Paint

If you buy only as much paint as you need to complete a project, you will save money and avoid waste.

Cover the opening of the paint can with a piece of plastic wrap and seal the lid tightly. Store the can upside down and away from heat.

Apply a second coat or use for touch-up
Stencil or sponge-paint walls or furniture
Mix latex paint together to use as a base coat (mix interior with interior; exterior with exterior)
Give it away. Check with neighbors, friends, theater groups or community organizations to see if they could use it
Paint a fence, shed, or your doghouse

OIL-BASED PAINT: Oil-based paint is a hazardous material and should not be disposed of in the trash. Waltham residents should bring their oil based paint and other hazardous paint products, to the Minuteman Hazardous Household Products Collection Facility
LATEX-BASED PAINT: Latex (water-based) paint is not considered hazardous and is no longer accepted at the Minuteman Facility in Lexington
Small Amounts: If you have one inch or less of leftover latex, open the lid to dry it out, away from children and pets. Dispose of the paint can with the lid off with in your regular trash
Large Amounts: can be donated, or dried out by using drying agents found in local paint or hardware stores, such as Waste Paint Hardener; or mix with kitty litter. Once dried, remove lid and dispose of cans in your regular trash with lid off
Old paint cans (latex-based OR oil-based) that are completely empty and dried out, can be recycled as scrap metal or disposed of as regular trash. See "metal" in the Construction Waste brochure

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