Leftover spray paint may still be useful if you can use it as intended or someone agrees to take it.
For an unwanted intact can, call a household hazardous waste program that accepts aerosol paint before bringing it in.
Ask your fire department or hazardous materials authority about damaged cans.
Keep partly full, clogged, damaged, or leaking cans out of curbside recycling. Never puncture, crush, burn, or deliberately drain a can at home.
Choose the Right Route for Your Can
- You can still use the paint: Save the can for another project or offer it to someone who has agreed to take it.
- Paint remains, but you can’t use it: Follow the label and call your local household hazardous waste program. Tell them you have aerosol paint.
- The nozzle is clogged or the can has lost pressure: If liquid remains, treat the can as nonempty. Don’t try to open or puncture it.
- The can leaks, bulges, rusts, or is badly damaged: Keep people away from fumes and ignition sources. Don’t handle a hot or bulging can. Call your local fire department or hazardous materials authority.
- You emptied the can through normal use: Ask your waste provider whether it belongs with scrap metal, curbside recycling, or trash. Programs use different routes.
In California, you must take unwanted nonempty aerosol cans to a local hazardous or universal waste collection program.
Chatham County, North Carolina, takes nonempty spray paint at hazardous waste events and qualifying empty metal cans as scrap metal.
Your city or county may handle these cans differently, so check before you go.
How to Tell Whether the Can Is Empty
For household sorting, count the can as empty only after normal use, when the nozzle works and nothing comes out.
A clogged nozzle doesn’t mean the can is empty.
If you can hear or feel liquid moving inside, treat the can as nonempty.
Do not spray unwanted paint onto newspaper to empty the can.
That creates fumes and paint waste.
Use the paint for a suitable project or take the nonempty can to a program that accepts it.
Store and Transport Nonempty Cans Safely
- Keep the can in its original labeled container.
- Store it upright, away from heat, flames, sparks, children, and pets.
- Do not mix leftover paint with other chemicals.
- Check the collection program’s transport instructions before you leave home.
If the can is leaking, don’t improvise with a food container.
EPA advises you to call a local hazardous materials official or fire department when a hazardous product container is corroding or leaking.
Ask the collection program whether you need to overpack the leaking can and how to do it.
Reuse and Donation
You can avoid disposal by keeping usable paint in use.
When offering it locally, list the exact color, product type, approximate amount, and condition.
An art program, theater group, repair workshop, or neighbor may want it, but ask before taking it over.
Do not leave aerosol cans outside a donation center or give away a damaged can.
If aerosol paint no longer suits your project, brush-on paint may be easier to measure, store, and share.
Disposal still depends on the paint type, so check our guide to disposing of paint before choosing a route.
Why Curbside Rules Differ
Aerosol cans combine metal, a valve, pressurized propellant, and product residue.
Recycling facilities use different equipment and contracts.
Your state’s rules may also differ.
A recycling symbol or metal container doesn’t guarantee that your curbside program accepts the can.
Remove a loose plastic cap only if your local program accepts that plastic shape.
If the program doesn’t accept it, keep the cap out of your recycling bin.
Never remove the valve or nozzle assembly to prepare the can.