Old paint, in garbage or to disposal site?

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Got some old paint that hasn’t been used in years. Too afraid to use it on a model.
Should hobby paints be sent to a hazardous materials disposal site, or can you just throw them into the can?

Thanks,

DJ

2

I am not sure how much paint you are talking about but I use rags for my paint and thinner and when they are dry I throw them away.

3

Depending on the amount of paint, and your environmental concerns, you could buy some cheap thinner at a hardware store, and clean out the bottles with it. You could then dispose of the thinner/paint mix, and have some clean, empty bottles for saving custom mixes. That way, both you and the environment benefit.

4

Thanks for the good ideas[8D]

DJ

5

I work for a company that was hit by the EPA years ago for allowing paint run off to get into the soil. The main concern of the EPA was the VOC’s and the heavy trace metals in the paint, which was enamel based. I’m fairly sure that hobby paint for the most part have done away with the harmful solids in their products. When we dispose of paint now we basicaly do as The Desert Fox suggested , but we use a product that is granulated and more or less does the same thing. The really harmful part of the paint is the VOC’s (Volatile Organic Componds), but if you evaporate them out of your paint you have pretty much rendered it an inert substance. Remember that if your airbrushing or drying out old paint the VOC danger is present in both instances! [xx(] Happy and safe modeling [:D]

6

i agree with woody but if you have a large amount to dispose of you could pour all of it into one large container and then dispose of that at the disposal site then re-use the tins as per Pix’s idea…Greg

7

Depending on how environmentally conscious you are, depends on what you do with the paints. Currently, EPA has no regulations dealing with the private resident. Quite honestly, they are so under-resourced, they can’t even deal successfully with large corporations. One thing you could do is open the bottle/can, let it evaporate and dispose of the bottle in the trash (dried solids one inch or less in a can is considered non-hazardous); or clean out the bottle after everything is hard and re-use the bottle/can. Another is to throw the bottle/can in the trash and don’t worry about it, or take your paints to the local recycling/hazardous waste centers, and let them dispose of it for you. Cost is usually free.
Gip Winecoff

8

Assuming you are working with small amounts.

  1. take paint outside with old model box top.
  2. dump your old paint into the old model box top.
  3. put up so children and pets don’t have access.
  4. let dry in sun.
  5. throw in trash.
9

All this info has brought me to this conclusion: If it’s just a few bottles of paint to get rid of, I’ll let them dry out, and chuck 'em[;)]
If it’s more than a few bottles, or large bottles like some RC aircraft paint I have, I’ll give waste management a call[;)]
And most definitely, if I’m getting rid of waste thinner, I’ll call waste mgt.[:D]

And who would have thought that a Republican could be so environmentally concious[8D]

DJ

10

I just throw my bottles in the garbage; as far as I know, it doesn’t harm anything. The enviromentalists can stick it.:slight_smile: I do live in the U.S.A., so it might be different in other countries…