Day 131 of our Green Year: Painting Green

When Layla and I first moved into our current house, we bought paint to decorate the place. We only got around to one room because we were busy with work, and until recently we had not thought of how we would dispose of the used paint. When we bought the paint, we were not in Our Green Year, and as a result, did not think about the toxins in the paint. There are many sadly, and that makes disposing of the paint difficult.

So, now Layla and I have to find a environmentally-friendly way to dispose of a horribly environmentally-unfriendly product. Thankfully, it is very easy to do. There are several special waste depots that accept paint, and many of those depots then take the paint to facilities where it is recycled and used again as paint under brands like Boomerang. It is a great way to recycle and keep those harmful chemicals out of our environment.

You should never dump paint down the sink, or into the sewer. In the sink it goes into our water supply, while the storm sewer takes it immediately into the nearby ecosystem.

In 2005, one-third of households had leftover paint they wanted to dispose of, but only half used a special waste depot. The rest just threw it in the garbage or down the sink, which creates significant environmental problems.

In our household, our paint will be recycled and reused so that it stays out of the environment, and only on the walls. If we can, we will also only buy non-toxic paint to paint our house with as well.