Paint, whether oil-based or latex, is a hazardous waste material that most people have in their homes or garages. There is no way to safely dispose of this paint (or paint solvents) without the help of municipal paint recycling programs. Thankfully, many cities and counties run such programs.
Firstly, they collect the old paint and paint cans in hazardous waste drives. This is most often the responsibility of the consumer to bring the paint and thinners to such a site themselves there are no regular curbside pickup programs for such wastes. The recycling facility checks to see what colors the paint is and mixes it up into what is essentially a big vat of paint. The recycled paint can then be purchased by consumers in large buckets for big projects.
You can go one step further and keep paint out of the waste stream by only purchasing what you need. For paint recycling to be effective, you need to bring it in to a hazardous waste facility before it gets solid on you.
