disposal of old paint.

[Jim O'Dell]

Hi all!

I inherited about 21 gallon cans, and 18 quart cans of paint with the house when we bought it last May. I knew there was some paint in the shop building, but I had no idea there was this much. I've not been successfull in finding a government disposal day. There is one where we used to live, once a year, but it always fell on a weekend we were out of town. We now live in an unincorporated area, and I'm not sure who to call to see if the county has this available. On another thread, it was talked about opening the cans to let the paint dry out naturally, then they could be disposed of. Many of the cans I have are already dried out, one is so rusted my finger poked through the side moving it one day.
My question: How many cans can I safely open to dry out at one time? I have moved them to a separate storage building, even away from my shop. But I don't want to overload things. Thanks for any help you can provide. Jim

[Jim Becker]

Latex paint can be left to dry out in the can with the lid off and then put in your normal trash. Oil-based products "should" go to the recyle center but I'm wondering if they are completely dryed out if they can just go to the landfill since construction debris usually go there...

Suggest you call your county planning board/zoning officer if there is one.

[Jim O'Dell]

Thanks, Jim.

Most of these are latex. A few don't have labels anymore!! , so no telling what they are. I did see 1 acrylic enamel. I think it is one that is already dried up.

Thanks for the note! I'm off to sweep up the nails and wood splinters! Jim.

[Dennis Peacock]

My local authority says to fill the cans with sawdust and leave the lids off and allow to dry for about a month. Then toss in the normal trash.

[Jim O'Dell]

My local authority says to fill the cans with sawdust and leave the lids off and allow to dry for about a month. Then toss in the normal trash.

Great! Me without sawdust!! I'll follow up with Jim's thoughts and make a call this week and see where I get. Otherwise I'll fire up the MS and get rid of those 8" long 2X4's. Thanks for the note, Dennis. Jim.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jim...check with the local landfill/disposal drop area. Our local collection station has an area where you can deposit used oil, used antifreeze and old paint. We just take it there and they take care of disposing of it correctly. I have a couple of 6 gallon buckets with lids. One I use for used oil and the other for used antifreeze. When they get full I take them to the disposal collection station and they have bulk containers for each. I empty my 6 gallon buckets into the appropriate bulk container. Unused paint is left there in the their cans.