PaintCare Collects 50 Millionth Gallon of Paint

As of June 30, 2021, PaintCare — the nonprofit organization set up by paint manufacturers to operate paint recycling programs—has collected more than 50 million gallons of paint from households and businesses. PaintCare programs are available in states that have passed paint stewardship laws and provide a statewide network of convenient locations where the public can recycle postconsumer (leftover) paint, stain, and varnish.

“We are excited to announce our 50 millionth gallon of paint collected across ten programs,” said PaintCare President Marjaneh Zarrehparvar. “We are grateful to our partners — paint and hardware stores, household hazardous waste facilities, and other organizations, working together with paint manufacturers to take responsibility for leftover paint and lower the cost of paint management. Our program offers new options for households, businesses, and institutions to dispose of leftover paint responsibly, diverting it from landfills to be recycled into new paint products, or put to other beneficial uses.”

Paint stewardship laws ensure that everyone involved in the production, sale, and use of paint work together to manage the entire product life cycle of paint. The program is funded by a fee on sales of new paint and remitted to PaintCare by paint manufacturers to operate the program. The fee funds all aspects of the program in each state, including paint collection, transportation, processing, and public education.

In July 2009, Oregon passed the nation’s first such law with support from the paint manufacturers. Over the following 10 years, PaintCare has launched programs across the country following the passage of similar laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and, most recently, New York, where a new program is expected to begin operation in 2022. There are more than 2,000 drop-off sites across all of PaintCare’s programs, most at paint and hardware retail stores. In addition, PaintCare has managed paint from more than 5,840 collection events.

As PaintCare is surpassing this impressive milestone, it continues to hone its operations and public outreach efforts. Recently, the organization lowered its threshold to quality for a large volume pickup from 200 gallons to 100 gallons, measured by container size (not liquid volume), creating a new opportunity for large scale paint collection for many more consumers. PaintCare has provided more than 5,000 free pickups for households, businesses, and organizations with large amounts of paint to recycle.

Additionally, the organization recently underwent a rebranding process to increase the effectiveness of its public education efforts around paint stewardship. “As we look forward to PaintCare’s next ten years and expansion to additional states, we took the opportunity to refresh our brand to ensure our identity and mission are better understood by paint consumers,” said PaintCare Director of Communications Brett Rodgers. “PaintCare’s updated logo is intended to more clearly illustrate the organization’s role providing valuable support to businesses and households in the form of convenient paint recycling options.”

To learn more about PaintCare, visit www.paintcare.org, or follow @WeRecyclePaint on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.