Everything you need to get rid of leftover paint responsibly in Carlsbad.
45 Telltale Lane, Carlsbad, NM 88220 (Environmental Services office; the event location is to be determined)
On the disposal form (revised August 2014) you certify that what you bring is not biomedical, radioactive, pyrophoric or explosive. No date or site was posted when this guide was reviewed, so call before you plan around it.
302 E. Plaza St., Carlsbad, NM 88220
Not accepted: chemicals or electronics, infectious or hazardous waste, liquid waste, dead animals, and ashes or hot coals. Don't bring paint here. The city page gives no phone for the station itself; NMED's 2022 registry lists 575-885-6262 for it, while the Solid Waste Department's number on the city page is 575-885-0042.
164 Landfill Road, Carlsbad, NM 88220
Directions per the county: approximately 12 miles east of Carlsbad on Highway 62/180 (Hobbs Highway), then south on Landfill Road. Since November 1, 2013, commercial company employees must wear a #2 reflective vest and a hard hat on site. Phone numbers differ on the same page: gatehouse 575-616-7900, secondary 575-885-4835, and 575-499-4300 for fee questions.
Hold it for Household Hazardous Waste Day, which takes paint. Call 575-628-8176 for the date and place, and look over the disposal form.
All three are on the city's Household Hazardous Waste Day list, along with thinner, antifreeze and batteries. Don't bring any of them to the Plaza Street convenience station, which refuses chemicals and liquids.
The convenience station is for city residents only. The HHW Day form has a box for non-Carlsbad residents but doesn't say what that means; ask at 575-628-8176. NMED's 2022 registry lists county collection centers near you, without saying what they take; the county contact is 575-885-4835.
The convenience station bars contractors. Sandpoint charges $32 a ton for commercial waste from Eddy County, and company employees must wear a #2 reflective vest and hard hat on site. Its page doesn't cover paint, so call 575-616-7900, and NMED's Hazardous Waste Bureau at 505-476-6000.
In Carlsbad, New Mexico, call Environmental Services at 575-628-8176 and ask when the next Household Hazardous Waste Day is; it's the one city program that names paint. Don't take paint to the free convenience station at 302 E. Plaza St.; it refuses chemicals, hazardous waste and liquids. Sandpoint Landfill's page doesn't mention paint, so call 575-616-7900 before you haul any there.
This guide is for Carlsbad in Eddy County, New Mexico, not Carlsbad, California. The City of Carlsbad's Environmental Services office runs a Household Hazardous Waste Day that takes paint, but the city's page posts no date and says the location is to be determined. The city's free convenience station refuses chemicals and liquid waste, and Eddy County's Sandpoint Landfill page doesn't mention paint. New Mexico has no PaintCare program.
The city's Environmental Services department runs Household Hazardous Waste Day, which it calls Carlsbad's way of observing Earth Day. It asks Carlsbad area residents to bring paint, paint thinner, fertilizers, gasoline, oil, cleaning products, pesticides, antifreeze, batteries and fluorescent bulbs. The page says the location is to be determined and gives no date. Call Richard Aguilar at 575-628-8176.
The city links an HHWD disposal form (revised August 2014). It asks for your name and phone, whether you live inside city limits, and what you're bringing, with a box for paint. You sign that nothing is biomedical, radioactive, pyrophoric or explosive. The form doesn't say people outside city limits pay more or are turned away.
The City of Carlsbad Convenience Station at 302 E. Plaza St. is free for city residents, every day from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. It takes pickup-sized loads only, with no trailers and no contractor or commercial waste. Its rules say no chemicals, no hazardous waste and no liquid waste.
Eddy County runs Sandpoint Landfill at 164 Landfill Road, approximately 12 miles east of Carlsbad on Highway 62/180 (Hobbs Highway). It's open Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. The county lists $32 a ton for commercial waste from Eddy County and $60 a ton for waste from outside the county, but no household rate, and its page says nothing about paint. The gatehouse is 575-616-7900.
The Solid Waste Department (1702 W. Fox, 575-885-0042) picks up trash twice a week: Mondays and Thursdays north of Mermod Street, Tuesdays and Fridays south of Church Street. Its claw service picks up yard waste and bulky items within two working days of a request. The curbside rules keep hot ashes and greasy or oily materials out of roll-outs but don't mention paint, so ask before putting any in. The department says its services include household hazardous materials but gives no details.
New Mexico has no PaintCare program. PaintCare's only Carlsbad listing is a Sherwin-Williams store in Carlsbad, California, for California households and businesses, so it doesn't apply here. NMED's 2025 county list has no Eddy County entry, and the free Albuquerque center on NMED's fact sheet is for Albuquerque and Bernalillo County residents. NMED's 2022 registry lists Eddy County collection centers at the Eddy County Yard (410 E. Derrick Road), Happy Valley (about 5.5 miles northwest of Carlsbad, per the registry), the Artesia Fairgrounds, Hope, Loco Hills, Loving, Queen and Washington Ranch, all under county contact 575-885-4835. The registry doesn't say what they take, so call before bringing paint.
Call 575-628-8176 to ask about the next Household Hazardous Waste Day, and whether it has a limit or a fee; the city publishes neither. Look over the disposal form the city links: it asks for your name, phone, whether you live inside city limits, and what you're bringing. Ask whether to bring it filled out. List thinner separately from paint; NMED classes paint as a toxic household hazardous waste and turpentine as an ignitable one. If you're going to Sandpoint, call first, especially on a windy day.
Full preparation checklist →Bring it to the city's Household Hazardous Waste Day, which takes paint and paint thinner. No date or location is posted, so call Environmental Services at 575-628-8176.
The city's page gives no date and says the location is to be determined. It calls the event Carlsbad's way of observing Earth Day. Call 575-628-8176 for the next one.
No. The station at 302 E. Plaza St. refuses chemicals, hazardous waste and liquid waste. It's free for city residents for pickup-sized household loads.
The county's page doesn't say. Call the gatehouse at 575-616-7900 before you go. The landfill is open Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.
No. That listing is a store in Carlsbad, California, for California households and businesses. New Mexico has no PaintCare program.
October 17, 2026: the city's old solid waste and Sandpoint Landfill pages (cityofcarlsbadnm.com/departments/utilities/...) now return 'Page Not Found' after a site redesign. Read the current Utilities page in a browser (it holds the Environmental Services, Solid Waste Department and convenience station sections), the HHWD disposal form it links (Google Drive PDF), Eddy County's Sandpoint Landfill page and its hard hat notice, and NMED's 2025 HHW-by-county list (no Eddy County entry), 2025 HHW fact sheet, May 2025 landfill list and 2022 registered collection centers list. Searches for a 2026 Household Hazardous Waste Day date returned only Carlsbad, California results. PaintCare data: record 12935 is Carlsbad, CA. Conflicts: Sandpoint's page gives three phone numbers (575-616-7900, 575-885-4835, 575-499-4300); the county says 'approximately 12 miles east' and NMED's list says 12 miles northeast. Unresolved: the next HHW Day date and place, its limits and fees, whether non-residents may use it, whether Sandpoint takes dried latex, whether dried paint may go in city roll-outs, and what the Eddy County collection centers take. No phone calls were made.
Checked October 17, 2026 against these sources, not by phone. How we research.
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