How to safely clean up spilled chain oil Perhaps this is not bicycle specific since this could happen with any petroleum-based oil, but since the specific oil I spilled is chain oil I'm asking here.
I have a plastic box that I keep all of my bike-related stuff in (hex keys, extra reflectors, bearings, lubes, degreaser, etc...). I pulled it down the other day and my bottle of rock n' roll gold lube (presumably) had been leaking and spilled all throughout the box. I understand that I shouldn't be mindlessly washing this stuff down the drain, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to clean it.
Is it indeed bad to wash petroleum-based oils down the drain? Is it safe to wipe down the surfaces with a paper towel and dispose of that? What is the best way to go about cleaning this?
Getting the oil into either a container or solid material like paper towel or cloth will prevent it from spreading. It should then be treated as &quot;household hazardous waste&quot;. It is toxic to many creatures (like us if swallowed!) and so it is actually illegal to put it down the drain in most places in the US at least.
Bigger cities/counties in the US usually have household hazardous waste disposal centers/procedures for safely disposing things like paint, oil, solvents and other chemicals, batteries and so forth. They will have instructions on how to &quot;package&quot; it, label it, and where to bring it or set it out for pickup.