Old Paint What to Do?

[fire_N_ice]

When we moved into our house 4 years ago, the previous owner had left us some leftover paint for touch up. We also added to the collection. Over the years the paint has been stored in the garage. Of course, I had heard of paint going bad if left at below freezing temps. (in 1 ear, out the other). It has been below freezing for many times per winter in the garage. So my questions are :
does paint really go bad?
How do I get rid of it legally and safely?
TIAFR, Chris

 

[JustWood]

Most landfills will accept paint if you dry it up and let it harden with sand ,kitty litter or sawdust .

 

[granpajohn]

Most landfills will accept paint if you dry it up and let it harden with sand ,kitty litter or sawdust .

And I can tell you from experimentation...Pouring it into a low, pan-like container makes it dry much, much faster than just leaving the lid off the paint can. I lined the cookie sheet with plastic first. Worked great. BTW, this is for latex paint. If you have alkyd/oil paint, we take it to the County landfill on a special HazMat collection day.

 

[hh3f]

Just add some concrete mix and turn it into a rock.

 

[Cazimere]

If it's still liquid, there must be some obscure use for it. Lessee, er, um, i got it
You could figure a way to coat different things with a thin layer of the stuff, to protect
said stuff from the elements. We could call it Coatinstuff. Yea, thats the ticket.

 

[cntbill]

Just add some concrete mix and turn it into a rock.

Yea.... Paint Rocks.... but wouldn't want to be in one of Those paint ball fights....

But really not a bad idea, could make some kind of lawn ornaments or such..

 

[drizler]

Hey don't throw it out. As long as its not all congealed just dump all the similar base types (oil latex yadda yadda) and pour into cans to fill em at least mostly full. Even if it has a congealed skim across the top it is fine underneath. There is always something that needs that odd out of sight or primer coat of paint. It can save you some cash if you don't mind storing it till you need it. Sometimes any paint is far better than none at all even if it is questionable since every little bit helps. When I was a poor Spc 4 in Germany during the Carter days I once had to spruce up my old VW van and all I had was a can of red and white kicking around. Mixed em together and got the nicest pimp shade of titty pink you ever saw.