How do you keep your co workers save at work from the impact of discharge

[Rockers]

We are looking of ways of reducing the impact  discharge might have on our work force and our surrounding neighbors. Now for the exhaust of our dryer we will probably go for an HVAC filter but what do you use inside your shop to reduce toxins from discharge inks?
Do you staff has to wear masks when mixing activator into the inks? Do you have an exhaust over the flash in case you have to flash a discharge base, you go any good air circulation in your shop, any  industrial air purifiers?

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I wonder why no one has weighed in on this yet.

Honesty is the best policy.... I don't worry to much about it. Call me naive if you like. But as long as I can't really smell it much while printing, I figure the risk is minimal. The ink collected during and after clean up,  now that's another matter.  That stuff is pretty stanky and I haven't got a really good plan. Our discharge jobs have been small so far. A full day of discharge printing, or several in a row, would force me to step up my game in this area.

[TCred]

One option might be to use the Discharge BIO inks with no formaldehyde from manufacturers such as Amex or Virus. The added advantage is there is no requirement to wash the garments before use.

[Rockers]

One option might be to use the Discharge BIO inks with no formaldehyde from manufacturers such as Amex or Virus. The added advantage is there is no requirement to wash the garments before use.

Virus Discharge Plus is low on Formaldehyde but not free of. Now Magna Color they offer Formaldehyde free activators but who knows of they are not toxic as well?

[Rockers]

I wonder why no one has weighed in on this yet.

Yes I was wondering about that too. To say I`m disappointed is an understatement;)
Well, we have no regulations regarding ink disposal here in Japan. All we need is a contract with a private refuse company which our landlord got. I`m really more worried about the actual time during printing and pre press when inks are prepared. When we work with CCI inks the stink is sometimes very obvious.

[Dottonedan]

I wonder if the chemicals in Discharge are of any amount "required" to mention anything or enough to have some concern. I say that out of ignorance. I don't know anything about the makeup of the inks. I just know that we don't hear about this part of the subject of using discharge EVER. Not in magazines, Facebook groups or forums. To me, that says for most of the discharge used today, it's less of an issue and potentially not enough of an impact on people to make it a topic. I am just tossing our potentials.

[Doug B]

  More than likely if anybody does make an issue of it, the government will regulate
it out of existance.

[TCT]

I'm gonna go ahead and speculate that the reason that there is so little response is that 98% of us probably only have a "OK" system in place and we know it.... "Hypothetically" again a lot of us probably know we should have something better in place, but there are no real official guidelines to follow.

You printers that don't know what snow is I assume have it a bit easier, open windows and doors make a massive difference.

We have 2 exhaust fans/systems in our shop, but over the Christmas break we are installing another large one over our main press. Keep in mind though that with exhaust systems you need adequate fresh make up air.

You guys outside the states have a handful of non-formaldehyde  options from various companies. You can switch in another companies activator and see what you think. In the states the only commercially available non-formaldehyde brand we can buy is from Magna. They have a rock solid US patten on that. There ways around it here, but they require a little extra hoop jumping, and let's be honest who has time for that!

[Binkspot]

It's all in the MSDS, proper handling. Looking at the CCI stuff it really does not seem that bad. Good ventilation, circulating fresh air is always a good start. I have been in two shops that have exhaust hoods above the flash units to pull fumes/vapors outside. As with any fine dust like the activator try and keep the airborn partials to a minimum and or use a properly fitting dust mask to reduce inhalation of the particals (beards need to be shaved to properly use).  As far as filters it may not be prictical based on the particals you are trying to remove.

The chemicals in your reclaim could be worse then what your printing with.

[tonypep]

We run DC on 4 autos/2 manuals with no problem however..... this facility was built from the ground up with proper ventilation and filtered draining so we're a bit spoiled I suppose. Waste ink is handled by a licensed hazmat company every couple of years.

[IntegrityShirts]

We run DC on 4 autos/2 manuals with no problem however..... this facility was built from the ground up with proper ventilation and filtered draining so we're a bit spoiled I suppose. Waste ink is handled by a licensed hazmat company every couple of years.

Do you have a storage tank for excess wb inks that you dump into and that get's emptied every year? Trying to visualize a workflow for this.

[tonypep]

Four 50 gal drums. They bring empties and pick up the full ones.

[brandon]

We are on a smaller scale so we use 5 gallon buckets. At half way we fill the rest with concrete and mix and let sit for a few days. Turns solid and safe to dispose of. According to Waste Management and the ink companies anyway