ocean; in your case it might be best to fire the scrap before tossing it in the garbage. or maybe use it as garden decor or something. i have seen interesting things happen to scrap glaze chunks.

Please folks do not throw them in the ocean-after firing them landfill them-the ocean is not a dumping ground.I have spent a great deal of my life fighting ocean pollution and fired bricks are not good for the sea spread willy nilly unless they makeup an artificial reef and you will need a lot of them for that.
Mark

[Mart]

lynspottery, on 02 February 2012 - 07:58 PM, said:

I recently retired and have discovered I had hoarded (yes, hoarded) tons of glazes that I will not ever use. Over the years because of the economy I had to actually go to work in an office to pay the bills. So my art languished.

I've just started to look into getting back into it. But...I won't use these glazes. I donated what I could but still have some left over that I need to dispose of. I cannot find any information from local disposal locations as they have no idea what to do ....any help would be appreciated

Why throw away a leftover glazes?
If you have small amounts of different glazes, mix them all together and see what happens.
Just in case, write down what you had because if you like the result, you be sorry if you do not know what it is and how to make more.

This workshop I go to, has a special can for all the leftovers and it's called "The Waste". Usually it produces surprisingly good results. We only use >1260-80 °C (cone 9?) glazes.

[missholly]

thats what i was planning to do with mine. mix them up, fire them on something and see what happens!!

[Thrown_In_Stone]

missholly, on 03 January 2013 - 02:23 PM, said:

thats what i was planning to do with mine. mix them up, fire them on something and see what happens!!

You may as well keep them. Even if you need the space, just dry them out and bag them up and keep them for a later date. They shouldn't take up that much space as dry powders. Or like others have suggested create a waste bucket and you might get some nice effects.

[Suzanee]

lynspottery, on 02 February 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

I recently retired and have discovered I had hoarded (yes, hoarded) tons of glazes that I will not ever use. Over the years because of the economy I had to actually go to work in an office to pay the bills. So my art languished.

I've just started to look into getting back into it. But...I won't use these glazes. I donated what I could but still have some left over that I need to dispose of. I cannot find any information from local disposal locations as they have no idea what to do ....any help would be appreciated

[Suzanee]

As already mentioned metal oxides are very bad for the environment and the only way to dispose of them is to fire them but this is not easy if you have a lot. I accumulate a lot and have never needed to through any glaze 'away'. My students are encouraged to dispose of their glaze waste into a bucket which when full is mixed,sieved and test fired. If the result is not to my liking I dry some of it out in order to accurately be able to reproduce the effects. All the glazes that are mixed should have the same firing temperature. To the first test I will add 10% quarts or flint to the second 20%.To the third test I will add 10%whiting to the fourth 20%. From these results you will know in which direction you want the glaze texture to go - matt or shiny.
To make the glaze darker add iron or manganese or intensify the colour it is already leaning towards.
If you want a lighter colour use titanium dioxide or zirconium, test within the standard amounts for each material but also go a little above recommended levels, the results can be very surprising.
If the glaze melts well but has an ugly colour try adding 5,10,15,20% lithium or 10,20,30,40% barium carbonate, you will get a range of good glazes.
I expect to get a good glaze from four test firings and it will have cost you very little as well as knowing the environment is not put at risk. Warning; testing can become addictive!

[JBaymore]

If you do the "Mystery Glaze" thing (leftovers all dumped together) don't use it on the interiors of potentially food bearing items without lab leach testing for the full spectrum of potential issues (since you have no idea of the chemical compositiion of the mess). And if you add more junk to that after doing such testing.... test it again.

best,

....................john

[cracked pot]

A side issue to glaze disposal that I have been wondering about: What do you do with the water that you use to wash out the brushes and pouring utensils when you glaze? ( I use commercial glaze and brush on almost all of my glazes.) There is quite a bit of sediment in the bottom of the bucket. I have been dumping the water in the far corner of my back yard but now have a new puppy that likes to eat grass and am a little concerned dumping the water with the sediment in the bottom.

[JBaymore]

cracked pot, on 26 February 2013 - 10:25 AM, said:

A side issue to glaze disposal that I have been wondering about: What do you do with the water that you use to wash out the brushes and pouring utensils when you glaze? ( I use commercial glaze and brush on almost all of my glazes.) There is quite a bit of sediment in the bottom of the bucket. I have been dumping the water in the far corner of my back yard but now have a new puppy that likes to eat grass and am a little concerned dumping the water with the sediment in the bottom.

Settle out all the sediments til the water layer is clear, dry them out, and then they are needing to be disposed of as "unknown content" potentially toxic wastes. If you are a private hobby potter...... use a household hazardous waste day. If you are a business...... you have potential other issues. But likely you are what is known as a a "small generator"...and below the regulatory threshold for needing a toxic waste handler.

It actually is a bit of a conundrum for the folks that are "in between". How to get right of the stuff. You CAN contract with a waste handler. But it is expensive. But you typically CAN'T use the "household" days (legally).

Make a THICK bisque fired stoneware bowl "crucible". Put the dried out old sediments into it. Fire it to a temperature that the mass sinters into a hard fused lump.... but does not metly into a glass. Throw it in the landfill.....it is pretty stable. FOr a cone 9-10 stoneware firing operation........ firing this to about cone 4-6 is usually adequate.

If you are not using soluble materials in your glazes .... the clear water content should not be an issue to opour on the grass. Get the MSDSs for the commercial glazes to figure out what THEY are using in the mixes.

best,


..............john

[cracked pot]

JBaymore, on 27 February 2013 - 11:11 AM, said:

cracked pot, on 26 February 2013 - 10:25 AM, said:

A side issue to glaze disposal that I have been wondering about: What do you do with the water that you use to wash out the brushes and pouring utensils when you glaze? ( I use commercial glaze and brush on almost all of my glazes.) There is quite a bit of sediment in the bottom of the bucket. I have been dumping the water in the far corner of my back yard but now have a new puppy that likes to eat grass and am a little concerned dumping the water with the sediment in the bottom.

Settle out all the sediments til the water layer is clear, dry them out, and then they are needing to be disposed of as "unknown content" potentially toxic wastes. If you are a private hobby potter...... use a household hazardous waste day. If you are a business...... you have potential other issues. But likely you are what is known as a a "small generator"...and below the regulatory threshold for needing a toxic waste handler.

It actually is a bit of a conundrum for the folks that are "in between". How to get right of the stuff. You CAN contract with a waste handler. But it is expensive. But you typically CAN'T use the "household" days (legally).

Make a THICK bisque fired stoneware bowl "crucible". Put the dried out old sediments into it. Fire it to a temperature that the mass sinters into a hard fused lump.... but does not metly into a glass. Throw it in the landfill.....it is pretty stable. FOr a cone 9-10 stoneware firing operation........ firing this to about cone 4-6 is usually adequate.

If you are not using soluble materials in your glazes .... the clear water content should not be an issue to opour on the grass. Get the MSDSs for the commercial glazes to figure out what THEY are using in the mixes.

best,


..............john

Thanks for the information. I don't generate much waste so I think your suggestion to fire the sediments is probably best for me. At the community studio where I took classes, we just washed everything down the drain since they had a trap. Don't know what they did with the solids.