E-LINE Contact Cleaner

It may be different state-by-state, so contact your state environmental agency for regional specific regulations. For a general guideline, here is the process according to EPA hazardous waste regulations 40CFR. The can has to be brought to or approach atmospheric pressure to render the can empty. Puncturing is not required, only that it “approach atmospheric pressure”, i.e. empty the can contents until it’s no longer pressurized. This insures that as much contents as is reasonably possible are out of the can. It is then considered “RCRA-empty”. At that point it can be handled as any other waste metal container, generally as scrap metal under the recycling rules. Note that the can is still considered a solid waste at this point (not necessarily hazardous waste).

The shelf life of a product can be found on either the technical data sheet (TDS), available on the product page, or by looking on the certificate on conformance (COC). The COC can be downloaded by going to https://www.techspray.com/coc. Once you have the shelf life, you will need to add it to the manufacture date for a use-by date. The manufacture date can be identified by the batch number. The batch code used on most of our products are manufacture dates in the Julian Date format. The format is YYDDD, where YY = year, DDD = day. For example, 19200 translates to the 200th day of 2019, or July 19, 2019. This webpage explains and provides charts to help interpret our batch numbers: https://www.techspray.com/batch-codes.

While the contact surfaces of connectors are metal, they are often housed in plastic, and rubber gaskets to seal everything from the outside environment. If the solvent used in a contact cleaner is incompatible with the plastic, it can craze (create small cracks), embrittle, or soften the material. Rubber seals may swell, shrink or even dissolve if exposed to a harsh solvent. Rigid plastics like ABS, polycarbonate (trade name Lexan), and acrylic materials like Plexiglass can be very sensitive to harsh solvents like toluene, xylene, and acetone. Alcohol and hydrocarbon based solvents tend to be better on sensitive plastics. Rubber, silicone or other seals or gaskets made of elastomeric (soft) materials can have a tendency to swell or shrink with exposure to harsh solvents. After the solvent flashes off, they may spring back to their original dimensions, or be permanently changed, impacting the effectiveness of the seal. Polyester or Teflon based gasketing materials are less prone to this type of damage from harsh solvents. A new contact cleaner should always be tested before use on any questionable applications, using any live (and expensive) equipment.