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Recycling, donating, or exchanging your paint instead of throwing it away reduces the damage to ground and surface water. Human health is also protected from environmental problems caused when paint is disposed of in sewers, sinks, or thrown away in liquid form in the trash which then ends up in landfills.

How to handle extra paint

Your first line of defense against paint waste it to make sure you have as little leftover as possible. Buying the right amount of paint for the project ensures you're not left with gallons and gallons of your favorite pink. But what do you do if, after careful calculations, you still have leftover paint? Some retailers accept returns of unopened latex paint, but if that's not an option, you may be able to find re-use options for small quantities of paint around your own home. For instance:

• Keep painting!: If you only have an inch or two left in the can when you’re done, roll on, roll on! Double- or triple-up on paint coats to use most or all of what you've got left.
• Store for later: You can also save a little paint for touch-ups which, if stored properly, will last for years. Cover the opening with plastic wrap, secure the lid and store the paint can upside down.
• Use for touch-ups: If you've got more paint than you need, but not enough for a whole paint job, and you don't need to store any for later, apply the paint to a dog house, use it for kids craft projects (think bird house!), repaint your tool shed, or add a decorative touch to your fence.

For larger amounts of extra paint you may want to exchange or donate your leftover paint so that someone else can make good use of it:

• Give it to a friend: Check to see if you've got any friends or family members with similar color preferences who want to remake a room on the cheap.
• Donate it: Consider getting in touch with organizations in your community who might accept paint donations. Think community assistance programs, schools, local low-cost housing groups, high school drama departments, community theater groups, churches, or local charities such as Habitat for Humanity.
• Look for a paint exchange or paint swap: People bring leftover paint that’s in good condition with the labels on the cans to an outside or well-ventilated collection place where it is sorted and distributed for free at that time. Details can be found about holding such an event in the National Paint & Coating Association’s Community Paint Exchange Guide.
• Use online give away postings: Post a "free paint" listing through Freecycle to see if there are any takers in your neighborhood.

If there's no way for you to find a reuse for your leftover paint, then you'll need to consider either recycling or safe disposal methods. Check Earth 911 (type in "paint" and your zip code) to find out where paint can be recycled in your area. Barring recycling options, avoid dumping your paint down the drain or in your backyard by looking for a way to dispose of what is commonly classed as hazardous waste. Both oil and, in some communities, latex-based paints often require special handling, so you'll need to check with your local, county, or state solid waste department to see what you should do with it. Some hazardous household waste collection departments set up special paint collection programs on a regular basis, making it easy for you to drop it off on a set date.

In some states you can dry latex paint by adding kitty litter, shredded newspaper, or sawdust and dispose of it in the trash with the lid off. If your community recycles empty paint cans but not the paint, pour the leftover latex paint into a paper box or bag before you add the absorbent material.

Using safe recycling or disposal methods for your leftover paint helps you go green because…

• Less paint ends up in landfills.
• Usable products aren't wasted.
• Fewer paint pollutants enter groundwater and waterways.

Americans buy a lot of paint, to the tune of an average two gallons of household paint sold for every person in the US per year.[1] More than 850 million gallons of indoor and outdoor paint was sold for use on residential, commercial, institutional, and industrial buildings in 2005.[2]

Of all this paint, a good deal of it isn’t used. A US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study estimates that approximately 65 to 69 million gallons, or about 10 percent of house paint purchased in the US every year, is discarded. Leftover paint is the largest volume material collected by most household hazardous waste collection programs across the country.[3] Managing this paint costs municipalities an average of $8 per gallon.[4] Industry and environmental groups are working toward development of a nationally coordinated approach to manage leftover paint to help defray rising costs that local governments now absorb.

Though proper disposal of paint can be expensive, it’s an environmentally-preferable action. Paint may contain harmful chemicals such as fungicides and organic solvents. Very old paint, kept stored in garages, basements, and sheds for decades, may contain hazardous heavy metals such as mercury and lead, which can seep into surface and groundwater supplies, causing serious wildlife and human harm.

Additionally, chemicals in paint can impair or destroy the bacteria that are crucial to the biological waste water treatment process, which can also contribute to contamination of surface and groundwater when it is flushed down toilets, sinks, or drains. Liquid paint thrown in the trash that ends up in a landfill could likewise impact groundwater there. Paint poured into storm drains carries its pollutants into streams, rivers and oceans in some cases, harming aquatic plants, animals, and fish, along with the wildlife.

External links

• California Integrated Waste Management Board - Latex Paint: Hazards and Solutions for Disposal
• Clean Water Services - Managing Paint Waste Wisely
• Earth 911 - Use It All Up: Leave No Trace of Your Leftover Paint
• Earth 911 - Proper storage extends paint life
• US Environmental Protection Agency - A Homeowner’s Guide to Septic Systems