BioHorn wrote:
If anyone has experience salvaging these, please let me know how you did it!
i'd be kind of surprised if you couldn't clean them. what do they smell like? nasty oil?
wipe them out with a rag wet with the following solvent, and if that doesn't work, move to the next solvent in the list:
-- 91% isopropyl alcohol (aka: rubbing alcohol; availability: any pharmacy; notes: fairly safe)
-- acetone (availability: any hardware store; notes: relatively safe, but it evaporates very quickly and will dry your hands out)
-- xylene, toluene, or naphtha (availability: any hardware store; notes: naphtha and toluene are a bit more toxic than xylene, but i wouldn't worry about a brief exposure. no worse than painting a room or something. i would work outside or in a well ventilated area. don't huff the fumes.)
afterwards, wash them with soap and water and run them through the dishwasher.
all of these solvents are obviously pretty flammable (including their vapors).
work in a well ventilated area, preferably outside.
you should easily be able to remove all traces of grease and crud without going far down that list (rubbing alcohol should work).
if the smell doesn't go away, then just throw the containers out. your only other option would be to buff the insides of the containers out to physically remove some of the material. is it worth the work?