FAQ: Where Can You Take Your Old Paint Cans in Chicago?

Paint disposal probably isn’t something you think about much. But that half-used gallon of latex sitting behind the winter coats in your closet is actually recyclable. Most Chicago homeowners have no idea that’s even a category. The city says you can’t throw paint cans in your regular trash, and many Chicago residents don’t know where to go for the right disposal options online.

Why can’t you just put latex paint in your blue recycling bin? Well, the chemicals in paint can get into water systems and hurt the environment when they’re thrown out the wrong way. Most paints have solvents and heavy metals in them that need specific treatment so they don’t end up damaging local waterways like Lake Michigan. Even water-based latex paints need to be handled just as carefully.

The city has several drop-off sites available, and there are ways to get your cans ready for safe transport – plus started earlier this year.

Let’s talk about your options and how to get rid of your paint the right way!

Where You Can Drop Off Your Paint in Chicago

The Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Facility at 1150 N. North Branch is where Chicago residents can drop off their old paint cans. They’re open on Saturdays from 8 AM to 3 PM, and you might want to get there early since lines start building up fast on weekend mornings.

Here’s where it gets a bit confusing, though. They won’t accept latex paint at all. If you have latex paint that needs to go, you’ll need to let it dry out completely first and then just throw it in with your normal trash.

This latex paint policy catches many people off guard. Most households have some leftover latex paint sitting around from painting rooms over the years. The drying process usually takes a few days, depending on how much paint is left in each can. Once the paint hardens into a solid mass, your normal garbage pickup will take the containers.

Remember to bring a photo ID when you go. The staff there also takes old electronics and household cleaners, so you can take care of several items in one trip – which definitely helps when you’re trying to get everything done on the weekend. There’s no fee for dropping off any of these items, which is always nice.

You’ll want to be sure you don’t make a few common mistakes that might cause them to turn you away. All your paint cans need to have tight lids and can’t be leaking or completely dried out already. The facility can turn away containers that look damaged or might be dangerous to handle.

It’s worth taking a quick look at each container for cracks or rust marks before you load up your car. The staff checks everything when you drop it off to make sure it’s safe to handle. Before you load up the car, you should give them a quick call just to make sure they’re open – sometimes their schedule changes during holidays, and you don’t want to drive all the way across town for nothing. When you’re loading the cans in your vehicle, keep them standing upright so nothing spills during the drive over.

Drop Off Paint at the Rockford Center

If you don’t mind a longer drive out to Rockford, they have a facility that takes paint from Chicago residents, too. You’ll find the place at 3315 Kishwaukee Street, and they’re only open on weekends – which is actually pretty convenient for most people. You can drop off your oil-based paints there on Saturdays from 8 AM to 4 PM or Sundays from 12 noon to 4 PM.

This location works very well if you live in the suburbs or if you’re already heading out west to see family. Parents can just swing by on a Saturday morning between soccer practice and grocery shopping as long as they skip the noon rush. Just make sure to bring something that proves you live in Illinois because they’ll ask to see it when you get there.

Image source: https://3d60ad30.delivery.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/household-1.jpg

The Rockford center has mostly the same guidelines as other state centers, though there are some big differences. They’ll take your oil-based paints just like Chicago’s main facility does. But here’s something – they won’t take any latex paint at all, and this catches lots of people off guard when they show up. They also won’t take TVs or most electronics, so don’t bring those along by accident. It’s worth checking these guidelines before you make the drive so you don’t end up having to turn around and go home with everything still in your car.

Before you head out on I-90, make sure all your paint can lids are on tight. You can forget this part, and then you end up with a real mess in your car – and trust me, you don’t want to smell paint fumes for an hour while you’re driving. You’ll also want to keep your oil-based paints separate from any latex ones you have lying around. Even though Rockford won’t take the latex paint anyway, it’s better not to get them mixed up while you’re moving everything around.

If you live in Illinois, you can use it for free, though the staff will check your address when you pull in at the gate. One more thing – make sure all your containers are under five gallons each. Just remember to bring your driver’s license or a utility bill along with your paint because they check where you live every single time you go.

How Illinois Will Make Paint Disposal Easier in 2025

Illinois is going to make paint disposal much easier for Chicago residents. There’s a new system where paint manufacturers will pay for disposal instead of taxpayers having to foot the bill. The way it works is pretty simple – a small fee gets added to the price when you buy paint at the store. So you won’t have to worry about figuring out where to take your old paint when you’re doing spring cleaning anymore.

It starts on December 1st, 2025, and it’s bringing more than 200 drop-off sites all over Illinois. Most of these places are going to be paint stores where you already go to buy paint anyway. They’re working to make sure that 70% of people who live in Illinois will have a collection site within 15 miles of their home. Your local hardware store is going to turn into a place where you can drop off old paint. This gets rid of those long weekend drives to far-away hazardous waste centers that nobody wants to make.

Let me explain how the fees are going to work. You’re going to pay somewhere between $0.45 and $1.95 extra for each paint container, depending on how big it is. Once you pay that fee when you buy the paint, you won’t have to pay anything when you drop off your old paint later. The money you already paid when you bought the paint takes care of all of the disposal costs. So you pay a little bit up front instead of paying fees later on.

When other states started similar programs, they got great results. This shows that people in Illinois are probably going to have a much easier time disposing of old paint the right way once this starts.

