How to safely clean up spilled chain oil

Question

Perhaps this is not bicycle specific since this could happen with any petroleum-based oil, but since the specific oil I spilled is chain oil I'm asking here.
I have a plastic box that I keep all of my bike-related stuff in (hex keys, extra reflectors, bearings, lubes, degreaser, etc...). I pulled it down the other day and my bottle of rock n' roll gold lube (presumably) had been leaking and spilled all throughout the box. I understand that I shouldn't be mindlessly washing this stuff down the drain, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to clean it.
Is it indeed bad to wash petroleum-based oils down the drain? Is it safe to wipe down the surfaces with a paper towel and dispose of that? What is the best way to go about cleaning this?

Armand · Accepted Answer

Getting the oil into either a container or solid material like paper towel or cloth will prevent it from spreading. It should then be treated as "household hazardous waste". It is toxic to many creatures (like us if swallowed!) and so it is actually illegal to put it down the drain in most places in the US at least.
Bigger cities/counties in the US usually have household hazardous waste disposal centers/procedures for safely disposing things like paint, oil, solvents and other chemicals, batteries and so forth. They will have instructions on how to "package" it, label it, and where to bring it or set it out for pickup.

How to safely clean up spilled chain oil

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