Five recycling mysteries solved!

comments from our community

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  Posted by flynavyvmi01 Sat Feb 7, 2009 7:30am PST

  As far as the proper disposal of paint cans is concerned you can buy a mixture from home improvement stores that when poured into the can solidifies the paint. It basically contains a mixture similar to sand/kitty litter. Using this the paint turns into a solid and won't seep into the ground / water supplies. It's not perfect but it's the best answer I've found.

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  Posted by paul v Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:23am PST

  Take the cover off the paint can let it dry out. It takes weeks or months When it's hard and in the same state as it would be if on a wall or wood. Toss it out.

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  Posted by Brian Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:26am PST

  For paint, what you can do is lay out a plastic sheet (not indoors and not with rain in the forecast), pour cheap kitty litter (or similar) all over the sheet, and then pour the paint on the kitty litter in thin layers. Once the paint is all dry (which may take a couple days), it can be disposed of in the regular garbage.

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  Posted by vegscott Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:28am PST

  Dried paint (often occurs naturally in paint cans not completely sealed and sitting for years) can be discarded with regular trash. Rather than buying yet another product to dry the paint, find some sand and mix it in well to dry paint. However, as article mentions, if the paint is good, first try donating it via freecycle, craigslist, or perhaps some charity that builds/renovates housing. Non-rechargable household batteries can go in regular trash, but I think that environmentalists fear that many people won't know the difference, so they say to recycle all batteries.

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  Posted by junkluvr Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:29am PST

  Props to Whole Foods for helping answer the tough question of what to do with spent alkaline batteries. I have a big 'ol coffee can FULL of 'em...and now I know where to take 'em!

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  Posted by milo Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:30am PST

  If you have paint, you might call theatres (like stage theatres) around town. I worked on building sets and we always needed paint of practically every color.

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  Posted by LindaT Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:37am PST

  I'd add with reference to disposing of old/broken computers: Before you get rid of it, remove or completely erase the harddrive, because all your personal and sensitive information is there. This is more than just deleting files and there are special programs available for completely obliterating the harddisk.

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  Posted by Matt M Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:37am PST

  Id rather just throw stuff out.

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  Posted by Edwin B Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:39am PST

  Take em to city hall. They act like they know everything anyway.........

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  Posted by Joyce Borough Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:40am PST

  what about empty paint cans?

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  Posted by Timothy L Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:42am PST

  make a pritty rainbow and give it to the world

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  Posted by Jennifer Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:44am PST

  It's sad to see how ignorant people are to the environment and the impact our materlistic lives have.  I hope someday soon that we can appreciate what has been given to us and respect the Earth.  I find it funny when people say "OH just throw it in the trash"  WHAT are you SERIOUS???? 

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  Posted by Ron B Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:44am PST

  All these items can be disposed of easily in your neighbors trash can.

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  Posted by PAMELA Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:45am PST

  I had a laptop crash on my recently. When I bought a new one from Best Buys I asked if they would take the old one off my hands. The responce was "no we dont have a recycle program. This was last month. But it might be just that branch, I dont know. I still have the computer.

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  Posted by jj_star20 Sat Feb 7, 2009 8:48am PST

  Really you should just throw them away its not like any one cares or anything...

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