Can you recycle spray paint cans?
I love that spray paint is fast, easy to go big and can be painted on so many surfaces. One of the down sides is that it’s not a very sustainable medium.
When you paint a mural, you will go through loads of cans and you want to make sure you are disposing of them correctly.
Every council area is different. You will need to check your council waste program. It only takes 2 mins to figure it out.
I called up my local council in Adelaide and found out, that the best way to dispose of empty cans is with the cap off, in the yellow recycling bin.
If the can isn’t empty, you need to take it to a hazardous waste drop off location. This doesn’t happen often for me. I usually use up every drop of paint. But occasionally I get a can that dries up and gets so clogged I can’t use it.
How to make street art more sustainable?
The first thing we can do to make street art more sustainable for the environment is by disposing of empty aerosols correctly.
The best thing we can do is minimise our use of aerosol cans.
Depending on the surface and design, you can use 80% of acrylic exterior paint, instead of aerosol. This is a much more environmentally friendly process.
To get your colours right you can select the aerosol colours first and have the acrylic matched to that at my local paint store.
Are spray paint fumes toxic?
Yes.
So be careful.
Wear the correct safety equipment when painting with spray paint. I predominately use MTN Hardcore cans and they have safety warnings on the back. I love their colour range and the pressure.
But you need to be careful!
The cans are extremely flammable and the vapours are harmful. In the smallest print it states…
“This product can explode you to chemicals including ethylbenzene, which is known to the State of California to cause cancer. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov".
That’s pretty serious! You definately need to take care using this product.
I wear gloves when painting and a 3M Mask.
When running workshops I use a water base aerosol that is low odor and acrylic. The best brand I have found is MTN Water Based 300.
Plus, I make sure every participant wears a disposable mask, gloves and safety glasses. Making sure that if they accidentally spray their face, their eyes are protected.
I’ve put together a free A4 download for how to use spray paint safely. This resource is for artists and teachers. There’s a checklist for teachers so you know what to buy and you don’t forget a thing.
