Here's a heads up for anyone who lives in King County, but outside the city of Seattle. You can now put paint -- latex paint-- in your trash can.

In fact, latex paint is no longer accepted at the Factoria Hazardous waste facility or the Wastemobile locations.

Latex paint has been reformulated, No lead, no mercury. So King County Solid Waste no longer considers it hazardous.

So what do you do? Mix the old paint with Kitty Litter. That's right, Kitty Litter!

"Use one part kitty litter to one part paint; whatever you have remaining in your can," said Julie Mitchell with the King County Solid Waste Division. "So for example if you have half a can of paint, or half a gallon of paint, then you would use half a gallon of kitty litter.

"Make sure that it's hardened or really tacky and then leave the lid off so that they garbage hauler can see that the paint has been dried out."

The City of Seattle doesn't want any paint in its landfills. So if you live in the city, you need to take all old paint to a recycling and disposal station.

The South Recycling and Disposal Station is located at 8105 - 5th Avenue South (south of the 1st Avenue South bridge). No appointment is necessary. For a location in the north part of the city, call 206-296-4692.

For More Information:

Latex Paint Disposal