PaintCare, the nonprofit organization set up by paint manufacturers to operate paint recycling programs, announced that they’ve collected more than 50 million gallons of paint from households and business as of June 30, 2021.
“We are excited to announce our 50 millionth gallon of paint collected across ten programs,” says 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 everyone involved in the production, sale and use of paint manage the entire product life cycle of paint together. In July 2009, Oregon pass the nation’s first such law with support from paint manufacturers. Over the following 10 years, PaintCare has launched programs across the country as similar laws passed in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. In addition, a new program is expected to begin operation in New York in 2022. In total, there are more than 2,000 drop-off sites across all of PaintCare’s programs, mostly at paint and hardware retail stores.
Recently, PaintCare lowered its threshold to qualify for a large volume pickup from 200 gallons to 100 gallons, measured by container size rather than liquid volume. PaintCare has provided more than 5,000 free pickups for households, businesses and other organizations with large amounts of paint to recycle.
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,” says 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.”
