You have finished painting and are left with half a tin of paint, three empty tins and a bucket of dirty water. This guide sets out what the Portuguese Paint Association (APT) and Sociedade Ponto Verde recommend, what the European waste list calls each item, and what we did and did not find for Lisbon, Porto and the Setúbal peninsula.
Updated on 4 November 2026. General information; it does not replace the advice of your town hall or a technician.
The essentials
- Never pour liquid paint down the drain. APT says not to put liquid leftovers, thinners included, into household drains or watercourses, and not to clean painting tools in the washbasin.
- A tin with liquid left in it does not go in the recycling bin. APT says not to put packaging with liquid residues into the containers.
- A tin that is practically empty or has only a dry film: APT allows recycling. Ponto Verde says small paint tins go in the yellow bin once drained.
- Liquid leftovers: keep them for touch-ups, give them away, or take them to an ecocentre or collection point. Who accepts what changes from one municipality to another: phone first.
Four routes for leftovers
In its leaflet “Good practice: paint leftovers and packaging waste”, APT puts prevention first. In order:
- Buy the right amount. Work out the area and the coverage on the tin. The guide how much paint do I need and the calculator help.
- Use it up. If a little is left, use it for a second coat or touch-ups.
- Store it. APT suggests covering the opening with plastic film, closing the lid tightly, labelling the tin and storing it upside down, protected from heat and cold and out of children’s reach. Robbialac, in the same leaflet, asks for a temperature above 0 °C and warns that quality may fall with time.
- Give it away. The leaflet suggests offering it to a charity or a school.
Only then comes “disposal”, which APT presents as a last resort.
Disposing of leftovers: what the leaflet says
- A thin film of dry product on the bottom and walls: the packaging can go for recycling.
- Liquid leftovers you do not want: pour the liquid into a container with absorbent material, such as cat litter or newspaper, and let it dry out of reach of children and animals. Then contact your municipality or an ecocentre. The leaflet does not say the dried result can go in ordinary household waste.
- Water used to wash brushes (water-based paint): according to Robbialac, it counts as “household waste” to take to the municipal collection centre. Alternatively, let it evaporate and throw the container with the dry paint away as household waste.
- Dry brushes and rollers: household waste.
Empty tins: the yellow bin?
Sociedade Ponto Verde, on its page “Home works? Do not forget to recycle everything you can!”, says small paint tins should go in the yellow bin, drained as far as possible, with no need to wash them. Brushes, rollers and buckets do not go in the bins. The page does not define “small”.
The APT leaflet says the same for the “empty packaging” and rules out tins with liquid residues.
There is a municipal nuance. The Lisbon waste FAQ we read excludes from the yellow bin “packaging that has held toxic or hazardous products (e.g. mineral oils)”. It does not name paints. If in doubt, ask your town hall.
What the European waste list says
The European list of waste (Decision 2000/532/EC, amended by Decision 2014/955/EU) marks hazardous waste with an asterisk. Useful codes, read in the English version:
| Code | Description | Hazardous |
|---|---|---|
| 08 01 11* | waste paint and varnish containing organic solvents or other hazardous substances | yes |
| 08 01 12 | waste paint and varnish other than those in 08 01 11 | no |
| 08 01 21* | waste paint or varnish remover | yes |
| 15 01 04 | metallic packaging | no |
| 15 01 10* | packaging containing residues of or contaminated by hazardous substances | yes |
| 20 01 27* | paint, inks, adhesives and resins containing hazardous substances | yes |
| 20 01 28 | the same, other than those in 20 01 27 | no |
Chapter 08 covers waste from making and removing paint; chapter 20 covers municipal waste. In practice, whether a paint carries an asterisk depends on its composition (the safety data sheet says more). We found no rule saying which code applies to a household tin.
