Once you’re done with an acrylic project and have some remaining paint left, it’s essential to dispose of it safely.
There are several options you may have. For example, you can throw the paint away or maybe give it to someone. But there could be times when you can’t choose anything other than throwing it away.
And in times like these, knowing how to dispose of acrylic paint can come really handy. You don’t want to make a mess out of your remaining paint, and you may not have the toxicity idea of acrylic paint.
Knowing some things about the paint’s toxicity and how to dispose of it safely is what we will focus on here.
Acrylic Toxicity
Not all acrylic is toxic these days. Manufacturers use advanced, safe production technologies and ingredients to make acrylic safe to use. It’s not safe in the sense that you can consume it.
You shouldn’t consume acrylic in any way since there might be some harmful chemicals that might cause some issues in your body, even if the amount of it is negligible.
Usually, you should always avoid consuming it in large quantities but depending on the ingredients; a small amount might be dangerous.
Recycling Acrylic
Let’s talk about a few ways you can avoid throwing your leftover acrylic away and instead make use of it again.
Giving It Away
This is the least hassle way of recycling your paint. While you won’t use directly from your leftover paint, someone else can.
Do you know an organization that might need paint? Or a kid who loves to paint? Or maybe your school’s paint club? There are countless options for you to choose from. It’s the easiest idea.
Recycling Facility
Some recycling facilities have options to recycle various paints. You have to look for one. They’ll check your paint’s composition and see whether it can be mixed with another paint to create a paint bottle again that someone else can use.
But it’s quite a hassle that you’ve got to search for a facility on your own. Giving away is easy.
Dumping in Toxic Facility
This method is for toxic acrylic. You can check for the places where you can drop toxic garbage down. Check the packaging of the paint to know a list of poisonous items inside and let the facility know about the things. They’ll take care of the rest.
Never throw away liquid, toxic acrylic outside. It would be best if you also tried to avoid keeping its lid open since harmful chemicals will cause chemical fumes. If those fumes are somehow breathed in, they can cause breathing problems.
Dry in Air
This is another good recycling idea. If you can’t or don’t want to give the paint away, you can dry it up yourself. To dry up – open the lid of the paint can and let it sit somewhere for a few days.
Within this time, the paint’s water content will be completely evaporated, leaving behind the dry part of the paint’s mixture.
Once it’s dried up completely, throw the remaining in open land or inside the garbage. Remember that this is only for non-toxic paints. Since this is non-toxic, mixing it with soil won’t cause harm to nature.
Never throw liquid paint away. If you throw liquid paint in water bodies, the fish might die from consuming it. Fish can’t stand substances in acrylic.
Even if the paint might not be harmful to humans, it can still be risky for fish. This is true with other land animals and birds. For this reason, avoid throwing liquid paints.
Also, you can take the powdered paint and reuse it by mixing it with solvents if the paint is designed for that. Some paints can be reused this way.
Why Not Throw Acrylic in Water
Acrylic is oil-based. Once it’s thrown in the water, it travels through the water lines to the large water bodies. While on its way, the oil sticks to the water line’s surroundings.
A small amount of oil won’t be a big issue, but as many people start to throw the paint in water, more and more oil gets stuck around in the pipes.
Slowly, the pipes get blocked with oil. Since oil and water can’t mix, the oil floats up to the top, blocking the water from getting through the pipes.
This is the first problem. Once the pipes are blocked, the whole water line is messed up. It now has to be cleaned manually, or else the pressure from the water line can damage the other connected pipes.
Some part of the oil will reach large water bodies, and it’s likely that there are living water creatures there. If they somehow consume a large amount of oil, they’ll die.
Fishes and other water animals can’t have oil. It’s a known fact and seen quite a few times in ocean oil spills causing the death of sea lives.
Some oil will come back from the water bodies and into the water processing plants. If the amount of oil is more than what the plant can practically filter, it’s going to stop its process immediately. This will cause an enormous mess since the water supply will take some time to come back to normal.
These were just some issues that a non-toxic acrylic can cause. If that were toxic acrylic instead, it would poison the whole water system.
And that includes water in the water bodies to the water you use in your house. Throwing is simple. But the consequences that now you can see are pretty complicated.
Air-Drying Acrylic
For toxic acrylic, air drying is still risky since it can release harmful gases. You can, however, open the can and cover it with a cloth on the top and keep the can in a distant place.
The place should not be anywhere where anyone usually goes, especially kids. This will help you save yourself from the emitted chemical gases.
Once the water from the toxic acrylic has dried, you can send it to a poisonous waste plant. If the powdered paint amount is minimal, then you can throw it in the landfill. But never throw it away in the water, as that’ll make things worse.
Once you’re done with the powered paint, you can recycle or throw the can away. It won’t be an issue.
Acrylic Lifetime
Good acrylic paint can last around 5 years easily. But you have to make sure that the can is kept airtight and no amount of water can reach inside the can.
If you can maintain it, then you can keep the paint to yourself. You might need it later. Who knows!
But if you prefer giving it away, check its expiry date. If it seems feasible to give it to someone now, give it. If it’s going to expire soon, then there’s no point in giving it away.
And there’s no point in keeping it to yourself either. Destroy or recycle the paint as soon as possible.
Paint Drop off
Some areas have a dedicated area to drop toxic and non-toxic paint away easily. It would help if you searched for a place like this before deciding where to recycle your paint.
We mentioned that you could dry your toxic acrylic in the air. But if you can find a dropping area or poisonous recycling plant, don’t waste time drying the paint up.
Give it to the recycling area, and they’ll take care of it. Even if you dry the paint in a safe place, the harmful gases will inevitably be released into the air.
These gases might not harm you directly but will play a significant role in the greenhouse effect. So, better not to keep the cans of toxic acrylic open.
Spray Can Recycling
Even if a spray of acrylic goes stale, it’s still valuable. Some parts of it can be reused, such as the aerosol part. Don’t throw or break spray cans. There’s a considerable amount of air pressure in a can, which may cause a small-scale blast if messed with.
Learn more about acrylic paints:
Final Words
You got some ideas on how to dispose of acrylic paint safely, easily. Always remember, throwing paint might seem easy and safe. But that might, in the future, cost you so much that you’ll realize that it wasn’t easy and safe at all.
Take some responsibility. Take recycling the paints seriously. If you can use the paint, do so. Or give it to someone. But don’t damage the environment.