Because of the new system, latex paint can finally be taken at these drop-off sites. Before this program, most household hazardous waste sites just couldn’t handle so much paint – there was too much of it, and it cost too much to handle. But now that paint manufacturers are going to pay for everything, it’s not a problem anymore. You can still use the hazardous waste sites you’ve been using if that’s what you want to do. But these new paint drop-off places should be much easier to use since the old sites made you schedule appointments and wait in long lines.

I’ve heard from some people who think the program has already started and others who think the fee is some kind of government tax. But that’s not the case. The program doesn’t start until December 2025, and the fees are actually set by the paint manufacturers themselves to cover the costs of running the program.

What You Need to Know About Collection Events

The drive-through format makes the whole process go pretty fast once you get there. Volunteers will cheerfully unload your car in less than two minutes. The problem is, if you show up late in the morning, you might get stuck in a line that stretches for a mile.

What time you arrive really matters to your entire Saturday morning. People who get there early can get through the whole process in just a few minutes, while people who come later end up waiting a long time. Whether you’ll have the rest of your Saturday free depends on your arrival time. Some residents say they’ve waited more than an hour when it gets really busy.

Three host cities have already announced their dates for this past spring. Northfield Township had scheduled their event for May 31st, running from 9 AM to 1 PM. Mount Prospect residents could go to theirs on April 26th, though you needed to make an appointment first. The appointment system is nice because it gets rid of most of the guessing about wait times.

You can’t bring any business waste or explosives to these events. Normal household paint and similar products are fine, though. You should also check what the weather’s going to be like the night before because bad storms sometimes mean they have to cancel at the last minute.

When they cancel because of the weather, they usually don’t give you much warning. Lots of residents find out about postponements only after they’ve already driven all of the way to empty collection sites. Your whole weekend plan can change when storms come through overnight. If you take a quick look online the evening before, you can skip making that wasted trip across town.

Sometimes, they also have to cancel because of budget problems. Check the website the evening before you go. Past events have brought in huge crowds. That’s also why those long lines usually form when people show up without planning their arrival time.

Check and Pack Your Paint Cans Safely

Before you load those paint cans into your car, you’re going to want to take a few minutes to check what you’re dealing with. It’s worth taking a look at each can to see if the paint inside is still good enough to use or give away to someone else. If you open it up and it looks all separated, or it smells bad, then it’s probably time to throw it out.

That’s where plenty of people run into problems. They’ll just throw half-open cans into boxes without thinking about it. Trust me, you really don’t want to find out later that paint leaked all over your car seats. When paint gets on upholstery, it soaks right through in just a few minutes. Professional cleaning starts at around $300, even for basic damage. Your car’s interior will end up being a reminder that you didn’t pack everything the right way. What you should do is seal each lid with some plastic wrap first and then pack everything in strong boxes where the cans won’t be able to tip over.

You might be wondering why you need to go through the trouble of labeling everything or why you have to separate spray cans from normal paint cans. Well, Chicago has some pretty strict laws on how you can transport chemicals, and if you break them, you can get fined. The fines start at $200 if you get caught. Spray cans have pressure inside them, so you have to handle them differently than normal liquid paints.

If you just have small amounts of latex paint to get rid of, here’s something you can do. Take your leftover paint and until the whole thing dries up completely. Once everything turns hard, you can throw the dried mix and the empty can right in your normal trash. This works great when you have less than a gallon of paint. You won’t have to pay any disposal fees, and you’ll still be following the city laws.

You’ll want to sort your cans based on what they’re made of since metal cans and plastic cans go through different recycling processes. Remember to wear old clothes and some gloves because paint always seems to end up on your shirt somehow. Most paint spills happen when people are loading or unloading their cars. So keep everything tied down or secured while you’re driving to prevent spills that could really ruin your day.

Need Junk Relief?

You’ll want to bookmark the website so you can check for updates throughout the rest of 2025. Most people end up checking it about once a month as the launch date gets closer. The new program is really going to make it much easier to get rid of leftover paint, and you’ll want to know where those new drop-off locations are going to be as soon as they open up. Maybe you have forgotten cans that are probably hiding in your garage, basement, or storage room – when you do your next spring cleaning, you might find more than you think.

Each renovation project usually leaves you with partial containers that seem too useful to just throw out. Once you find out where you can take them, the whole process gets much easier. Spring cleaning tends to turn up a pretty surprising amount of paint leftovers from your different projects over the years.

Share what you’ve learned with your neighbors, friends, and family members who could be dealing with the same problem of throwing away old paint. The more people in your area who know about this information, the better it’s going to be for our whole community. Your neighbors probably have the same problem with storing these leftover materials. Spreading the word helps bring neighbors together who can share tips and even coordinate their cleanup trips.

Speaking of throwing away stuff you don’t need anymore, sometimes those paint cans are just the start of a much bigger cleanup project. Throwing out old paint can free up space and get you thinking about doing a bigger cleanout. That’s where JUNK Relief comes in. We’re a Chicago-based junk removal company that’s been helping people clean out their spaces for nearly 20 years with professional service. If you have household clutter, industrial waste, or anything in between, we can take care of it all – and we always give you straightforward pricing so there are no surprises. We care about the environment, too – we recycle and donate items whenever we can to help keep our community clean.

Book online or give us a call now and let our junk experts take care of the heavy lifting. We even have same-day service you can count on!