Lisbon, Porto and the Setúbal peninsula
| Place | What we read | What is missing |
|---|---|---|
| Lisbon | The FAQ says to take what does not go in the bins to the Collection Support Parks or the Lumiar Ecocentre (Valorsul), or to mobile ecocentres. It cites the regulation published in the Diário da República, 2nd series, no. 251, of 31 December 2019 | It does not mention paint. We could not confirm whether Lumiar accepts it |
| Porto | Lipor announced on 28 April 2021 a mobile ecocentre for hazardous municipal waste, including “paint and solvent leftovers”, at the Antas and Prelada ecocentres. Its current page says the service has run since January 2021, with dates on each municipality’s site | We could not confirm the service still uses the same sites or what it accepts today |
| Barreiro (Setúbal peninsula, not Setúbal) | Municipal table (2023 file): small quantities of empty paint and varnish packaging go in the yellow bin or the Lavradio Ecocentre; large or full quantities go to specialist companies | Applies to Barreiro only |
| Setúbal | A Municipal Waste Management and Public Cleaning Regulation exists (Aviso no. 13568/2021). The Amarsul ecocentre rules (2 October 2023) say not to deposit “full” tins | We did not read the whole regulation and could not confirm whether any Setúbal ecocentre takes paint |
Lipor, Porto: 220 100 220 (the line given on the mobile ecocentre page).
Before you leave home
- Phone the ecocentre or town hall and ask whether they accept your paint.
- Take the leftovers in the original tin, tightly closed.
- If a painter does the job, ask in the quote whether they will take the packaging away. See how to compare quotes.
For tools and protecting the home, see preparing the home for painting. If you scraped old paint, the dust and flakes may contain lead: see old paint and lead.
What we could not confirm
- What each ecocentre in Lisbon, Porto and Setúbal accepts in paint today: we found no official list for any of the three.
- Ponto Verde’s definition of a “small” tin.
- Which waste code applies to a household tin of water-based paint.
- Whether drying paint with sand or newspaper and putting it in general waste is allowed in each municipality. The leaflet does not say.
- The Portuguese version of the European list: EUR-Lex would not open, so we read the English copy.
Sources (read on 4 November 2026)
- Associação Portuguesa de Tintas (APT), “Boas práticas: restos de tintas e resíduos de embalagens”, leaflet. Read in the CIN copy (https://cin.com/deco/resources/card_pdf/Guia_APT.pdf) and the Sika copy (https://prt.sika.com/dam/dms/pt01/sustentabilidade/APT_Folheto.pdf). No visible date.
- APT and Robbialac, “Boas práticas: restos de tintas e resíduos de embalagens”, digital leaflet (https://tintasrobbialac.pt/media/files/boas-praticas-na-hora-de-pintar). File dated 5 September 2025. Read: storage, tool cleaning, leftovers.
- Sociedade Ponto Verde, “Obras em casa? Não se esqueça de reciclar tudo o que é possível!” (https://www.pontoverde.pt/recicla/obras-em-casa-nao-se-esqueca-de-reciclar-tudo-o-que-e-possivel/). Read the part on filler and paint tins.
- Commission Decision 2014/955/EU amending Decision 2000/532/EC (list of waste), copy on legislation.gov.uk (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2014/955/annex), annex, in English. Read codes 08 01, 15 01, 20 01 and the asterisk rule. The Portuguese EUR-Lex page did not open.
- “FAQ Gestão de Resíduos Urbanos no Município de Lisboa” (questions and answers on waste management, cleaning and urban hygiene) (https://ahresp.com/app/uploads/2023/11/FAQ-Gestao-de-Residuos-Urbanos-no-Municipio-de-Lisboa.pdf). A copy hosted outside the town hall; the owner and date are not in the text we read.
- Lipor, “Porto tem agora ecocentro móvel para deposição de resíduos perigosos”, 28 April 2021 (https://www.lipor.pt/pt/noticias/ecocentro-movel-para-deposicao-de-residuos-perigosos-no-porto-ja-esta-na-rua/) and the “Ecocentro móvel” page (https://www.lipor.pt/pt/recicla-te/ecocentro-movel/).
- Câmara Municipal do Barreiro, “Destino dos resíduos” table (https://www.cm-barreiro.pt/wp-content/uploads/old_site/writer_file/document/18130/destino_residuos_barreiro.pdf). File metadata January 2023.
- Amarsul, “Normas de Gestão e Exploração de Ecocentros Amarsul”, 2 October 2023 (copy at https://www.mun-montijo.pt/cmmontijo/uploads/writer_file/document/13279/a15d_002_normas_de_utilizacao_ecocentros.pdf). Read the plastic and metal categories.
- Aviso n.º 13568/2021, Municipal Waste Management and Public Cleaning Regulation of Setúbal (https://vlex.pt/vid/aviso-n-13568-2021-871049674). It opened only up to article 5; the rest was not read.