How To Wash Greasy Bike Rags???

[HillSlugger]

I use old t-shirts, etc and then throw them away when I'm done. I don't want to grime up my washer and I figure I'm already doing some recycling this way.

[margrette]

I'm with hillslugger on this one. The BF and I both live in white t-shirts and when they've run their course as t-shirts they live again as bike rags until they start putting grease back on the bike and then into the garbage they go.

[malkin]

Cleaning greasy cloth requires a lot of water and a lot of energy to heat that water, so you have to decide how to allocate resources. A small addition to landfill or water and energy to preserve and reuse the rags.

Around here, rags are in abundant supply, thanks to white t-shirts, pillow cases, bar towels, kitchen towels, and bath towels. Once a bit of cloth has made it down the devolutionary ladder to become a greasy mess, it goes in the trash. If we went camping, I'd probably use them for fire starters.

[shootingstar]

I would tend to use a rag that I would throw away. Too much effort (water, scrubbing, detergent) to wash such dirty rags, especially bike related grease or any type of heavy grease that is not digestible by humans.

I can't imagine trying to wash such rags with other type of laundry at all. Therefore not worth it.

[DebW]

In our shop used rags get thrown in a metal trash can until the rag cleaning company picks them up and drops off a new batch. They have to be treated as hazardous waste, so I guess the shop pays a significant price to have them washed and the wash water disposed of properly. At home I use paper towels or old T-shirts that I toss out after use.

[Velocivixen]

Thank you all for your thoughtful ideas. We use old socks and such to wipe greasy parts, and use them over and over. I like the idea of using disposable rags vs washing, but just wasn't sure. Definitely want to be gentle with our environment. We have a Park Tool scrubber device that one of you referred to, but I still use a rag to wipe off the drippy parts. Thanks and happy cycling.

[HillSlugger]

<highjack on>for those of you who use the chain cleaning scrubber, how do you dispose of the greasy, degreaser solution?<highjack off>