Liquid paint = hazardous waste difficult to eliminate

liquid paint poured over an object and left to dry = normal waste non issue

lead paint = where are you been all these years? go back to yer bunker

Landfill operator shared the first two items with me.

I always throw mine away next time it's time to paint...by that time it's the consistency of pancake batter.

We mix them all together and use them to paint hunting blinds

I've gotten better about two things on this front.

First, build a file with pics or lists of the paint manufacturers code, name, label, whatever. Then you can get a decent match if needed. Of course after several years the paint on your wall even inside isn't exactly the same.

Second, and this is key, find somewhere inside or climate controlled you can store them. Heat and cold will age them fast!!

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
I pour part of the paint that I want to save for touchup in glass mason jars filled to the top. Any part cans I want to dispose of I just remove the lid and toss in the dumpster after it dries up.

^^^^^ This. If you want to keep a partial gallon, date it and label it as to where you used it, e.g., what room(s). Come back after a year or two. If you haven't used it, then go to the idea by ridewv and put some in a mason jar and also label it with the date, rooms you painted and the color off the original can.

For a while there the paint cans got so cheap that they completely rusted shut, then Home Depot at least BEHR went to plastic cans.

I recently saw a paint saving system that uses plastic bags with caps. You fill the bag and squeeze out the air like tootpaste and seal with cap.

Winter before last I painted my kitchen with paint from probably 1978-1980.

I went looking for the old can I knew was down in the basement to try to get a name, or color sample from. One can was rusted out, the two inches of paint were solid. The second can appeared unopened. I popped the lid off and it was still liquid. I took it to work, brought it into the paint shop and put it in the shaker for a few minutes and it was good as new. Brought it home and painted the kitchen, literally the same color/same paint as when I was a kid.

Until they get hard or rust out. IF you put a layer of Saran wrap over the paint in the can, right on top of the liquid, they last a lot longer.

After he retired from the sand plant, my FIL went to work at the paint counter in the hardware store in his town. He would bring home every "mistake mix" and paint something in his house with it. You never saw such a display of unlikely pinks and purples! Much of it ended up on his shirts, some of which I still have, but he mostly used it all up. Mrs. A. "only" had a few dozen cans to dispose of when she settled his estate. I think I got a lot of credit from her for not insisting that I'd find a use for it some day. I'll usually keep a particular color until the object painted in that color is repainted to a different one.