How to get rid of old paint in Texas
This one is refreshingly consistent: no Texas landfill will take liquid paint. Not Denton, not Tyler, not Arlington, not Houston's depositories. Show up with wet cans and you're going home with them. But every major city runs a free household hazardous waste drop-off that will — and there's a legal trick for latex that saves you the trip entirely.
Where paint goes, city by city
| City | Landfill takes it? | Where it actually goes |
|---|---|---|
| Houston | No | Environmental Service Center — North (5614 Neches St) or South (11500 S. Post Oak Rd). Free for residents. |
| Austin | No | Recycle & Reuse Center — free for Austin/Travis residents, up to 30 gallons of household hazardous waste. Appointment required. |
| Arlington | No | Fort Worth Environmental Collection Center, 6400 Bridge St. Free, and open to Arlington residents. |
| Fort Worth | No | The four city Drop-Off Stations accept household hazardous waste directly. Free for residents. |
| Denton | No — all liquids banned | Home Chemical Center, 1527 S. Mayhill Rd — the same site as the landfill. Free, but only during operational hours. |
| Tyler | No — dry it first | Liquid paint refused at Greenwood Farms; dried-out paint is accepted. |
| Nacogdoches | No | City landfill does not accept paint as a liquid. |
| Lufkin | No | Liquid paint refused at the Angelina County Landfill. |
| San Antonio | No | Bulky waste centers take no household hazardous waste — use a HHW drop-off. Call 3-1-1. |
| Laredo | No | Hazardous waste and liquids refused at the city landfill. |
Verified from official city sources, July 2026. Oil-based paint is always hazardous waste; dried latex is usually regular trash. Call ahead for large quantities.
Find a disposal site near you
Enter your ZIP for the closest facilities. Remember: paint goes to a household hazardous waste centre, not the landfill — call to confirm before driving.
The latex paint trick that saves you a trip
Most household paint is water-based latex, and once it's fully dried it stops being a liquid — which means it stops being a problem. Tyler's landfill says this outright: dry it out first and they'll take it. Many Texas cities will accept fully hardened paint in the regular trash.
To dry it: leave the lid off a nearly-empty can somewhere warm and out of reach of kids and pets. For a fuller can, stir in cat litter, sawdust or a paint hardener from the hardware store until it's solid all the way through — not just skinned over on top. Leave the lid off so the crew can see it's solid.
- This works for latex/water-based paint only. Oil-based paint stays hazardous waste no matter how dry it is.
- Check the can: 'clean up with soap and water' means latex. 'Clean up with mineral spirits' means oil-based.
- A skin on top isn't dry. It has to be solid through the middle.
- Spray paint cans are pressurised — those go to hazardous waste, never the trash.
Got usable paint left? Give it away instead
Austin's Recycle & Reuse Center runs a genuinely good scheme: residents drop off leftover paint and cleaners, and other residents take them home free. If you've got two-thirds of a can of decent colour, that's a better ending than a hazardous waste queue.
Habitat for Humanity ReStores and local theatre groups will often take usable paint too. It costs you one phone call and saves the city a disposal fee.