Slowly tidying up the garage and utility room. I came across some old paint. The dried stuff I hauled away to hazardous waste disposal a while back. Today I was shaking a few buckets, and they were sloshing. So the paint isn’t dried-out. One batch was 5 years old, the other was 20 years old. Yeah, amazing the 20 year old stuff isn’t dry.
Question is: if I were to stir it up thoroughly, is it still usable? I could ask “the Google”, but I thought maybe someone here has direct experience and/or expertise. Otherwise, I’ll have to ask “the Google”.
As an aside I know this doesn’t apply to you but we had to go to two different sites in order to get rid of our paint. One site only handled paint and the other site handled varnishes etc. As a novice how do you determine what an “etc” is.
And these places were about 20 miles apart.
Around here they will take paint if 1) it is completely solid *(dried out), or if you fill the can with kitty litter and then let it dry out. (Old style clay litter, not the clumping kind).
To answer the original question, yes, if you can stir it up sufficiently it will still work. I have done it in cases where I needed to exactly match the color (those “we match the colors” things never work), but for any other job I’d rather not risk it and just buy some new paint. Which probably explains why I have two shelves full of “old paint” downstairs. 
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I thought so, but wanted to be sure. I wasn’t sure if some component of the paint might age out. So I’ll keep the sloshing buckets.
The city takes hazardous waste here. They have a few sites, which are only open a few days a week. They take everything from lithium batteries to PCBs to various chemicals (wet or dry). I even took them our “forever chemical” pans when we replaced them with healthier skillets.
I tried poring out old paint into old rubermaid lids, figuring it wouldn’t stick and I could just break it out, toss in the trash.. Oops, stuck on tight, so gave up on that… I’ll have to make a run to the hazardous site one day, clear out several gallons left over from various projects… I try marking what room is what color, but, not always.. And some can’t be bought in quarts, so gallons at high prices for just touchups sometimes… A shame to just let it go, but if it doesn’t match… One more thing to deal with…
You could paint a piece of scrap wood or drywall and see how it goes. If the color doesn’t match what you want, you could use it in a closet where it’s not noticeable or for a first coat if you’re doing two coats.
Our local Habitat for Humanity used to accept paint. Don’t know if they still do, but it might be worth a phone call. They asked for paint at least a half gallon and not old, skin topped, etc. Different locations have different rules, so no way to tell except to ask.
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Old paint still useable. Test a bit on a convenient surface and see if it dries.
Oil base or latex. Oil base can stop drying leaving a sticky film. Latex should be ok if pigments can be dispersed again. Microorganisms can eat thickeners causing pigments to settle. Evaporation can require thinning.
Disposal. Latex. Add kitty litter to soak up moisture. Then can discard as trash.
Oil base. Remove lid. Let solvents evaporate. Then can discard as trash.
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