Everything you need to get rid of leftover paint responsibly in Santa Fe.
2600 Buckman Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87507
Santa Fe County’s convenience centers (Eldorado, San Marcos, La Cienega and others) do not take hazardous or liquid waste, so paint goes here.
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.
2600 Buckman Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87507
3701 E Jemez Rd, Los Alamos, NM 87544
742 State Rd 68, Alcalde, NM 87511
From PaintCare’s drop-off map ↗, updated October 6, 2026. Hours and limits are PaintCare’s. Distances are straight-line, not driving.
If it’s still good, give it away. SFSWMA’s drying advice is for cans that are almost empty, so for half a can of bad paint, call 505-424-1850 and ask whether to bring it to BuRRT on a Friday or Saturday. A nearly empty can can be dried with kitty litter or sawdust and put in your garbage.
Leave the paint out of your convenience-center load. Bring oil-based paint and solvents to BuRRT on a Friday or Saturday, covered, and expect to pay by weight.
Give it away. SFSWMA suggests listing it on Craigslist Santa Fe.
BuRRT’s fee list says household hazardous waste is for Santa Fe residents. Call SFSWMA at 505-424-1850 before you bring business paint.
Take oil-based paint, stain and thinner to BuRRT, 2600 Buckman Rd., on a Friday or Saturday (8–4:45); it’s charged by weight at $50 a ton. Give good latex away; dry a nearly empty or spoiled can with kitty litter or hardener and put it in the trash. Santa Fe County convenience centers don’t take paint.
In Santa Fe, New Mexico, household hazardous waste, including oil-based paint, goes to BuRRT, the Buckman Road Recycling & Transfer Station at 2600 Buckman Rd. The Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency (SFSWMA) takes it only on Fridays and Saturdays and charges by weight. A nearly empty or spoiled can of latex can be dried and thrown out with your garbage.
BuRRT is open every day, but it takes hazardous waste only Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m.–4:45 p.m. It’s closed on major holidays, including Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Household hazardous waste costs $50 a ton, plus tax, and the fee table lists a $7.50 minimum per load. Pay with cash, check, debit card, Visa, Mastercard or Discover. Cover your load or pay a $15 surcharge.
Eldorado, San Marcos, La Cienega, Tesuque and the other county centers don’t accept hazardous or liquid waste. Paint has to go to BuRRT or be dried for the trash.
SFSWMA’s drying advice is for cans that are empty or almost empty and dirty or spoiled. Mix in kitty litter, paint hardener or sawdust. Once it isn’t runny, put it in your garbage. Good latex should be given away or recycled. Empty paint cans go in the trash, not recycling.
SFSWMA suggests posting good leftover paint on Craigslist Santa Fe so someone can use it.
New Mexico has no PaintCare program, so stores won’t take paint back. Give good latex away. Dry a nearly empty or spoiled can of latex and put it in the trash. SFSWMA says good latex can be recycled into new paint, but it doesn’t clearly say whether BuRRT takes liquid latex; call 505-424-1850. Oil-based paint, stain, varnish and thinner go to BuRRT on a Friday or Saturday.
Keep paint in its original can with the lid tight. Cover or tie down your load. Bring a way to pay. Separate latex (give good paint away, dry nearly empty cans at home) from oil-based paint and solvents (bring to BuRRT).
Full preparation checklist →No. BuRRT charges $50 a ton for household hazardous waste, plus tax, with a $7.50 minimum per load on its fee table.
Fridays and Saturdays, 8 a.m.–4:45 p.m. Other days, BuRRT won’t take hazardous waste.
No. Santa Fe County’s convenience centers don’t take hazardous or liquid waste.
No. SFSWMA says paint and solvent cans go in the trash because of the residue.
BuRRT takes waste from Santa Fe County only. Check with your own county.
October 12, 2026: read SFSWMA’s paints and solvents page, its BuRRT page and fee list, Santa Fe County’s convenience center page and NMED’s household hazardous waste fact sheet. Unresolved: SFSWMA doesn’t clearly say whether BuRRT takes liquid latex. Its drying advice covers only empty or nearly empty cans that are dirty or spoiled, and it says good latex can be recycled or donated, so we no longer tell readers to dry all leftover latex. The fee table lists a $7.50 minimum per load next to the $50-a-ton HHW rate; we don’t know how BuRRT applies it to small HHW loads. The fee list says “Santa Fe residents only” while BuRRT overall takes waste from Santa Fe County only; we tell non-county residents to check with their own county. PaintCare’s non-program listing says businesses can come by appointment and that charges are prorated by weight; SFSWMA’s own pages don’t mention business hazardous waste, so we route businesses to the phone line. News listings mention free drive-thru collection days at BuRRT, but none had a confirmed 2026 date, so we left them out.
Checked October 12, 2026 against these sources, not by phone. How we research.
