MarcusT

I keep 2 separate rags. One for cleaning the oil and grease, like chains and such, the other for "cleaner" jobs like wiping my hands or tools, non-unctuous items. The grease rags get thrown away, the "clean" rags get washed and re-used.
I believe using the trash is eco-friendlier than the water system

Danhedonia

I don't like disposables; I wash mine in a bucket, until they're too icky and then toss them. I repurpose other things and the pace seems to keep up. Which is the indicator to me: lots of waste if I'm taking one type of throw-away and replacing another with it, successfully.

OP: a little dish soap, put in big bucket with some water, agitated by hand for a few moments and then air dry.

jay4usc

if you want clean rags without grease you need to switch to using wax instead of oil on your chain.

sovende

I have no shortage of materials to make shop rags. Old T-shirts, socks, towels, etc. I do try to maximize their service life by washing them before they get too gunked up with greasy, oily grime from bike and/or automotive clean up projects. Generally speaking, I’ve been banned from the laundry room for various violations but I am allowed to amass a collection of not too greasy and/or grimey rags, work clothes, shop aprons, etc. that collectively become the “grunge” load. Hot water, full measure of detergent and heavy duty cycle on the washing machine. My wife, of course, manages the process so it’s win-win for me. There is a point tho, when the rags are just too dirty to deal with and they do end up in the landfill. While I believe that there is some degree of eco-damage related to each of the methods mentioned by those posting replies, the unwashed disposables that go directly into the trash have the largest footprint (my opinion) with washing and reusing having a much smaller one (again, my opinion).

63rickert

I mostly have to agree with those saying don’t wash. If something compels you to wash oily rags there is a simple straightforward way to do that. It uses Stone Age technology. Yes, this would have been done ten thousand years ago. Use washing soda. Washing soda is sodium carbonate.

Until just about twenty years ago you could buy washing soda at any supermarket. It left the shelf for two reasons. First was the old people who bought it died or moved to a home where someone else did the laundry. Second reason would be soda was deemed to be hazardous. It can be. Mixed strong enough it will remove paint and burn your hands. Hopefully you are clever enough to avoid that. Both my grandmothers did all their laundry with nothing but washing soda and borax and both lived to be 98. They were both smart capable women and they never burned themselves with the stuff. But it is possible. These days the way to buy washing soda is order it online. It is cheap, mostly you pay for shipping.

Toss the oily rags in a bucket full of dissolved washing soda. Next morning the oil is entirely broken down. Sodium carbonate is present in any and all soil types and will not mess up a septic system or aquifer. The rags still have lots of black left, most of that is fine particles of metal from your chain. It is no longer glued in place with oil or grease. Wash and rinse with whatever you prefer. More soda would be my choice. The black will not move without a lot of agitation. If agitated in a washing machine expect some of that black to transfer to the next wash. Do it all in a bucket.

Milton Keynes

I just toss greasy rags. No need trying to wash them. At my automotive shop I have a ready supply of old T-shirts or towels which really work well to soak up oil. I also run a small laundromat and it's amazing how often people just leave clothes and never come back for them. So after holding them for a while they get turned into grease rags. But they get so oily that throwing them away is the only option.

Pretty much same goes for any rag I use to clean my chain. There's just no way to get those black marks out of the rags, so much better to toss them and get new ones for next time.

cjenrick

scored these future rags today on the way to the grocery store, they were out on the curb in a box a few doors down, sherman defected to the 49'ers, and the other two are equally meaningless, to me at least,

they will be needed tonight for the mess on the right, which was clean before this morning's ride.

cut the rags up and chuck them when i am done,

the earth can take care of itself, it has been around a long time before us, and it will be here a long time after we are gone, humans are just a temporary annoyance, just ask the people entombed at pompei, or the neanderthals embedded in the glaciers up north,

BikeLite

What dimensions do you cut the shirts in for your future rag?

woodcraft

Do you have any problem with folks washing greasy rags, etc. and leaving the machine dirty for the next user?

cjenrick

no, but i do have a problem with people sitting on the throne of judgement thinking their God and berating others in order to make up for a low sense of self, because if you are ok, then you are just ok, and then you do not need to do that.

those t shirts made this pile here, gas station size, back when they checked your oil and did the windows for free,

downhillmaster

60 posts on how to use a rag or paper towel.
BF never fails to deliver.

Milton Keynes

Thankfully not greasy rags, but we do have a bunch of hunters come in now & then with dirty dog blankets & beds. Sometimes they tend to not shake them out before stuffing them into the washing machines, leaving leaves, dirt, and dog feces in the machines.

woodcraft

If this was responding to my post, I was asking Milton Keynes about his experience as a laundromat owner i.e. did he have to clean grease out of the machines.

Kapusta

I think the grease is better off going in a landfill than down the drain.

MAK

These work for me. Ten dollars for 200 towels at Harbor Freight tools.

Olefeller77 

I'm a sucker for old cotton flannel sheets at yard sales and estate sales.. A buck or so is acceptable . I cut them up for rags and pitch them when I am done with them.

Iride01 

No, you aren't likely to be destroying your washing machine. I have rags I throw away when greasy and others I might wash. Never got the spouses clothes spotted. Other than a few times I left a pen in my pocket. Usually one of us will run something like old jeans and work clothes as the next batch just in case some grease got somewhere that didn't rinse off the first time.