Super Eco

Photo credit: Robyn Gallagher, flickr

A great alternative to disposing of old unneeded paint, and often the best and easiest thing to do, is to recycle it. Your old paint may provide new life as a variety of things, including concrete, covering graffiti, or simply as reprocessed fresh paint.

Here's how it goes down:

1. We're talking latex paint only. Oil-based paints need not apply. You'll have to dispose of them safely.

2. Can it be donated and reused? Some suggestions here and here and here.

3. Find your local recycler. Earth911 has a great search tool (scroll down for the green box). And lots of the major paint manufacturers have take-back programs.

4. Consolidate. Have a collection of half-empty cans? Fill up those you can with similar colors, and recycle the empties (let paint dry first).

Got your paint together? Here's what happens to it:

1. Paint turned in for recycling gets screened. Many local recyclers use swap or exchange programs to simply find a need for your old paint. It'll get reused as is.

2. Paint not reused directly can be consolidated based on color.  The resulting paint often is then sold for use in applications like community graffiti covering.

3. New paint can be made from your recycled paint—it's mixed with new materials, adjusted for vicosity and pigment, and then sold all over again as new.

4. Latex paint can be used in bulk to help create entirely new materials like concrete blocks and pigment additives.

And there you have it. What's old becomes new again.

(Psst. Wanna know what happens to that old oil-based paint? It gets burned to create electricity. Um, ew. Cough. I'll stick with latex, thanks.)