How hard it is to be green?!!

There used to be a forum called something like 'It's easy to be Green'. Dick Strawbridge of Return to the Chateau fame ran it.
But I can't answer your question, Trisher. I don't know much about painting, of any kind.

Wel trisher I think you have hit in the nub of anything ‘green’
To change one thing, another is put under pressure.
None of us knows enough, and facts are emerging every day which change the direction we should support!

Back to your problem, have you googled it? You should get more precise info than you might on here!
Wel done for trying to do the right thing though!?

Similar thing, do you wash out your bottles, (plastic, tins) before you put them in the recycling bins? I do, couldn´t bear to throw in a ketchup bottle with gunge at the bottom. But it rather seems to beat the point with all the water being used. I remember a beekeeper putting a notice on the recycling bins asking people to wash out their bottles before putting them in, as his bees were dying from rancid left-overs in bottles.

The trouble it's not cheap to be green . If the government made green items cheaper , people would more likely to change .

I rinse out all my bottles/tins/plastic before putting it in the recycling.

When I paint I always wash the brushes/roller but I do buy good quality, my Dad was a Painter & Decorator

Difficult to know what is best

We are all so taken in by retailers. The best roller has wool, not plastic foam. This can easily be washed and used again and again. Have one must be about 40 years old.

Think of the energy that goes into producing the brush as well. From what I have read it is greener to wash. Do not do under running tap and use water based paints

Used tins and bottles do not need to be sparkling, just clean.

Keep a washing up bowl in your sink. Every time you wash your hands or rinse something, do so over the bowl so that you can collect the water. Use that to rinse cans ( or even water the garden. )When draining boiled veg, do so into the washing up bowl so that the water can be utilized for cleaning "dirties" like tins.

I have a shower over the bath. I put the plug in and collect the shower water. I use that to water my garden in the summer ( bailing out with a bowl and bucket.)

I drink black tea. Anything that is left over ( rarely!) goes to my house plants. They love black tea, especially my windowsill basil

Removing all the paint you can with old newspaper will make your roller and tray easier to get clean without wasting a lot of water or filling the drain with paint.

Keep the bottles and tins until you have washed something that is too delicate or too large for the dishwasher, and wash them in that still-reasonably-hottish-and-soapy water. If they are likely to dry out and be more difficult to wash, fill them with water before you let them stand.

Also leaving ANY dirty dish to soak can mean you use less water and detergent getting it clean.

My husband attaches the roller to an electric drill ..he puts just a little water in a bucket dips the roller in and switches on the drill.It spins round in the water and cleans quickly .Worth a try?

It's not just the gallons of water trisher - but also the paint going down the drains. If the paint is acrylic based then that's plastics going in to the drains - water treatment works aren't designed to remove it so it ends up in drinking water and the ocean.

Paddyann That sounds like a quick way of spraying the walls, too! I know someone who thought using an electric drill to stir the paint would be efficient. It wasn't - the clearing-up took some time.

I use the drill (with roller or brush attached) inside an old cardboard box to get rid of excess paint before washing. Lock has good ideas about recycling water, something we should all do. Many pipes from showers and baths can be easily converted to fill storage water butts.

OMG Lock I now know I am not green at all . Well done you and I must think of doing more.

I live in a rented bungalow so cannot change my plumbing. If I could, I would definitely install a grey water system as Hetty suggests. Grey water systems save money and help keep down water consumption.
It makes me mad that effective eco-friendly systems are not standard in this country.

When you have used your tins, bottles, jars, don't wash them there and then. Wait until you have a bowl of water from washing up ,then use that to rinse out those items for recycling.

Similar thing for me. I took my summer duvet to be cleaned so I could put it away till next year. The cost of cleaning was £18. It only cost £18 to buy from Dunelm Mill so I could have bought a new one instead!

I don't use extra water. All cans and bottles get washed after I've finished washing the dishes. No dishwasher for me only hands and a little fairy liquid.

I don't have a dishwasher so for washing plates dishes etc use a large bowl instead of the sink. This' used' water then goes into a bucket I leave outside the back door ready to soak jam jars, sauce bottles and tins .An overnight soak soon leaves them clean and ready for recycling.

Yes, I wash bottles, tins etc before putting them in the recycling bin, the bin-men won't empty the bin if we don't.

I wash them in the last of the washing up water. We don't have a washing-up machine as I regard them as a threat to the environment, and honestly, how much washing-up do two people and a cat generate?

I try to wash out cans etc in water that's already been used and try (!) to recycle cold washing up water onto my balcony plants.

4allweknow; thanks; I've made a note of that...

The simplest and cheapest way to be green is to try to reduce how much you use of everything from toothpaste to household goods.

Less toothpaste on your toothbrush, not buying new clothes until your wardrobe would fit in one wardrobe, and only disposing of clothes when they are worn out. Saves you money as well as saving the planet.

I use my washing up water to rinse out recycling bottles. Also just obtained a water butt and a marvellous thing, it saves so much on water for the garden and general chores.