Unless you buy the perfect amount of paint every time, you might be like most Americans and have a few cans (or a lot more) of leftover paint sitting around. What are you supposed to do with it? You could give old paint to a friend, or try to use it up, but when you’ve run out of ideas, wouldn’t it be nice to take paint back to a convenient location, during normal business hours, and know that it’s being recycled or properly disposed of?

New York could join eight states and the District of Columbia by providing this type of convenient take back of leftover paint under a paint stewardship program called PaintCare (www.paintcare.org). PaintCare is a non-profit organization formed by industry that has set up more than 1,700 places in states with paint stewardship laws, where households and businesses can get rid of old paint and be sure it will be properly reused, recycled, or disposed. About three-quarters of paint collected under the PaintCare program is recycled back into high-quality, low-cost recycled paint. PaintCare is funded by a nominal fee on all new paint sales in those same states; there is no charge to households or businesses for dropping off paint, and local governments save money on managing unwanted paint.

Did you know we New Yorkers purchase over 39.2 million gallons of paint each year and, of that, an estimated 3.9 million gallons remain unused? And leftover paint can hurt our environment by uninformed consumers who dispose of it in household drains and garbage, and storm drains. For these reasons, we like the idea of the industry providing an environmentally responsible and financially sustainable paint recovery alternative. This will promote paint reuse and recycling, establish a network of voluntary retail and municipal paint collection sites, and educate consumers on environmentally responsible paint management.

For these reasons, the New York Product Stewardship Council and 37 other local governments, municipal and industry associations, and environmental groups support the companion bills that have been introduced in the New York State Senate and Assembly this session (A.1038 and S.881). This legislation, if enacted, would create an industry-managed “stewardship organization” to set up and run a convenient, statewide system for the collection of post-consumer paint. These bills are based on a national model developed over the past 14 years among state and local governments, paint manufacturers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, recyclers, and other stakeholders. It is currently working successfully in eight states and the District of Columbia.

These bills benefit the economy, environment, and the citizens and local governments of New York. Each year, more than $3.1 million of taxpayer funds are used to recycle paint, regardless of whether or not you are a paint user. Local governments apply these funds to partially manage this waste stream, but they cannot afford to manage all paint given their limited budgets. To properly manage all of the state’s paint, local governments would need to spend $31 million a year. With the passage of A.1038 and S.881, industry would provide services worth $31 million in financial benefits to properly manage all of the state’s paint (e.g., collection, transportation, processing, customer/retailer outreach and education, etc.). Not only will this free up your taxes for other uses, green jobs will be created. In fact, two companies are ready to launch paint recycling operations upon the bill’s passage. Over 200 jobs have already been created in states with similar legislation. It’s New York’s turn to see these benefits.

A.1038 and S.881 is a win-win for the economy, environment, and for New Yorkers who want to do the right thing with their leftover paint.

For more information visit https://nypsc.org/paint.

[Andrew Radin is Chair of the New York Product Stewardship Council and Recycling and Waste Reduction Director for the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency NY. Marie Clarke is counsel, Government Affairs Division, American Coatings Association. Scott Cassel is CEO and Founder of the Product Stewardship Institute Inc.]