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Types of paint
Paints generally belong to one of the following three groups:
Household paints. These may be water-based or solvent based, and products include exterior and interior paint, wood stains and finishes, and lacquers or polyurethanes. Nowadays, more than 80% of the household paints available in New Zealand are water-based.
Industrial paints are the specialist coatings for used in the automotive industry, and for aircraft and various machinery.
Special purpose paint includes anti-fouling paint for boats and aerosol paints, as well as paint used for artwork. Very old lead-based paint also belongs into this category.
What does paint actually consist of?
Paint has three major ingredients – pigments, binders and the carrier. Pigments are finely ground metal particles or powders that give paint its colour. The most important pigment is titanium dioxide, which makes a paint white. Other important inorganic pigments include carbon black and iron oxide. The binder ‘glues’ the pigment together and ensures that the paint flows well and is easily applied. The carrier is the liquid portion of the paint, either water or a type of solvent.
The ingredients in paint that are of concern are the solvents in solvent-based (also often referred to as oil-based) paint. Solvents contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can have an impact on people’s health, and they are also flammable. Water-based household paints are not considered to be dangerous to human health, but as long as these paints are liquid they can spill and end up in streams, rivers and the sea where they can kill fish and other water dwellers.
Industrial paints and special purpose paints do contain harmful ingredients though, for example heavy metals or pesticides. This is where paint gets its reputation for being toxic, although these specialist paints are not used at home and are only a small part of the many types of paint that are available.
Paint disposal – easy and safe
The easiest and most environmentally friendly way to dispose of unwanted paint is to take it to Enviropaints or a Resene ColourSmart store. Enviropaints recycles unwanted paint to make Enviropaints, and Resene Paint redistributes paint in good condition to community groups for re-use. Paint that cannot be used in this fashion is treated and every effort is made to reduce its environmental burden.
There may be a small charge for non-Resene paint taken to Resene ColourSmart stores.
Other ways of dealing with unwanted paint
Taking unwanted paint and paint containers to Enviropaints or Resene is the best environmental solution as it keeps these items out of the landfill. However, most types of paint are not toxic so it is possible to put them out with the rubbish - provided that everything is dried out and made safe.
Water-based paint will eventually dry out by itself if the lid is left off, but this can take a long time if the container has more than a bit of left-over paint in it. Drying out paint will happen a lot faster if it is mixed with a binding agent – cement, plaster, gib compound and saw dust all do a great job. Kitty litter, sand or any other dry material also do the job – stir well and leave the lid off and your paint will harden to a rock-like substance in little time, ready to be put into the rubbish as it can no longer spill anywhere.
Drying also works with solvent-based paint, but this should not be done in the paint container. The easiest and safest way to evaporate the solvent off and make the paint safe for disposal is to paint it onto several layers of newspaper and let it dry. The empty can no longer contains flammable solvents and neither does the hard and colourful newspaper!
Empty paint containers can also be put into the rubbish if necessary, although steel cans can be recycled. In some areas in the Auckland region they are accepted in the recycling bin – please call your local council to find out. All stores participating in the Resene PaintWise programme will accept empty containers and ensure that all steel containers are recycled. Enviropaints also accept, clean and recycle plastic pails.
Drying out paint at home can only be done with water or solvent-based household paint. Any other paint such as lead paint or antifouling paint is indeed toxic and must be taken to the HazMobile.
Why is the HazMobile no longer accepting paint?
The HazMobile is funded by the ratepayers of the Auckland region to provide householders with an option to dispose of hazardous household wastes free of charge. When the HazMobile was introduced in 2000, there were few places where people could take these items to make sure they are responsibly disposed of. For many types of waste, this still applies, but for paint there is now two other options - Resesne ColourSmart Stores and PlaceMakers.
Such take-back schemes are formally called Product Stewardship, which means that manufacturers and retailers of products take responsibility for the disposal of their products when they have become a waste. Product Stewardship also means that the people who produce, sell and use a product carry the cost of responsibly disposing of it, rather than ratepayers. The Auckland councils funding the HazMobile hope that more paint manufacturers and retailers will soon join the paint product stewardship trend to give their customers even more choice of locations where they can take their old paint.
Waste paint and empty paint containers (which do not need to come to the HazMobile at all) made up more than half of the waste the HazMobile received. By diverting waste paint to Resene PaintWise and Enviropaints, HazMobile collections can now focus on collecting those materials that are much more hazardous to people and the environment – and hopefully cost less in the long run. |
