With wall paper stripped and walls primed, we began to paint. First the deep purple, since that would take several dozen coats to get just right. Then we moved on to the light purple. But, to my absolute horror, it was the worst color I had ever seen in a cat just puked up the flowers it ate kind of way.
One trip to Home Depot later and we had found a color I later dubbed: sophisticated peanut butter to match the purple jelly wall of course and that was that.
Fast forward 8 years.
I am searching through my parents garage for my mom when I happen upon puke-purple-flower paint. It had been sitting there since I decided sophisticated peanut butter and jelly was oh so 2003.
"MOM! Why do you still have this PAINT?"
"I don't know what to DO with it!"
It's been 14 years since I painted my childhood bedroom and I guarantee my perfectly-awful-purple is still in my parents garage.
What do you do with old paint?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that every homeowner in the US has 3 to 4 gallons of leftover paints in their home, and 10 percent of those paints ends up in landfills. That's a LOT of paint! Paint is classified as hazardous waste because of the volatile organic chemicals (VOC's) in it. That's what gives paint its 'paint' smell. And why you should always open the windows!
This month I took a tour of a paint recycling facility in Sacramento, CA. At Visions Paint Recycling, they collect latex paint, sort it by color and then make new paint colors!
The paint colors they make aren't always consistent or attractive, I see you puke purple! so they sell mostly to industrial or commercial customers. They do have two lines of consumer paints.
Visions is a drop off location that also partners with PaintCare, the big wig in paint recycling. PaintCare partners with local hardware stores to collect paint in several states. They then arrange to have it delivered to recycling facilities like Visions. PaintCare is responsible for most paint recycling marketing in the United States. They're also hilarious! At trade shows they walk around in a big paint can costume.
After drop off, the paint is sorted by general color these guys are experts at ROY G BIV. They also check to make sure no oil paint has snuck into the loads. Unfortunately oil based paints can't be recycled due to their chemical properties. Oil paints are filled with saw dust to dry them out, then disposed of unfortunately to a haz waste landfill.
Once sorted the paint is opened all at once by workers. The workers at Visions are mostly handicapped persons coordinated by a social work organization or previously incarcerated folks.
The next step is by far the coolest. All the paint of similar colors is dumped into giant vats! All the colors!
The paint then gets mixed so that it is all the same color. Much like the shaker at your local paint store.
Visions is always looking for new uses for their paints. Their latest is colored concrete. They started with car bumpers because they are small in size. The paint didn't stand up well the first time. They showed us the second versions. I wish them luck in the concrete car bumper business!
Most people are like my Mom: knowing paint shouldn't go in the garbage, but also not knowing what to do about it. For me, it all comes back to recycling's biggest pitfall: marketing. PaintCare blitz's its partner states with messages of how to recycle paint. They are steadily growing and getting recognized more and more in the resource recovery scene. They partner with municipalities in California so that hazardous waste collection facilities can add paint to their repertoire of nasty household chemicals they accept.
In some States the receipt you get from Home Depot lists a tax on hazardous waste disposal and to bring your paint back to be recycled. I've even heard of some hardware stores and thrift shops who will take paint and resell it to folks long live the sharing economy.
The confusion over how, when and what to recycle all the products in your home can be cumbersome. PaintCare is full steam ahead on their mission to get paint out of landfills. But, if they want everyone from Prius driving Californian's to middle-class DIYers like my Mom in New Jersey to get the message, they still have some work to do.
Unlike a lot of other recycling waste streams, at least PaintCare does the guess work for you. If you need a place to drop off paint, take a gander at their website. In their words, it's not worth blowing out your pants:
Till next time trashers!
I was not paid to endorse or advertise any of the above organizations or companies.
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