How Do I Dispose of Unused Paint In Michigan?

You have finished painting your house. Congratulations! Now you have some unused paint leftover. So….what to do? First ask your brother-in-law if he wants it. You and I both know he does. BUT if that does not work, then just toss it in the garbage bin for Monday’s trash pick up. Right?

Wrong! Don’t do that! Did you know paint is classified as a hazardous waste in Michigan? It definitely is. So what are you supposed to do with it then? We must enlist the help of a hazardous waste collection company to pick up any unused paint. We can also search for where to drop-off paint at our local hazardous waste collection facility. Luckily we have a lot of resources at our fingertips for disposal of hazardous waste.

• First place to look would be on www.michigan.gov and searching for contacts of where to drop off household hazardous waste and searching through the options. Or I could make this super duper easy and give you the direct link, which is: http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,4561,7-135-70153_69695-115394–,00.html Clicking the county you reside in will display the list of all the local companies able to collect and accept hazardous waste. Some will be drop-off areas, while others will be contacts that are willing to pick up from your residence or business. 
• Paintcare.org also gives you a plethora of drop-off locations and events. Click on the “Find a Drop-off Site Near You” link and you can then enter your personal zip code OR city and state to find local facilities near you. This will lead you to addresses, telephone numbers, websites of places where you can either drop-off, they will pick up, or an event where you can bring your unused paint to. It will also provide you with any info like if there is a cost involved, etc.

Information provided may also include what qualifies as hazardous material (just in case you run across anything funky in mom’s garage while cleaning it out Memorial Day weekend), types of proof of residency accepted when dropping-off, and whether or not you need an appointment in order to drop-off; or if you can just drop it off in the middle of the night so none of the waste management workers will see that you used Sherwin-Williams’ Haute Pink to paint your bathroom. So easy! Some locations or events will only cater to residents – while others are only for businesses. 

Let’s all do our part to keep our community AND our planet as clean as possible.