Do you know that your Everest-sized mountain of old paint cans you have collecting dust and spiders doesn’t have to be an overwhelming problem? It doesn’t even have to be a problem. You can downgrade its out-of-control ‘force of nature’ status to a simple To-Do item like grocery shopping with 3 simple questions. In a more-fun-than-you-thought, choose-your-own-adventure style narrative I’ll ask those questions. I’ve sectioned out your possible options so you can make good informed choices and create your own Plan of Attack to get you moving. Once you have your plan, all you have to do is execute it and, POOF! Your leftover paint problem is no more.

First Question:

Will someone be attempting any touch-ups in the future?

Take a minute to think ‘big-picture’ about this before you answer. If a plumber has to cut a hole in your wall to fix a plumbing leak, are you going to use it as the perfect excuse to repaint the whole room with fresh paint or just repaint that one damaged wall back to normal? If you’re not going to repaint the whole room, it would be a good idea to keep paint for touch-ups, but remember that the reality of touch-ups with modern paint is not always pretty and the older the paint, the less it touches up well. However, even keeping that in mind, I’m still encouraging you to keep touch-up paint simply because it gives you more options later.

• If YES, then you need to separate out all the paint cans for the colors currently in use in your home. You’ll be keeping these. Any other old paint you don’t want will proceed to the Second Question.

• If NO, and a plumbing leak or maybe a door knob through a wall is a great excuse to repaint, then keep all your old paint together and proceed on to the Second Question.

Second Question:

Do you want to put forth the time, effort, and possibly money that it takes to send your paint along to a better place?

• If YES, then head down to the Third Question and check out your options.

• If NO, then keep reading below for best practices to trash your old paint (and it is NOT by pouring it down the sink, toilet, tub, or storm drains! I hope nobody actually does this but I wanted to make sure you knew.)

I don’t like the idea of throwing paint away but sometimes you just have to do it. In my experience, trash services will not take your paint cans unless they are left out separately with the lids off and the paint is noticeably dry/solid. Trash services don’t want to be responsible for paint dripping down the street or on their trucks. When in doubt, call your trash service and ask how they deal with old paint. If they say they don’t take paint, ask again specifically about ‘dried paint’ because they often will take dried paint but won’t make the distinction when you just ask about paint.

Simple ways to dry your paint before trashing it.

Most stores with a paint department sell small packets of ‘paint hardener’ that you can mix up in your gallon of old paint and it will harden the paint so you can throw it away with your normal trash. Some of my clients who have cats (or know friendly people with cats) have used the already-used-but-scooped-free-of-solids clumping kitty litter to harden their paints before throwing them away. If you don’t know any cat owners or don’t know them well enough to ask for the used-but-scooped litter without it being super weird you can always go and buy new litter. I recommend buying the cheapest clay-based litter possible and plan on buying enough litter to fill up all the gallons you need to harden. (If you wind up with extra litter, you might be able to donate it to a local animal shelter. Clearly I have a soft spot for animals. You might go one, big-hearted step further and offer to trade new clumping kitty litter for a certain number of pounds or bags of their used-but-scooped litter to harden your paint- talk about a win/win good deed!)

Now you can head down to the Plan of Attack section to finish things up.

Third Question:

Do you want to donate your old paint before paying to recycle it?

• If YES, then keep reading for The Extra Question, more information on what you’re getting yourself into, and reasonable expectations of the effort you’ll have to commit to this option.

• If NO, then skip down to the RECYCLE IT section below.

If you want to donate your old paint, it’s going to take some legwork from you to find a place that will take it but I heartily applaud your desire to help others and combat the everything-is-disposable mindset this world seems to be pursuing lately.

This third question is a bit trickier than it sounds because of the work involved and it includes an extra question that you need to answer before you go trying to find places to donate your paint. Your old paint has a 50/50 chance of being good enough to actually donate so your heart might be in the right place but you might also have your hand forced into throwing your leftover paint away.

The EXTRA QUESTION

While we still have charitable hope for your old paint we move onto The Extra Question: Is your paint good and still usable? To answer this question you’re going to have to open every gallon and determine the status of the paint inside. This is the perfect time to grab your paint key and do this part on your drop cloth because it can get a bit messy no matter how careful you are. If the paint is hard, smells bad like mildew, is curdled like cottage cheese, or is growing something, then all of those gallons are unable to be donated. You may or may not still be able to pay to recycle them depending on the place and their restrictions (please look up the restrictions before you go there!) But if you don’t want to bother with paying or finding a recycling place then those bad gallons must be trashed (see the ‘NO’ answer to the second question above for best practices). If you ruin the gallon getting into it (usually due to a rusty rim) or open the gallon and there’s a lot of rust on the top of the paint, just cut your losses and add the ruined/rusty gallons to the Recycle it or Trash it pile you made earlier with the bad paint from the Second Question.

