Everything you need to get rid of leftover paint responsibly in Kearney.
3620 Box Butte Ave, Kearney, NE 68847
Call 308-233-3208 before you bring paint, since the city’s list doesn’t name it. The Sanitation Division’s number, 308-233-3206, is the one PaintCare lists for this site. The city landfill at 6711 W 56th St takes no chemicals, and city code bans liquid waste from city garbage containers.
3620 Box Butte Ave, Kearney, NE 68847
This is a place to pick up paint, not to drop it off. The Saturday hours are run by the Environmental Ambassadors Program (the city’s Sanitation Division and Kearney Elks Lodge #984, with help from UNK’s Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity) and only run April through October.
Your state doesn’t have a PaintCare program, so stores here don’t take paint for free. These are the public drop-off programs PaintCare’s map lists, closest first. Most only serve their own residents and some charge a fee. Call before you go.
3620 Box Butte Ave, Kearney, NE 68847
506 13th St, Holdrege, NE 68949
From PaintCare’s drop-off map ↗, updated October 6, 2026. Hours and limits are PaintCare’s. Distances are straight-line, not driving.
Open each can, stir in kitty litter or dry cement mix, and let it set up in the garage. Once it is hard all the way through, it can go in the trash. If a can is still fresh, ask whether the ReStore can use it.
Keep both in their labeled cans and call the coordinator at 308-233-3208. Then drop them at 3620 Box Butte Ave; the city lists thinner on its accepted list.
Check the ReStore shelf at the same building. It’s free for residents. Saturday volunteer hours only run April through October.
The city says businesses that make hazardous waste may not use its drop-off sites. Call the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy at 402-471-2186 for guidance, or hire a hazardous waste company.
Dry latex paint at home with kitty litter or dry cement mix and put it in the trash once it is solid; PaintCare’s listing says the Kearney site doesn’t take latex. Take oil-based paint to the City of Kearney Household Hazardous Waste Building, 3620 Box Butte Ave, after calling 308-233-3208. Never put liquid paint in a city garbage container.
In Kearney, Nebraska (Buffalo County), leftover paint goes to the City of Kearney’s Household Hazardous Waste Building at 3620 Box Butte Avenue, behind the Kearney Area Recycling Center. Oil-based paint is the main thing to bring. PaintCare’s listing says this site doesn’t take latex, and the disposal brochure on the city’s website says to dry latex out and put it in the trash. Nebraska has no PaintCare program, so paint stores don’t take paint back.
PaintCare’s listing says the Box Butte site doesn’t take latex. The Keep Nebraska Beautiful brochure the city posts lists latex and oil-based paint as things that can go to the landfill only once they are solid. Spread latex on newspaper, rags or old carpet, or mix it with kitty litter or dry cement mix, and let it dry all the way.
City Code 5-214 bans liquid waste, poisons and dangerous chemicals from city garbage containers. Only fully dried latex should go in your cart.
The city’s online list names primer, thinner, stripper and varnish but not oil-based paint. The brochure on its site lists oil-based paints and primer for collection sites. Call Shauna Petzold, the HHW coordinator, at 308-233-3208 before you load up.
Good, usable paint and stain left at the building goes on the ReStore shelf, free to residents. It is open Monday–Thursday 7 a.m.–3:30 p.m. and Friday until noon. From April through October, volunteers add first- and third-Saturday hours, 8 a.m.–noon.
PaintCare’s listing for Grand Island’s Betty Curtis facility (3661 Sky Park Rd) says it is for households in Adams, Hall, Hamilton, Howard and Merrick counties. Buffalo County isn’t named. That list comes only from PaintCare; the facility’s own page doesn’t list counties. Start with Kearney’s site, and call 308-385-5095 before you drive to Grand Island.
Nebraska has no PaintCare store take-back. The state environment agency says to use products up or give usable ones to someone who will use them right. For latex, drying it at home is the answer in the brochure the city posts. The Kearney Area Solid Waste Agency Landfill at 6711 W 56th St does not take chemicals. Businesses can’t use the city drop-off and should call the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy at 402-471-2186 or hire a hazardous waste company.
Keep oil-based paint in the original can with the label on and the lid tight. Don’t pour cans together. Set aside any can that is still good for the ReStore. For latex, open the can, add kitty litter or dry cement mix, stir, and leave it until it is hard.
Full preparation checklist →Oil-based paint goes to the city’s Household Hazardous Waste Building, 3620 Box Butte Ave. The city lists weekday hours of 8 a.m.–4 p.m. and a 24/7 drop-off area. Call 308-233-3208 first.
PaintCare’s listing says no. The city’s brochure says latex should be dried until solid and then thrown away.
Not as liquid. City code bans liquid waste from city garbage containers. Dry latex completely first.
Yes, when it’s in stock. The ReStore at the same building gives usable paint and stain to residents for free.
Kearney County is a different county from the city of Kearney, which is in Buffalo County. PaintCare’s listing says this site is for households in Kearney. Call 308-233-3208 to ask if you live outside the city.
October 16, 2026: read the City of Kearney’s HHW, ReStore, Banned Items and Landfill pages, its HHW location PDF, the Keep Nebraska Beautiful disposal brochure the city posts, the 2016 news release on the Box Butte building, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture’s HHW directory (revised September 2026), Nebraska DEE’s HHW release, the Grand Island Clean Community System’s hours page and PaintCare’s locator data (sites 15056 and 15051). The no-latex rule comes only from PaintCare’s listing; the brochure says to solidify latex. The 2016 release says the Central Platte NRD helped pay for a machine to process paint at the building, but it doesn’t say which kinds. The city and the state directory list 308-233-3208 (coordinator); PaintCare lists 308-233-3206, which the city’s Banned Items page gives for the Sanitation Division. Grand Island’s county list comes only from PaintCare. Unresolved: whether oil-based paint is taken in any amount (the city list doesn’t name it), any fee or yearly limit, whether rural Buffalo County residents may use the site, and how the 24/7 drop-off area works for paint.
Checked October 16, 2026 against these sources, not by phone. How we research.
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