Other Paint Initiatives

United States

Illinois Partners for Waste Paint Solutions Program

In 1995, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) started the Partners for Waste Paint Solutions. This partnership between the IEPA, local paint retailers and other interested parties allows consumers to bring both usable and unusable paint products back to the point-of-sale for reformulation or disposal. Currently, partners include nine retail stores, two recycling centers, six units of local government, and two counties.

The participating retailer or organization accepts, prepares, and temporarily stores waste paint. The retailer or organization provides the staff time to mix and bulk leftover paint as well as determine the collection logistics, such as the fee (if any), days and times of collections, maximum container size, and types of paint products that will be accepted. The program does not collect paint in aerosol cans, paint thinners or paint removers. Many partners conduct the program year-round and offer service as an ongoing convenience to area residents.

Thus far, residents have delivered over 184,500 gallons of leftover paint to the various partner locations. Paint cans containing usable paint are combined into a five-gallon containers for reuse. The paint partners are given the option to sell or donate any reusable paint. Unusable liquid or semi-solid waste paint is poured or scraped into 55-gallon drums provided by the IEPA. When drums are full, IEPA arranges for transportation and assumes generator status for all waste paint. In all cases, the empty paint cans are recycled.

Partners for Waste Paint Solutions is funded by the Illinois Solid Waste Management Fund, which is generated through local landfill tipping fees. Funding covers supplies, labor for the pickup and delivery of containers, and shipment and disposal of all collected paint.

King County, Washington

King County's four-year program was a retail-based, latex-only paint collection effort. County residents (approximately 1.7 million people) were able to drop off their latex paint in sealed containers (up to five gallons in size) for recycling at several local retail stores. Collections we for residents only, and excluded oil-based paint, solvents, and other paint materials. The leftover latex paint was shipped to Amazon Environmental (Whittier, Calif.) for recycling.

Three paint manufacturers provided in-kind services, including labor and storage. Due to the substantial financial burden still placed on King County to manage and recycle leftover latex paint, the program ended in August 2001.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, in partnership with the Product Stewardship Institute, started a pilot take-back project with paint manufacturer Benjamin Moore to collect and recycle surplus Benjamin Moore brand paint. Benjamin Moore paint represents roughly 10-20 percent of all paint sold in Massachusetts. Collections took place at permanent paint collection sites in five Massachusetts municipalities (population ranging from 26,000 to 83,000 residents) and ran from March through October 2001. Each community site set aside Benjamin Moore branded paint in totes or drums; the paint manufacturer picked up the surplus paint after delivering new paint to retail stores in the area.

Approximately 256 gallons of paint were collected, 240 gallons of which were reprocessed back into paint. The five communities also saved thousands of dollars by diverting the leftover paint to Benjamin Moore instead of transporting the paint to Ontario, Canada, for recycling.

Based on the success of the take-back pilot, Benjamin Moore has decided to expand the project to 16 permanent paint collection sites in Massachusetts, as well as permanent paint collection sites in New Hampshire and Connecticut.

Oregon

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's Paint Smart Pilot Program tested the feasibility of retail collection of leftover paint from residents for safe disposal and recycling. In addition, they worked to educate the public about ways to avoid generating leftover paint. The pilot program ran for about one year at eleven stores in four communities. The retail stores accepted latex and oil-based paint in sealed containers from area residents; no contractor paint was permitted in the program. Paint was transported to a central facility, where the high-quality latex paint was recycled and the bad quality latex paint and all oil-based paints were either incinerated or properly disposed of in a hazardous waste landfill. The Paint Smart Pilot Program had these goals.

• Increase the number and types of leftover paint collection alternatives for Oregon residents
• Reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of handling leftover paint; promote paint recycling
• Test the feasibility of retail store collection of leftover paint
• Partner with the paint industry
• Educate the public to minimize leftover paint

Some paint manufacturers did provide significant in-kind services to the Paint Smart Pilot Program including transportation of collected paint, printing of brochures, staff and storage facilities, etc. However, the program was still too expensive for the Oregon DEQ to manage. Athough Paint Smart ended, much valuable information was gained from this pilot, including an analysis of the barriers and benefits of retail collection, associated costs, participation, and collected volumes of leftover paint.

Product Stewardship Institute

The Product Stewardship Institute has identified paint as a key product for product stewardship initiatives. They adopted an Action Plan for Surplus Paint in December 2000. They were also a partner in a pilot project with the state of Massachusetts in 2001.

Canada

British Columbia: Product Care Association

In 1994, the British Columbia (BC) Ministry of the Environment established a regulation stating that in order for a company to sell paint in BC, it had to provide free collection to the public. If the company did not comply with the regulation, a fine would be administered.

Rather than forming a retailer program, the paint industry formed a non-profit association, the Product Care Association, that runs a program to meet the regulatory requirements. The association is funded by an "eco fee" charged at the point of sale: $0.50 CAD fee for a one-gallon can, $0.25 CAD fee for a quart, and $0.10 fee CAD for a pint or smaller. The government uses a backdrop regulation approach to give a level field for the paint industry. The association's recovery goal is the same as the regulation goal—to take paint out of the landfill. Ultimately, the association's long term goal to have people learn to manage paint properly buy purchasing only what is needed to eliminate any leftover waste.

Quebec: Eco-Peinture

Quebec enacted a take-back regulation for paint (from the 655-2000 Environment Quality Act), requiring industry to recover 25% by 2002, 50% by 2005, and 75% by 2008. The purpose of this regulation is to reduce the quantity of discarded paint in the waste stream by encouraging the recovery and reclamation of leftover paints and paint containers. If a paint company selling paint in Quebec does not comply with the regulation, a fine will be administered.

A non-profit industry organization called "Eco-Peinture" is structured like British Columbia's paint program and manages paint and paint can recovery on behalf of Quebec's paint manufacturers and brand owners. The program recovers and recycles all old paint cans, surplus paints, stains, varnishes, primers, and lacquers. Eco-Peinture does not recycle spray paints, coal-tar sealers, and industrial paints.

Customers are levied a $0.25 CAD "eco-fee" per can of paint sold in Quebec; all of the revenues are then managed by Eco-Peinture to pay for the recovery of old paint cans and leftover paints and the recycling costs. The collection infrastructure is a combination of retail take-back and drop-off centers. The program began April 1, 2001.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia will begin its paint take-back program on June 1, 2002. Similar to other Canadian programs, Nova Scotia will require all brand owners who sell paint in the province to implement a governmental approved paint stewardship plan to collect and recycle waste paint.

The brand owners have two options when formulating their stewardship plan; they can either (1) submit a paint stewardship plan to the environment minister for approval or (2) contract for stewardship with RRFB Nova Scotia (formerly the Resource Recovery Fund Board).

The program will accept all latex, oil and solvent-based paints, including paint in aerosol cans. It is expected to cost the manufacturers between $0.25 to $0.50 CAD ($0.16 to $0.31 USD) per gallon to collect and recycle waste paint; a separate surcharge can not be imposed on consumers to pay for the costs, but rather the program must be entirely manufacturer funded. The leftover paint will be dropped off at the province's beverage container recycling depots, and will then be transported to Laurentide, a paint manufacturer, to be reprocessed into new paint.

Last update April 2004