Well, I've finished tidying out my kitchen in preparation to removing the old one and putting the new one in. Amongst the rubbish there were lots of tins of half-finished paints. You know, you hang onto it just in case you need to repaint a wall (knowing full well it won't match now!).
So, in all, there is about 2 litres of paint, some water-based, some oil-based, in dregs. Being the environmentally-spirited guy I am I thought "better check where I can dispose of this".
Now, I live in a town of 120,000 people. Not small. Our waste-transfer station also services a few smaller towns surrounding us. But, no paint disposal. No. For that the nearest place is over 20 miles away. 20 miles. You would think that in a town with 10s of thousands of residences, there would be enough waste paint each year to warrant a paint-disposal/recycling section, but no.
Guess what's going in a black sack and tossed in the compactor. This highlights the fact that ecology has to be convenient and accessible. I would have to spend 1 hour of my time, and £5 of my money to burn 6 litres of petrol on the round trip to the dump that takes paint, in order to dump 2 litres of paint (if that).
Can anyone tell me what will do more damage to the environment, chucking the paint (about 90% water based, low-VOC) in landfill or burning more than a gallon of petrol?
So, in all, there is about 2 litres of paint, some water-based, some oil-based, in dregs. Being the environmentally-spirited guy I am I thought "better check where I can dispose of this".
Now, I live in a town of 120,000 people. Not small. Our waste-transfer station also services a few smaller towns surrounding us. But, no paint disposal. No. For that the nearest place is over 20 miles away. 20 miles. You would think that in a town with 10s of thousands of residences, there would be enough waste paint each year to warrant a paint-disposal/recycling section, but no.
Guess what's going in a black sack and tossed in the compactor. This highlights the fact that ecology has to be convenient and accessible. I would have to spend 1 hour of my time, and £5 of my money to burn 6 litres of petrol on the round trip to the dump that takes paint, in order to dump 2 litres of paint (if that).
Can anyone tell me what will do more damage to the environment, chucking the paint (about 90% water based, low-VOC) in landfill or burning more than a gallon of petrol?