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Recycle Your Leftover Paint

If spring has you tackling home improvement projects, be sustainable about them! PaintCare makes it easy to recycle leftover paint. There are currently 25 dropoff sites in Connecticut.




What they accept: PaintCare sites accept house paint as well as primers, stains, sealers, and clear coatings such as shellac and varnish. Accepted products, also referred to as “PaintCare products” and “architectural coatings,” are the same ones that carry the PaintCare fee when purchased. To be accepted for drop-off, PaintCare products must be in their original containers of no larger than 5 gallons in size, must have the original manufacturer’s printed label on the container, and must be covered with a secured lid. Open or leaking cans not accepted. Check the full list here.

Want to become a dropoff site? PaintCare welcomes partnerships with waste collection facilities in states with a PaintCare program, especially those that operate household hazardous waste collection programs, transfer stations, recycling centers, and landfills. PaintCare covers costs for paint storage bins, paint transportation and recycling, and public outreach and education. More here.


About PaintCare

PaintCare Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, represents paint manufacturers (paint producers) to plan and operate paint stewardship programs in U.S. states and jurisdictions that pass paint stewardship laws.

PaintCare is a program of the American Coatings Association (ACA) a membership-based trade association of the paint manufacturing industry. Working through the Paint Producer Stewardship Initiative (PPSI) facilitated by the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), ACA supported the passage of the nation’s first paint stewardship law in Oregon and established PaintCare in 2009.

Since then, PaintCare has launched programs across the country following the passage of similar laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and, most recently, Washington and New York.

In states where PaintCare operates, PaintCare encourages households and businesses to take their unwanted, leftover paint to a PaintCare drop-off site. Most locations are paint retailers, which are convenient locations open year-round and seven days a week. There are more than 2,000 drop-off sites, most of which are paint retailers.