Latex paint can be disposed of in three ways:

1. Pay Reliable Hauling & Junk Removal to take it away (I hear they’re good!)

2. Take it to your local municipality’s collection center (usually at no charge with proof of residency).

3. Treat it yourself. Latex paint may be solidified at home. Stir in kitty litter or special hardening agents that can be purchased at your local hardware store or online. Avoid working in enclosed spaces – open garages are ideal. Don’t forget to put down newspapers or a drop cloth to protect the floor. You may also consider putting the can in a large cardboard box. Safety glasses and gloves are recommended as paint can easily splash. Use a sturdy stirring stick to mix in whatever hardening agent you decide to use, or a paint stirring attachment on a heavy-duty electric drill, which is ideal for large batches – that’s what we do to save time and avoid sore arms and wrists. It’s ready when it’s thick enough that it won’t pour out of the can. Wrap it in a heavy-duty trash bag (commercial quality is best), and then you can dispose of it in the regular curbside trash collection.

Used Motor oil can be disposed of in three ways:

1. Pay Reliable Hauling & Junk Removal to take it away (I hear they’re great!).

2. Take it to your local municipality’s collection center (usually at no charge with proof of residency).

3. Check with local service stations or car care centers. Many of them allow residents to drop off used or unused motor oil. Call first before making the trip.

PLEASE NOTE: Different municipalities have different procedures! We recommend checking with your city/county website for rules and regulations.

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Help us Save the Carpenter Bees!

You may have read about the decline of honeybees in recent years, due to factors including mites and pesticides. But there is another important pollinator that is often overlooked or considered a nuisance: the Carpenter Bee!

Carpenter bees live as long as three years and can create one or two generations per year. They forage on mostly anything they can find, including flowers and vegetable garden plants. They are excellent pollinators of tomatoes and eggplants – and who doesn’t have a tomato plant in their vegetable patch? They are estimated to pollinate 15% of the crops and flowers in the US (although many sources claim the percentage is much higher). Carpenter bees are capable of stinging you, but do so reluctantly, so there’s not much need to fear them.

Carpenter bees get a bad rap because of their destructiveness to wood. They burrow a tunnel about the width of your pinky finger, which isn’t so bad in and of itself. But the major damage comes when insect-eating birds chip away at the wood around the tunnel in order to grab the larvae.

So how can you help the carpenter bees? Instead of considering them a threat to your home, do what we do: provide them with nice housing alternatives. Drill holes in older logs or wood planks and place them away from your house. Who doesn’t want to move into a turnkey home?