Dumping water with latex or acrylic paint solids down the drain delivers microplastics straight into the environment. We treat and filter paint water to remove the polymer particles. The clean water, once pH-balanced, can be poured onto the garden.

For each gallon of paint water:
- Stir in 1/2 TBS each of of aluminum sulfate and lime, available in the garden section of a hardware store.
- Let sit overnight to flocculate (paint solids clump and settle).
- Pour through a coffee filter supported by a screen over a bucket.
- Check the pH of the clear water to ensure it's between 5 and 9.
- Adjust pH: add lime (if pH <5) and aluminum sulfate (if pH >9)
- Pour the clean water onto soil or down the drain.
- Once the remaining paint solids have dried, I throw the coffee filter in the garbage (though sometimes I snap a photo first).