Disposing of old antifreeze?

I just exchanged my one-year-old green coolant (with VC-8 additive) for Zerex G-05, by repeatedly draining and refilling with distilled water (4 gal each time is all that would come out). In doing so I accumulated 4 gals. of 50/50 which I'll use in my '65 F-350 with a coolant leak from a head gasket. But I also have 4 gals of 25% antifreeze, and four more of 12.5%. The final two dilutions had so little antifreeze remaining that I just let it run out on the ground (rural area).

I can't find any place to dispose of the partially-diluted coolant! Autozone, O'Reilly, my local oil-change place AND my mechanic won't take it. Nor will the waste transfer station. Oil only. Apparently mechanics just sneak theirs into the big tank of used oil, since they are allowed a certain percentage of contamination before red flags go up. So they aren't interested in taking any more.

As environmental pollutants go, ethylene glycol is fairly benign. But I just don't want to dump it on the dirt... What does everyone do with theirs?

I've got free roaming animals so I'm very careful not to dump any out i usually fill old juice jugs and throw it out with the trash when I make a dump run I just make sure the jug is not clear

If you are on sewer I understand you can dump it down the toilet. Don't do it with septic however.

I am on septic, so it's not going there.

Although sewage treatment plants can handle the antifreeze, in many cities (including all the large ones in MO) it's illegal to do so.

Maybee you could find a mechanic's shop with an antifreeze recycler. They may take it.

Just incase you're in a tree-hugging area like over here in Western WA, there are many recycling events throughout the spring and fall put on by different cities. The big ones will have tire/battery/scrap metal/antifreeze/WMO/etc disposal available. These are largely because you can't drop off much of that at the transfer stations anymore.

Yeah, that's about the best idea right now. I also have a box of lead-containing gel cells, some dead nicad batteries, etc. All the stuff you aren't supposed to throw in the trash!

This is not a tree-hugging area, but low taxes mean low services... some years they don't even have the household waste recycling day.

Why not strain it & bring it up to 50/50 and use it in the leaker? That's what I did before getting rid of the leaker jeep.

You might check to see if the county has a place that will take it. Over here there is a drop off site that is open a couple of days a week.

square1 said:

Why not strain it & bring it up to 50/50 and use it in the leaker? That's what I did before getting rid of the leaker jeep.

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Yes things like that^^^.
I save things like that and run some thru my steam cleaner on shut-down when it's supposed to get down really low temp.....like 10*to minus-30* round here. Last $700 pressure pump I put on this Landa made me decide that antifreeze & windshield washer fluid is cheap!!!

As a side note, in '04 I helped a friend clean up & dispose of a tractor/farm implement salvage yard when he sold out. He had to get a County Hazardous Waste Inspection of the property. We were worried about all the yrs of spilled oil dumped on ground. We found out inspector was looking for Lead Battery Acid stuff 1st first, antifreeze stuff 2nd, then spilled motor oil 3rd in that order. & he could have given a rip about the spilled oil.

We ran round moving & (hiding....shhh) everything fore inspector got there......

Around here they often use old antifreeze for ballast in AG tires. Beats the heck out of calcium because it's not corrosive and won't damage wheels. AG shops will usually take it for free.

catbird7 said:

Around here they often use old antifreeze for ballast in AG tires. Beats the heck out of calcium because it's not corrosive and won't damage wheels. AG shops will usually take it for free.

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Ditto on that ^^^. Didn't think about that but you're right. Lot cheaper than Calcium too.

catbird7 said:

Around here they often use old antifreeze for ballast in AG tires. Beats the heck out of calcium because it's not corrosive and won't damage wheels. AG shops will usually take it for free.

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That's a good idea. I HATED calcium when I used to fix Ag tires for a living.

port inject the old coolant like water ****. This is un related but, I was reading a forum post about blowing a gasket on a dyno and had a sudden peak of HP. I did some diggin and found out that propylene glycol (coolant) is also known as propane-diol. A propane molecule with 2 oxygen atoms. makes ya think doesnt it? It does combust at 600c. Vape nation knows about this because its what vape juice is.

Anyways, propylene glycol is really not that toxic. The sca additive might be. I honestly just dump it. water treatment can handle a couple of gallons in the sewer.

Come on guys, don't just dump chemicals into the dirt. Haven't you ever heard that you shouldn't **** where you eat?