ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — If you're like most people, you have a household guest that has overstayed its welcome. Odds are, it weighs about 60 pounds.
It's a big collection of household paint stored in your basement or garage.
Maybe you've held onto it in case you needed to do touch-ups, it's also very possible you inherited this unwanted stash of paint when you bought your house. And, chances are, you don't have the first idea on what to do with that old paint.
"Bring it to us and we'll recycle it," said Mike Viles with St. Louis County.
The county has two household hazardous waste drop-off spots where you can unburden yourself of all that old paint.
The first step is to make a drop-off appointment at the county's website, hhwstl.com.
You can then drop off the paint at one of two locations:
~ South County - 291 E. Hoffmeister, St. Louis MO, 63125
~ North County - 4100 Seven Hills Drive, Florissant MO, 63033
This service is available to residents of St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and Jefferson County.
The paint is recycled into new paint at a facility in Illinois.
The St. Louis County charges 20 cents a pound for latex paint. Oil-based paint is free to drop off, up to 50 pounds.
Sarah Wessel unloaded 190 pounds of paint cans for a charge of $38 dollars.
"Oh, my gosh I would have paid a lot more," Wessel laughed. "Oops, I probably shouldn't have said that."
"I feel a million pounds lighter. I'm free!"
