Paints, oils, chemicals, OH MY! What do you do with leftover hazardous materials when cleaning out a home?
Paints, oils, chemicals, OH MY! What do you do with leftover hazardous materials when cleaning out a home?
When saddled with the task of sorting through a slew of unlabeled chemicals it can be hard to know what to do with them all. Unlike other trash, these cannot be thrown away in the bin, so where do they go? Thankfully there are many opportunities to dispose of these products correctly if you know where to look.
Paints
There is more than one type of paint, which can make the disposal process confusing. Let’s break it down.
Latex Paint/Acrylic Paint is a water-based paint that dries to a plastic-esque layer. This paint is safe to throw away in the trash! Hooray! However, it must be dried out completely first. Cat litter, gravel, or sand can be added into the paint to speed up the drying process. It is as simple as taking the lid off, and letting it dry. That can take some time, so if this is a concern you face, start now.
Oil-based, Urethane, Stains, and Shellac are products that use a paint base other than water. I’ll save you the science behind it; just know these products cannot be thrown in the garbage. Thankfully, many paint stores offer recycling services and take the headache of disposing of these products off of you. Not every paint store is set up to accept these products back; so save yourself a trip and check these links below to find the closest retailer set up for paint recycling.
https://www.sherwin-williams.com/en-us/project-center/paint/how-to-recycle-dispose-paint
Oils/Automotive Fluids
Automotive fluids are some of the most hazardous materials that most of us will come in contact with regularly. Many of these fluids are very poisonous, some can even cause damage to the skin on contact. Thankfully, for the most common fluids - coolant and motor oil - these can be brought to your local auto parts store and properly disposed of.
https://www.autozone.com/diy/motor-oil/how-to-recycle-motor-oil
For the more dangerous automotive fluids, like transmission fluids, brake fluids, and more, let’s move to the next section on general chemical disposal.
Chemicals Generally
We’ve mentioned a few of the most common chemicals that you may face when cleaning out a home for sale or estate sale. What about more obscure chemicals? Acids, bleaches, cleaning products, fuels, and more can be handled by your respective county’s collection centers. Some centers are present at all times, and others are in remote locations at specified times to best serve a wide range of areas.
I have personally used the Auburn remote drop-off and it couldn’t have been easier. I showed up with my chemicals separated as much as possible, in different containers, and the kind people operating the recycling drop-off took the fluids. They even offered to return my containers! One of these containers was mixed fluid, something left behind to me by a previous owner and I had no idea what was in it. They simply labeled that container differently and accepted it all the same.
For more information on where to find these recycling centers, see below:
King County:
https://kingcountyhazwastewa.gov/en/about-us/hazardous-waste-library/
Pierce County:
https://www.piercecountywa.gov/1544/Household-Hazardous-Waste
Snohomish County:
https://www.snohd.org/195/Hazardous-Waste
Never, ever, ever…
Never dump chemicals into the soil or storm drains. Even small amounts of any of the chemicals we’ve discussed here can have a major impact on the ecosystem we all live in.
Contaminating the groundwater with harsh chemicals will have an effect on the water you drink. Some chemicals even have a smell that you or I may not notice, but are attractive to wildlife, yet fatal when consumed by the critters we share the world with.
Beyond the ecological damage, you will face serious fines or prosecution from local authorities when found dumping these products outside the correct guidelines.
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Authored by Tristan Fox