An unfortunate note about 5 gallon buckets of leftover paint

I’ve seen that plenty of uncaring contractors leave contaminants like paint sticks, roller frames / covers, and paint screens right in the 5 gallon bucket of paint they leave for the new homeowners. These contaminants don’t automatically make the paint bad, but often times they wind up ruining the paint anyway. Even with the completely disrespectful way the paint was left, as long as the screen isn’t rusty and the paint isn’t curdled or growing things the paint should be good enough to donate. Don’t forget to check for ‘submerged items’ on the bottom of the bucket, roller covers left in the paint will be hanging out down there and you might not see them. I know I don’t have to tell you this but just to make it perfectly clear, please remove these items before you drop off the paint for donation.

Some donation ideas for you.

Now that you’ve determined which cans are still good and know exactly how much paint you’re trying to donate, you have the task of finding a place that will accept that paint donation. Some places to try are:

• local high school drama clubs or local theater groups who could possibly use the paint for their sets and are probably on a tight budget.

  
  

• smaller charities sometimes agree to take my paint because they help people who just want to freshen up a couple walls or repaint a small bathroom and, because of their limited financial situation, they can’t responsibly choose the expense of new retail paint. Good paint is generally more expensive than you think. I probably have an easier time donating to charities because I have a paint company that uses high quality good paint that is relatively fresh.

  
  

• Habitat For Humanity: my local Habitat For Humanity was not interested in leftover paint and only wanted brand-new 5 gallon buckets of paint; your local Habitat For Humanity might have a different opinion so it’s worth an ask.

I have no idea how hard or easy it will be for you to find a place to donate your paint but I suggest you call/email and ask their policy for paint before you try to drop it off.

If you’ve found a place to donate your old paint, HOORAY for you! I’m happy to see people helping other people. However, if your donation search hasn’t been all roses and sunshine or if you found out all your paint was bad let me say: Thank You For Trying! Not all our charitable efforts work out but just trying means your heart and effort were in the right place and the universe notices.

Now you can skip down to the Plan of Attack section for some more ideas.

RECYCLE IT

Ever since the Environmental Protection Agency started phasing out oil paint in the US, there has been a stronger push on recycling old paint. Most states in the US seem to offer free oil-paint recycling but generally you have to pay to recycle latex paints- the rules seem to vary. You’re going to have to do some online searching for recycling places in (or near) your area and you’re going to have to pay particular attention to the who and what each place will service. For example, the state recycling center servicing my county offers free household hazardous waste recycling once a year to county residents. Oil-based paints count as hazardous waste so they take them for free but I’ll have to pay to recycle liquid latex paints (they do specify: liquid paints). It also services a neighboring county whose residents pay an extra recycling tax so they are not restricted to just 1 appointment per year (and yes, the managers DO check the addresses and keep track). A private recycling center in the other county doesn’t say anything about residency restrictions or specify anything about paint beyond I’ll pay a fee to recycle it (no indication of free oil-based paint recycling). ← See what I mean when I say “the rules seem to vary” and you need to pay close attention to the details of the recycling center! You can check out your own state's Department of Natural Resources website for more guidance on proper paint recycling and other local recycling efforts.

With all the restrictions, limitations, specifications, etc. that goes into what can be recycled where and for whom, you too get a Thank You For Trying! Our best intentions don’t always fit into our lives and sometimes it’s better to just deal with the stuff than try to force situations that are just not working out.

You too can move on to the Plan of Attack section below for some more ideas.

Making Your Plan of Attack.

Now that you know what you can do about your old paint, I hope you’ve also decided what you will do. The final step is to set a time frame. Are you planning to tackle all your old paint in a single session or do you need to break it up into smaller groups and tackle them individually over time? Another good option is to see if friends, family or neighbors want to team up and tackle everyone’s paint problem together. You’d get help doing something practically nobody wants to do but everyone wants the same results and chores nobody wants to do are always better with a buddy!

I hope these questions have given you some motivation and direction to tackle your old paints once and for all (or at least until you repaint!)

Yours In Color,

Suzie