PHO TO : ADAM ALBRIGHT
A S K D A N N Y S E O
PAINT POINTERS
“I’ve chosen an eco-friendly paint for my living
room walls. What other ways can I go green with
my painting project?”
D A N N Y SA YS: It’s great there are now lots of low- and zero-VOC
paint options. You can also go green withyourpaintingsupplies.
F IR S T T H IN G S F IR S T Minimizing waste is thegreenest approach to
painting. An online paint calculator (try
BHG.com /paintcalculator
)
can helpyou determine approximately how much paintyou’ll need.
Just plugin information such as the dimensionsofyour walls,the
number of windowsand doors,and thequality of the wall surface.
G R E E N E S T S U P P LIE S Protectyour floors with an EcoDrop paint
tarp ($3.48 in Lowe’s stores), made from a leakproof biodegradable
plastic that’s designed to safely break down in landfills. Use a
biodegradable paint tray. Bio Pulp Works makes one that’s made
from
ioo
percent recycled paper with a thin recyclable plastic top
layer ($2.27 at Lowe’s). If you already have a paint tray, forgo plastic
liners,and lineyourtray with somethingyoumayalready have on
hand: aluminum foil. Whenyou’redone, rinse the paint off the foil and
it’s ready to recycle. Finally, don’t skimp on brushes;good ones help
you achieve professional results and are worth the investment since
they can be washed and reused. Rollers can be reused, too; just scrape
off excess paint with a putty knife over a paint can, wash, and air dry.
A VO ID O V E R P U R C H A S IN G Some jobs require special equipment,
but instead of investingin toolsyou won’t use regularly, try renting
pai nt sprayers, power washers, and wallpaper steamers—by the day,
week, or month—from Home Depot
(homedepotrents.com).
W H E N Y O U ’R E D O N E
■ Store leftover paint (enough fortouchups) in an airtight container
and write the name of the paint and the room where you used it on
the lid. To dispose of remaining paint, check with your local recycling
center or public works department. Or, let the
paint dry (stir in one part kitty litteror sawdust to
two parts paint to speed up the process), then
put the dried-up paint in a paper bagand toss it in
the trash.
■ Check your local recyclingguidelines to see if
you can put empty paint cans with other steel
cans inyourcurbside recycling bin. A thin layer of
paint inside is usually OK, as are any small plastic
parts and paper labels on the container.
BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS MARCH 2009
111
MORE AT
B H G .C O M
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at BH G.com /
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