[Speedslug]

As for contaminants it's a question of quantity versus area of dilution and flushing by vast quantities of air and water over an extended period of time.

"If" you could do something about the burning of fuel and the gases left from that alone then you have the accumulation of heavy metals from the colorants boiling out of the glass as you heat it enough to melt it.

With types of welding that the portable fume extractors are used for the most that the filters collect is iron and flux compounds designed to keep the molten metal from oxidizing until the weld cools back into a solid.

Putting that filter in to the local land fill is not going to be a concentrated slug of hazardous material.

That the same filter having collected and concentrated hazardous metals from the colorants used in glass (if the filter is even designed to collect those metals) would be a source of a steady stream of concentrated pollution for a very long time as well as a violation of federal regulations for hazardous waste disposal for a landfill to knowingly accept it.

Venting these same colorant fumes to the outside air at the low daily quantities we lampworkers use will mix in the air in at most trace quantities and will be dispersed over a very large area over a long period of time.

Also the rain will dilute these small quantities and wash them harmlessly into the depths of the soil.


But all of this has been said here before and there are extensive conversations about ventilation in this forum as well as any others you search through.