What to Do with Old Paint?

Open the lids, and put them in the garage for about a month until they get hard. Then you can put them in the trash.

I noticed you are in Flower Mound. I am in Richardson, and - while they will pick it up in the regular trash pick-up - we are encouraged to drop paint off at the chemical/hazardous waste drop-off facility for our city. I looked up Flower Mound, and found this page on the FM site:

http://www.flower-mound.com/env_services/envservices_hhw.php

If I am reading it correctly, you can have it picked up from your home and keep it out of the landfill at the same time.

I would not use it....there's no way to know if anything destructive was added to it.

In our town, we have to take the lids off & let the paint dry....before putting the cans to the curb.

That was some mean person. And lazy.

Google the name of your county and recycling. That will pull up a website for your county that addresses where to bring hazardous material. (Funny your question was here tonight - I just did this today for some butane canisters I have to get rid of.)

Some counties will let you schedule a pickup. Some don't and you have to take them to a designated place.

As rude as they were to leave it in your yard, at least they didn't pour them in the sewer system. I've seen paint on street grates, and it is so bad for our water system. (Not that it makes you feel much better, since you're stuck with the problem now...)

Dawn

Seriously?
Some stranger, left 4 big buckets of paint on your lawn at night???
The bloody nerve!
The things people do.... can't believe it.

Open it. Hopefully it is paint.
Let it dry out, then throw it in the trash.

Paint is a hazardous waste. Please do not dispose of it in the regular trash. It causes problems in the regular landfilll where it leaks into the groundwater that provides our drinking water. Each municipality should have hazardous waste disposal. Some will do periodic curbside pickups while others will have you drop it off at the landfill. This information is usually available on each city's sanitation website.

Take the lids off so that all the paint drys out and throw them in the trash. At least that is the rules for disposal here.

Get some cheap kitty litter and mix it into the paint buckets. It will dry within 24 hours or so, depending on the amount of paint inside, then you can throw them away with your regular trash.

From TLC:

"Individuals with old paint should contact their local Keep America Beautiful affiliate to find out if they would take paint donations for graffiti cleanups, or contact their local chapter of Habitat for Humanity," advises environmental educator Denise Carleton of Reaping Nature Productions.

Plenty of other local organizations would be happy to accept your left-over paint. Art teachers, summer camps, and non-profit organizations such as Boy Scouts, 4-H and the Salvation Army can use a potpourri of paint colors for murals, activities, service projects and to spruce up donated items. High school or community theatre groups can use it for stage sets. Just make sure they know to limit the use of exterior paints to well-ventilated outdoor projects. You can also check with local government departments such as parks, buildings and maintenance, fire departments, military bases or prisons to see if they're interested in free paint.
If all else fails and you must dispose of your old latex paint, turn it into solid waste. If there's less than O.-fourth of the paint in the can, take it outside, place it where kids and pets can't get to it, remove the lid and let the paint air dry. When the paint is hard, you can put the cans out with the rest of your trash. You may need to leave the lids off to show your trash collector that the can is safe for collection.

For larger quantities of paint, brush or roll the paint onto layers of newspaper or cardboard. When the paint dries, put the paper in the trash bin. Alternatively, you can pour the paint into a cardboard box and mix it with shredded newspaper, cat litter, or a commercial paint hardener to speed solidification. The box can go in the trash when the paint dries and the cans can be recycled.

check on your county dump's website. Ours says to let it dry out and throw it out in the regular trash.

Maybe if you want to save then you could put their caps back on and leave them in the garage. Just make sure it doesn't spill or anything. But, I'm really not sure how to dispose them.

1) Is it still usable? And does it have labels on it telling the type of paint? If so, then put it on the free section of craigslist or list it on freecycle.

2) If not usable but has labeling, take off the lids, place somewhere sheltered and let it dry out. Then you can usually throw it in your trash. Double check the rules in your county online.

3) If it has no label, you really have no idea what is in it. In that case I would call my county hazardous waste info line and ask.

Some people are just so rude! Thanks for caring :)

Waste Management picks up hazardous waste in your area. See info here: http://www.flower-mound.com/trash2011/index.php. On the right side it says: Waste Management will now provide door-to-door service for Household Hazardous Waste and E-Waste collections. Residents should call 1.800.449.7587 to schedule a collection. Here is a list of what they can pick up and how to do it: http://www.flower-mound.com/trash2011/HHW%202011.pdf.

Please don't throw it away.

My husbands a painter and ditto exactly what CW said! We live in Cali so it wasn't us, LOL.

If you don't want to save it for the inevitable touch-ups later on, you could go to freecycle.org and see if anyone wants it. You can put it in your driveway and they come pick it up. This is a good way to keep things out of the landfills and also help someone else out!