planetary citizens
Here, you’ll find everything you need to know about the Green Project, like our Salvage Store, Paint Recycling, Donations to the Green Project and Environmental Education.
What’s New?
New features include a Community Calendar meant to help you find and attend environmental, sustainability and create reuse events throughout New Orleans.
Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) or Household Hazardous Materials (HHM) are household products that are, well, hazardous! This includes products that are flammable, corrosive, explosive, toxic, or the like (2018 EPA). Paint, stains, some cleaning products, fertilizers, some types of oils and and more qualify as HHW.
HHW cannot be thrown away in the garbage—it must be disposed of properly to prevent leakage of toxic chemicals, fires or explosions. Additionally, HHW should never be dumped down sinks or toilets, storm drains, or on land. This helps protect both people and the environment around us from chemical contamination or injury.
In most cases, HHW is collected by your municipality through designated drop off days or collections. The best way to find out about how to dispose of HHW in your area is to contact your local Department of Sanitation to learn when and where you can drop it off. Some areas have annual drop offs like Orleans Parish, while others collect HHW at designated centers daily. These days, most of this information can be found online.
To know if a product is HHW, first check the label for the words flammable, corrosive, toxic, explosive, or any other phrase that makes you think twice about safety. Then, check the disposal instructions. If it says something like “this item may need special disposal” or “check with your local sanitation department for disposal instructions,” it’s probably HHW.
The holidays are a time of giving. We all love buying that perfect gift and wrapping it up for our loved ones to open it with surprise! But, we tend to create a lot of waste in the process.
From shipping boxes to wrapping paper to holiday decor, the season is one where trash cans and recycling bins overflow with materials. The good news: it doesn’t have to be this way!
We can all reduce the amount of waste we create without stomping on the holiday spirit. Here are some tips on how to:
prevent waste (thus saving clean up time!), and
what to do with the unavoidable remnants of the holidays.
Let’s get started…
One awesome way to prevent waste: reuse! It’s our mission and we love doing it creatively.
The Green Project is seeking volunteers to help for the second year of the City of New Orleans Paint Reclamation Project at Household Hazardous Materials (HHM) Collection Day. Volunteers will divert usable paint from incineration; provide nonprofits, schools, artists and residents with free paint; give New Orleans residents a safe way to dispose of household hazardous waste; and help protect our environment.
Morning shift: 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Afternoon shift: 11:00 a.m. – 2 p.m.
All-day shift: 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Volunteers must be 18 years of age or older. Interested volunteers should email Bryce at [email protected] to confirm a spot.
As of April 2019, the Green Project is actively seeking new board members to join our team. Board members participate in monthly meetings, advise TGP staff, support the Green Project’s mission in the store and throughout the community, and share our story with our New Orleans neighbors. Joining the board is a great way to help us grow!
People of all backgrounds, experience levels and skillsets are welcome to apply. New board members will be voted on at our Annual Member Meeting in June.
To apply, please download and complete an application. Applications are due on May 17th.
In partnership with the City of New Orleans Department of Sanitation, the Green Project is reclaiming usable paint from Household Hazardous Materials Collection Day and giving it to nonprofits, artists and residents—free of charge! All paint will be sorted by kind & color. To get your free paint, please complete this Paint Request Form.
PAINT PICK UP LOCATION, DATES & TIMES
The Department of Sanitation will allow access to its facility, located at 2829 Elysian Fields Avenue, for paint pick ups ONLY on the dates and times listed below.
Nonprofits, Churches, Artists, Schools
Tuesday, May 21, 2019 • 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, May 22, 2019 • 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Nonprofits, Churches, Artists, Schools AND Residents
Thursday, May 23, 2019 • 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
To the Green Project Community –
It is with a mixture of excitement and sadness that I announce my departure from the Green Project and New Orleans as I begin a new adventure in Atlanta.
During the past three years, those that have walked through our warehouse gates have consistently inspired me. With the return of Salvations, 30 incredible pieces of creativity exhibited the raw potential that everyday items can carry. The unveiling of our MakerSpace brought empowerment and skills to our residents from the Girl Scouts receiving their Woodworking Badge to longtime homeowners learning how to repair drywall patches. This year, over 1 million pounds of building materials were diverted from the landfills thanks to the tireless work of the GP staff, over 1,000 volunteers, and our members that take on the scavenger hunt/shopping experience within our store.
The Green Project is in a great position to continue growing the culture of creative reuse throughout southeast Louisiana. I am proud to leave the organization with the committed team of staff, volunteers, Board of Directors, and Green Project members that make our mission happen every day! Please check out the Executive Director job posting and consider whether you or someone you know might be a good fit to lead this amazing team.
I am forever grateful and honored to have been given the opportunity to guide this incredible organization and will watch with excitement to see what it accomplishes in the next 25 years!
All my best,
Catherine Crowell
After careful consideration, the Green Project has decided to temporarily close the MakerSpace effective immediately and until further notice. All workshops will continue as planned through the end of October.
This decision was made between our Board of Directors and administration out of concern for safety and program sustainability. Our team will spend the next few months re-developing the MakerSpace program to address these issues and bring our community a safe and lasting space in the future.
I know this is tough news, so please reach out with any and all questions ([email protected]). Thank you for utilizing the MakerSpace and proving that New Orleans needs a space for creative reuse projects to come to life.
This is not goodbye forever, just for now. I hope you understand and we look forward to re-engaging our local makers when the time comes.
With gratitude,
Hailey Allison
We currently have so much paint that some is going bad while waiting to be recycled—we don’t want that! We plan to spend this time playing catch up and getting organized so that we can continue recycling paint for the New Orleans community throughout the remainder of 2020.
Fear not…there are a couple of things you can do with your latex paint while we are on hiatus.
HARDEN WITH SAW DUST
The Green Project will be giving away bags of sawdust—courtesy of GoodWood NOLA—that can be used to harden latex/water-based paint by mixing it together with your paint and letting it air dry for 24-72 hours. Once hard and dry, water-based paint is safe to dispose of in your curbside garbage.
HOLD ONTO IT
You are also welcome to hold on to your paint until we begin accepting it again effective February 2020, so long as it meets the guidelines below.
Donated paint must be water-based—that means only latex or acrylic paint.
Paint must have a readable label so that we can properly identify the type of paint.
Cans or buckets must be ⅓ of the way full or more. If a can or bucket has ⅓ or less paint, please dry it out and dispose of it in your curbside recycling. (See Guidelines for Paint Disposal.)
Paint must be in usable condition—that means free of putrid odors, no hardening, no particulates.
We cannot accept textured, sparkly, or chalk paint.
Why the new guidelines?
Unfortunately, too much of the paint that we receive comes to us in unusable condition. It is either too old, too little or not the right type. Because of this, we have to spend time and resources properly disposing of bad paint, limiting our ability to recycle and resell good paint at an affordable price.
Support the Program
We have our work cut out for us as we play catch up! We would appreciate your support during this time. Donate to our paint recycling efforts right here.