Waste and Hazardous Waste Disposal Question (Pittsburgh, Washington: house, homebuyer, construction)

[swmarc]

We are still getting used to all the quirks about living here in Pittsburgh vs. Washington State and currently our hurdle is trash. The sellers of the house we bought left us some crappy furniture and boxes (ya) and about 30 one gallon cans of paint (double ya!). Anyway, who can tell us how we dispose of this stuff? In Washington you take it to the dump but here I see people putting couches out on the street next to their trash bags for what I assume is garbage pick-up. As for the paint cans we stopped by home depot to ask about paint disposal and the lady told me she just "sells paint" and doesn't know how you get rid of it.

Thanks in advance!

[gg]

Originally Posted by swmarc

We are still getting used to all the quirks about living here in Pittsburgh vs. Washington State and currently our hurdle is trash. The sellers of the house we bought left us some crappy furniture and boxes (ya) and about 30 one gallon cans of paint (double ya!). Anyway, who can tell us how we dispose of this stuff? In Washington you take it to the dump but here I see people putting couches out on the street next to their trash bags for what I assume is garbage pick-up. As for the paint cans we stopped by home depot to ask about paint disposal and the lady told me she just "sells paint" and doesn't know how you get rid of it.

Thanks in advance!

If the paint is still sealed, take it to Construction Junction. Generally, Pittsburgh is great with taking trash. Crappy furniture? Put it out by the curb and someone will probably take it before the trash gets to it.

Hope this helps.

[Love2Golf09]

How bad is the furniture? You can try donating it. Call Catholic Charities, St. Vincent DePaul, Goodwill, etc. Someone should come by and haul it away for you. The paint? Eh, toss it out with the trash. It's all going to end up in a landfill anyway. Either that, or dump it down the storm drain on the side of the road.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

The paint? Eh, toss it out with the trash. It's all going to end up in a landfill anyway. Either that, or dump it down the storm drain on the side of the road.

How pathetic. Please don't listen to this loser. You don't dump paint down the storm drain. You drop it off at Construction Junction. There are other paint drop off places, but that is the only one I know off hand. Someone can use the paint, instead of putting in the water supply as love2golf suggests. Wow, what a sad state. Oh well yinzers all around!

[swmarc]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

How bad is the furniture? You can try donating it. Call Catholic Charities, St. Vincent DePaul, Goodwill, etc. Someone should come by and haul it away for you. The paint? Eh, toss it out with the trash. It's all going to end up in a landfill anyway. Either that, or dump it down the storm drain on the side of the road.

Seriously? Not happening dude, I prefer not to help destroy the environment I live in.

We already donated what we could the rest is in too poor of a condition.

[gg]

Originally Posted by swmarc

Seriously? Not happening dude, I prefer not to help destroy the environment I live in.

We already donated what we could the rest is in too poor of a condition.

Good for you. One thing you need to know about Pittsburgh there are some yinzers like love2golf that are... well backward. It isn't their fault so much, just more of an ignorant type thing. They don't know better or have the capacity to know they actually effect their surroundings. Sure they throw everything down the storm drain and live in pure ignorance, but yinzers are around. They are very hard to educate.

[Velvet Jones]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

How bad is the furniture? You can try donating it. Call Catholic Charities, St. Vincent DePaul, Goodwill, etc. Someone should come by and haul it away for you. The paint? Eh, toss it out with the trash. It's all going to end up in a landfill anyway. Either that, or dump it down the storm drain on the side of the road.

You better hope someone from your township or the DEP isn't reading this, they're going to hunt you down for saying that.

BTW, you can dump dried paint cans in the trash. If there isn't much paint left in them just leave the lids off for a couple of days. That IS legal.

[Bong477]

home depot, lowes, etc sell some powder you can put into paint to harden it. costs a couple bucks, then put it out with the trash with the lid off. last time i did that someone took the cans for the scrap metal before the garbage came.

[ebyrnes]

Bless your heart, I am sure that you are kidding about dumping it down the drain. Surely nobody would ever do something so obviously detrimental; please please please tell me you are joking.

Thank goodness the OP has good sense and has received proper advice on what to do with the paint!

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

How bad is the furniture? You can try donating it. Call Catholic Charities, St. Vincent DePaul, Goodwill, etc. Someone should come by and haul it away for you. The paint? Eh, toss it out with the trash. It's all going to end up in a landfill anyway. Either that, or dump it down the storm drain on the side of the road.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Bong477

home depot, lowes, etc sell some powder you can put into paint to harden it. costs a couple bucks, then put it out with the trash with the lid off. last time i did that someone took the cans for the scrap metal before the garbage came.

You can also use cat litter. I did this. Seller of house left some old cans of paint here too. I actually did layers of cat litter in a cardboard box, then once the cans dry you can put those in the regular trash, or I guess could even be recycled maybe.

Note this assumes LATEX-based paints and stains. And it must be DRY to go in the trash. That is considered okay.

OIL-based stuff you need a collection day where they take such things. There may be some full-time dropoff points, but I know the county runs several collection days a year at various parks and perhaps other locations. They take paint among other things. There may be a small fee.

Here's the programs I'm thinking of; there are some dates on here: Recycling & Waste Collection

BTW, what is it with people leaving so much crap in the house? Is this just a "take advantage of first-time homebuyer" thing? Some of the stuff in mine probably predated the previous owners, who were only there 3-4 years. I know in the next one (if there's a next one), if there's crap like that on the walkthrough I'm saying look you get this out or another 500 bucks off.