Green Paint

In an earlier post I mentioned that the Sally Ann now sells recycled paint.  

Recycled paint, like the one at the Salvation Army called Boomerang, is paint that is reclaimed paint. Meaning they make their paint using the unused portions of "recovered domestic paint and stain remains" (to quote their site), to make their paints.

After reading about "eco paints", I realized there are more options out there.

There are paints that have low or no-VOCs - toxic chemicals and fumes that float into the air and you breath them in during and after you paint. Most brands now offer paints with no-VOC's.

There is also Milk Paint that apparently smells like cake batter and is apparently so non-toxic that you can eat it. (Could I be trusted to not lick my walls?) I am so sensitive to smells, I am sick when we paint so this option sounds like a dream to me! Check out this Milk Paint website.

I would avoid all oil based paints due to the high toxicity in them. If you have to paint with either laytex or recycled paint, open a window. I find adding vanilla to the paint also helps with the smell (even though you are still breathing in the fumes).

I am sure there are more options, I wanted to add some information that was helpful so I thank Rachel for asking the question she did as a comment on the Sally Ann blog entry. I sent her to a blog I found on-line on eco friendly paint. They then directed me to another great site called Eartheasy. Eartheasy lists companies that make low VOC paints. It is American but some can be found here in Canada too. 

I am thinking I need to paint something and try one out. Maybe my kitchen... Perfect for cake batter smelling paint, right?

I hope this helps. I am no expert on paint by any stretch. I am learning as I go. I find there is more and more information and products out there that are "Eco", you just have to ask, look, or read.