Keeping acrylic paint out of our waterways

When I wrote an earlier blog post 'Cleaning Your Palette Without Damaging the Planet' I invited my subscribers to send me any further tips or tricks they had to be more eco-friendly with their acrylic paint waste. 

Though my previous post helped reduce the amount of paint going down the drain, it did not address how to deal with the water from cleaning my brushes and tools.

As I live in a rural location and our waste water does not go to a treatment plant, it goes straight into our septic tank. So to keep it healthy we need to ensure we don't send toxic chemicals down the drain.

I was very excited when one of my subscribers Ingrid Dam from the Netherlands emailed me with some fantastic tips for making eco-friendly paint and how to deal with my waste water. So I thought I would share that with you. (I am not an affiliate of any of these brands or Amazon by the way - just sharing)

Switch to an eco-friendly brand of paint

Ingrid recommended a brand called Marabu Green which is 92% natural ingredients. Unfortunately I can't buy it in New Zealand - but I am posting the link here for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere.

Make your own eco-friendly paints and modelling pastes

Pebeo Studio Green Gesso and   modelling paste are a great alternative to the acrylic versions and are available here and in the Northern hemisphere. And you can make your own paints with Pebeo Studio Green Recycled Acrylic Binder and your own pigments.

Still want to use your favourite acrylics?

If you are like me it is impossible to make my own fluro pink acrylic paint - so what can I do with that pesky waste water from cleaning my brushes?

Ingrid's recipe for eco-cleaning is:

"When you’re done painting (or the water is to dirty to do the job anymore), you get a clean empty jar and a coffee filter. You can use a plastic holder or hang the paper filter on top, tied up with a rubber band.

Now, in a little jar or cup you put in 1 teaspoon of alum powder and dissolve this in a little hot water. That goes into the jar with dirty water. Stir slowly for about a minute. You will see that particles will flock. If it doesn’t flock you need some more alum powder. 

If you leave this for a while, you will see that the flocks are sticking and on top there’s clean (acidic) water. Now, slowly, pour the “dirty” jar in your coffee filter, leaving the acrylic microplastics in your filter and in the jar clean acidic water. The filter can be thrown away in the bin, the water you can use to clean your toilet, it can remove calcification incredibly and it’s not harmful the environment."

So I've ordered some alum powder and coffee filters and I am going to give it a go!

Thanks so much Ingrid - I really love it when a subscriber answers my emails.

If you're reading this and looking for your own way to help the planet I hope this is of help to you too.

Angela x

PS if you are thinking of trying one of my courses - you can get 15% off one of my online courses by signing up for either of my:

FREE 7 Day Adventure to Meet Your Inner Artist  or  FREE Discover Your Intuitive Colour Palette Training