Before You Get Rid of That Old Paint....

After repainting my living room a few times, I was left with a bit of extra paint and no place to store it. So I did some research online and found out how to dispose of extra paint. It is important that you DO NOT just throw paints away, in to the trash. Chemicals contained in paint are extremely hazardous.

Of course in the future, I will be using all natural clay based paints. Yep, they actually have that. Hopefully soon, you will find it at your local hardware store but until then you can find all natural paint suppliers online.

Back to the subject at matter. How to part tides with that extra paint. Well, since every state / county is different, you will need to do a little bit of research if you want to get rid of it right away. You can probably find it by doing a search for "safe paint disposal in your city." If you aren't in such a hurry. Here is what I recommend. There are great websites out there like craigslist.com where you can create free postings for things like yard sales, selling old furniture, etc.

Remember the old saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure." That extra gallon of antique white paint might be exactly what someone needs to paint an old piece of furniture.  Create a free posting on craigslist that says something like this:

Free Antique White Paint
Almost a full gallon!
Save Money and Help Me
Clear My Garage!

Paint is not cheap, and people may be willing to drive 10-15 minutes to pick it up.

Another option is to contact your local churches and schools, they often need paints to paint props for plays, events, etc.

Lastly, Call your municipal government or fire department non-emergency number find out when you can drop the paint off at an official household hazardous-waste disposal event.

Don't forget, next time you buy paints look for low-VOC or no-VOC paint. It's made with fewer or no harmful chemicals. Also consider the all natural clay based paints, I mentioned earlier. http://www.bioshieldpaint.com/index.php?main_page=products&cPath=11_66

p.s. The same goes for boxes, there is no reason anyone should have to buy boxes. There are always people throwing them away. If you have moving boxes, and don't want to store them post them on craiglslist, they will go quickly!