Hybrid Living

During the summer many people paint, or repaint their house and or walls. If you just did this you may have lots of leftover paints to deal with. The first thing to do is NOT toss paints down the drain in your home or down the sewer drains outside.

Paint poured into your drains or dumped outside will leach into streams, groundwater supplies and soil due to runoff and chemicals. Your kids or animals may find paint dumped outside, mess in it, and get sick. Paint tossed into the trash is no good either because it’ll end up in a landfill taking up space and possibly leaking everywhere which leads us back to the paint destroying the planet issue.

Proper paint disposal should actually start before you purchase paint. If you buy eco-friendly, non-toxic paints, you don’t have to worry as much about where said paint ends up. See a list of healthier, eco-friendly paints. Secondly, only buy what you need. In order to save money, I often advocate bulk purchases, but not on paint. Paint, especially less earth-friendly brands are far better to buy in small quantities so there’s less waste, and less to dispose of.

How to dispose of paints safely:

• You can save your leftover paint for another project -  a small shelf, a birdhouse, and so on.
• If you bought eco-friendly paints your kids can use it for art projects or you can donate leftovers to a school or day care.
• Old paints (unless a super odd color) when mixed together create a sort of dull gray color. You can use this as primer.
• Donate it to a community center or a non-profit or see if any friends or family need some.
• Take your paint to a hazardous waste collection organization. You can ask your local trash or recycling program where to go or check with Earth 911 which will spit out paint disposal resources for your area.

[image via stock.xchange with a little altering by me]

Post from: Blisstree

How to get rid of old paint safely