I’ve been reading up on the different ways to properly dispose of oily rags

You should read the thread you started four days ago.
Seems to have plenty of common-sense advice.

:::

For God’s sake, Rachel, has it ever occured to you that if your painting rags were going to burst into flames,
your Artist’s Linseed Oil and your Artist’s Oil Paints would be covered with FIRE HAZARD warnings?
They’re not.
Check them out.
There’s a hint for you.

:::

You do not have to take them to a hazardous waste facility. Artist oil and oil paints as well as those materials on rags are NOT deemed regulated hazardous waste by the EPA. You can safely, ethically and legally dispose of all your oil painting rags, old oil paint, palette scrapings etc. with your regular household trash, even LEAD white paint. Automotive oil is another story.

Once rendered fire safe in some way, you can simply throw them out with your weekly trash. I use the free 3 gallon white buckets with O-ring sealed lids that I get from the bakery for both storing in water and disposing of the oil painting waste rags. No hassle or smell from a bunch of drying rags laying about making a mess. You can also use new or used 1 gallon metal paint cans that are free from some paint stores.

for example;
http://laag-site.org/materials-disposal.html
search the web for regulations concerning your area.
like everything else about painting, this depends, which is why it’s difficult to give advice. how much you paint, the climate you’re in, the season just now, all influence your safety needs.

for example;
[url]http://laag-site.org/materials-disposal.html[/url]
search the web for regulations concerning your area.
like everything else about painting, this depends, which is why it’s difficult to give advice. how much you paint, the climate you’re in, the season just now, all influence your safety needs.

That website has rather blatantly incorrect information on it RE: Artists oil paint.

[INDENT]Oil Paints (including paint tubes):
Oil-based paint is a hazardous material (FALSE). The paint itself is flammable (FALSE), as are any cleaning rags, paper towels (Again FALSE). Dispose of all waste materials in same manner as turpentine.(NOT NECESSARY! Just render your oil soaked rags to be non spontaneously combustible)[/INDENT]

These instructions / recommendations are incorrect when referring to ARTISTS oil paints, and likely false for most other household use oil based paints as well. Artists paints are NOT classified as flammable, they are combustible, which is the same classification as canola oil, bacon grease, paper or wood. Some solvents can be flammable and some will require proper disposal at a hazardous waste facility just like motor oil or old gasoline. If you intentionally apply a flame to oil paints they can eventually burn, but they will not catch on fire like rubbing alcohol if you touch a match to them unless you have a wick soaked in the wet oil. You can check baggage with virtually ALL oil based artist paints in them, properly contained, onto an airplane. Most are classified as non toxic as well other than the heavy metal oil paints.

I found no laws listed for Louisiana giving a hazardous waste classification to artists oil paints or household oil based paints, only used petroleum oil like motor oil. Artists oil paints have never been classified as hazardous waste that I am aware of by the EPA. You might run into some regulation if you needed to get rid of a very large volumes of lead or cadmium paints, as in many gallons of the stuff, more than you would need to paint an entire house! As an example, under US regulations and in most states you can legally dispose of ALL the lead based paint you might remove from your own home when remodeling an older building without having to deal with hazardous waste disposal regulations. Commercial / large scale lead paint removal is another story and is regulated by OSHA and the EPA.

Be aware that nanny states like California, might have more stringent rules than the EPA does so follow the good advice from ronsu18 and check your state and local regulations to be sure. Most regulations are available online, otherwise call them if you are concerned about it.