by Carly Foubert, CFICE Communications RA

Paint cansMaybe you鈥檙e planning on redecorating or redoing your house this coming new year, have you thought about purchasing eco friendly paint? Many brands of paint contains a lot of chemicals, chemicals that are labeled , or VOC for short, that are release toxins into the air when the paint dries. This can potentially cause health problems and harm the environment. 聽According to the 聽EPA, indoor air pollution is one of the top 5 hazards to human health and three more times polluted than outdoor air. 聽

So, why not try to limit air pollutants inside the home? There are some paints that claim to have low VOC or are VOC free, both will be labeled on the can of paint so be sure to do your research and read carefully before you decide. 聽Here is a quick list of .

paint cans and a brush

漏 Lowe’s

There is also the question of what to do with any paint that is left over once everything is complete. 聽How do we dispose of excess paint? The EPA estimates that each year is discarded. If you haven’t started decorating yet, consider checking out purchase a more accurate amount of paint required for the job.

If sealed correctly, in case you should ever need to retouch the paint job. 聽If you don’t have room or a safe place to store cans of paint聽its best to recycle or give it away. 聽See if your local Habitat for Humanities or reuse store will accept donated paint or you could share it to a freecycle group online to see if anyone would interested.

If that doesn’t work, Lowe鈥檚 Hardware store accepts paint to properly recycle and dispose of.