Chehalis PaintCare Site to Accept Latex Paint as Transfer Station Stops Accepting It

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On June 1, the Hazo Hut at the Lewis County Transfer Station in Centralia will no longer accept latex paint and will instead direct customers with leftover cans of latex paint that are more than half full to the Rodda Paint store in Chehalis.

The Chehalis store is a participant in PaintCare, a manufacturer’s stewardship program to help residents and some businesses recycle their unused and unwanted paint.

Lewis County has decided to no longer accept latex paint, as it is identified as non-hazardous and its disposal is no longer covered by state grant funding, according to a press release from the county.

The decision was also made because there is another local option for recycling, according to Kallan Kersavage, moderate risk waste coordinator for the Lewis County Department of Public Works Solid Waste Utility, which operates the Hazo Hut.

“Customers do have the option to solidify latex paint, and dispose of it as garbage, too. It’s not hazardous,” he said in a press release.

Kersavage explained the leftover latex paint can be solidified using the following steps: mix cat litter, dirt or sawdust into the container of paint, and allow the mixture to harden. Then, he said, you wrap the can in a plastic bag and dispose of it in the garbage.

Rodda Paint and other PaintCare locations will also accept the following items for free recycling:

• Interior and exterior architectural paints

• Latex, acrylic, water-based, alkyd, oil-based, enamel (including textured coatings)



• Deck coatings, floor paints (including elastomeric primers, sealers and undercoaters)

• Stains

• Shellacs, lacquers, varnishes, urethanes (single component)

• Waterproofing, concrete/masonry/wood sealers, repellants (not tar or bitumen-based)

• Metal coatings, rust preventatives

• Field and lawn paints

Kersavage noted PaintCare drop-off locations will not accept latex containers that are less than half full. Other items on the list that are in unlabeled or leaky containers will not be accepted at PaintCare locations. Those items can still be dropped off at the Hazo Hut, but empty containers just go in the garbage.

For questions about Hazo Hut, call 360-740-1221 or visit https://lewiscountywa.gov/departments/solid-waste/hazo-hut. To learn more about the PaintCare program visit paintcare.org.