Paint Amnesty

At the March Parish Council meeting a proposal for a village wide paint amnesty was discussed – who
amongst us doesn’t have a shelf in a garage or shed with part tins of paint, remnants of a long forgotten
decorating project, just waiting to be called up for a touch up job?
Well I for one do!! And do you know what? I don’t believe that much awaited touch up job is ever going
to come along. So what to do with the remnants?
A quick search on the Oxfordshire County Council website under recycling, paint; will lead you to the
following advice………..
We are unable to accept liquid paint, as liquid wastes are banned from the Energy Recovery
Facility. If you can’t use it up or find it a good home by giving it away, you will need to harden it
before disposal.
You can buy a paint hardener, or add sawdust, sand or soil to the tin and leave the lid off until the
paint becomes solid and dry (please pierce the dried paint before taking it to a waste recycling
centre to make sure it’s fully hardened).
If you have excess paint at home, try and use it up, either yourself or give it away to friends or
relatives or donate it to a charity.
Clean and dry metal tins can be thrown into the scrap metal banks at any waste recycling centre,
but plastic or contaminated tins must be disposed of (there is a general waste skip on every site).
In the future, follow the guidelines on the tin of paint before buying to ensure that you buy just the
amount you need for a job.
Well how useful was that? Not very was my thought!
What about buying paint hardener? Not sure how much one would need but at five quid a pop for oil
based paints it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be cheap.
What about the other options? Sawdust, sand or soil? Well I tried sand and now I can’t pick up the
container and it still ain’t set!!
Donate it? Well good luck with that. The chances of anyone sharing your random colour choices and
needing just the odd half litre to finish a job are slim.
All this brought me to where I am now – a “Paint Amnesty”
My proposal would be to gather together all the unwanted tins of paint and arrange for their
collection by a specialist recycling contractor.
Clearly this can’t be free, we all know how expensive it is to recycle, but who among us wouldn’t like
to have the problem removed and valuable shed / garage space returned to us for a modest sum.
So before I get all too excited about the prospect of getting rid of my paint mountain and report back
to the Council, I need to get an idea as to whether or not it’s just me that is irked or whether others
share my feelings?
Please let me know. Drop the clerk on or me on
a line to give me an indication of whether the effort will be worth
it before the Parish Council looks to commit to the project.