August 18, 2015

　　Oct.1, 2015 will mark the first day of PaintCare® program operations in Maine. The paint stewardship program was authorized by the state legislature’s LD 1308, “An Act To Establish a Stewardship Program for Architectural Paint,” enacted in the summer of 2013. The Maine PaintCare program is the eighth of its kind in the United States, with programs already in place in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont; and operations are slated to launch in the District of Columbia in early 2016.

　　For the convenience of Maine households and businesses, most PaintCare drop-off sites will be at paint retailers and open year-round. PaintCare sites accept all brands of house paint, stain, and varnish, no matter how old they are, during their regular business hours. This will give homeowners and painting professionals alike multiple easy-to-use options to recycle unwanted paint.

　　In July, PaintCare, a 501(c)(3) organization created by ACA, marked its fifth anniversary of working on behalf of architectural paint manufacturers to collect leftover, unwanted paint for reuse, recycling, energy recovery, and other beneficial uses. Operating in states that have passed paint stewardship laws, PaintCare makes recycling leftover paint easy and convenient through a network of more than 1,500 paint drop-off locations in seven states that include paint retailers, household hazardous waste facilities, and other partners.

　　More than 650 million gallons of architectural paint are sold each year in the United States, and about 10 percent is left over and can be recycled. Until now, leftover paint has been handled primarily by government-run household hazardous waste programs — many with strained budgets and limited days of operation. PaintCare will make paint recycling much more convenient by providing more drop-off locations that are open with regular business hours across Maine; it will also relieve a considerable financial burden from local government.

　　The program is funded by a nominal fee applied to the purchase price of paint at retailers throughout the state. The fees range from $0.35 to $1.60, depending on the size of the container. Costs for collecting and recycling “legacy paint” (leftover paint from before the PaintCare program’s start) are covered by the program’s funding. PaintCare will use the fees to pay for the transportation of leftover paint from partnering drop-off sites to processors for recycling and energy recovery. These fees will also assist PaintCare in its efforts to educate consumers on buying the correct amount of paint, using up leftover paint, keeping paint out of the trash, and recycling remaining unused paint.

　　To date, the PaintCare program has been very successful, and many state and local governments dealing with leftover paint are interested in bringing the program to their state. One of ACA’s goals is to make this legislation consistent across all states that pass paint stewardship laws, so that program implementation can be nationally coordinated and manufacturers and consumers of paint do not have different programs across state lines.

　　Households and businesses in PaintCare states can find the nearest PaintCare drop-off site at www.paintcare.org/drop-off-locations by entering a zip code or city. For additional information about the Maine PaintCare program, visit www.paintcare.org/maine.

　　Contact PaintCare’s John Hurd or Paul Fresina for more information.