An industry supported paint stewardship bill has passed in Illinois, paving the way for a PaintCare program to operate in that state. We will provide updates about the new program as they become available on our Illinois page.

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DROP OFF PAINT

PaintCare is Good for Business

Do you have a room full of leftover paint?

Now’s the time to clean out your unwanted paint and recycle it.

Whether you’re a painting contractor, property manager, or any other business that frequently uses paint, chances are you’ve spent both time and space managing a stockpile of leftover paint that has accumulated over the years. PaintCare makes recycling your leftover paint more convenient than ever.

PaintCare offers free, year-round paint recycling and disposal services in states with paint stewardship laws. Before PaintCare, businesses had limited options for managing leftover paint, but now hundreds of sites are part of the PaintCare program. Most paint drop-off locations are at paint and hardware stores with regular business hours.

Make recycling paint part of your regular business. There’s no need to keep unwanted paint, stain, and varnish in storage for a long time now that recycling services are easy and free. It’s good for business, and it’s good for recycling — if you drop off paint for recycling before it spoils or dries out, it’s easier for us to recycle it into new paint.

Find a drop-off location.

PaintCare’s drop-off locations are at paint retailers, household hazardous waste (HHW) facilities, and other locations that have volunteered to take back latex and oil-based paint. All locations accept up to five gallons of paint at a time from businesses throughout the state, but some locations accept 20 gallons or even more.

Businesses fall into two groups: Those that generate more or less than 220 pounds of hazardous waste per month (220 pounds is about 20-30 gallons, depending on the waste product). To figure out which group you belong in, count the volume of all chemicals or hazardous waste that you produce monthly, not including any latex paint.

Businesses that generate less than 220 pounds of hazardous waste per month can use drop-off locations to recycle all products accepted by PaintCare (water- and oil-based paint, stain and varnish) with some restrictions on quantities per month. Larger businesses (those that generate more than 220 pounds of hazardous waste per month) may use drop-off sites for their water-based products only – but not for oil-based products.

Using the drop-off locations regularly – by taking a few gallons to a paint store at a time, is an easy way to keep the amount of old paint in your storage room under control and free up some space.

All PaintCare drop-off locations accept all brands of paint, even if it is from many years ago. To find a drop-off location near you, simply enter your zip code, city and state, or street address into PaintCare’s online locator tool.

Do you have 100 gallons (or more)?

Have it picked up at no charge.

If your business has accumulated more than 100 gallons of leftover paint, PaintCare offers a pickup service for no charge. PaintCare’s transportation company arrives and helps pack the paint into empty cubic yard boxes, then takes it away on the same day. For businesses that regularly generate large volumes of unwanted paint, PaintCare provides empty boxes and trains your staff on how to sort and pack the paint on your own. Then you simply call for a pick up when the boxes are full.

  • Fact Sheet: Large Volume Pickup
    Contact to request this fact sheet in a different language.

Using PaintCare’s large volume pickup (LVP) service is easy. Those interested in a one-time clean-out of all their leftover paint can fill out and submit the online LVP request form available here.

Before making a request for a LVP, customers should sort and count their paint. We need to know the number of containers by size (five gallons, one gallon, quarts) and type (water-based, oil-based). Restrictions apply for businesses with oil-based paint.

To use the PaintCare program for oil-based products, a business must qualify as an exempt generator under federal and any analogous state hazardous waste generator rules. Please visit the Business Limits page for more information on exempt generator rules. If your business does not qualify as an exempt generator, it can use the PaintCare program for water-based products but not oil-based products. (Non-exempt generators may use the pickup service in New York. Contact PaintCare for details.)

Which products are accepted by PaintCare? 

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. PaintCare sites do not accept aerosols (spray cans), solvents, and products designed and labeled to be used for industrial or non-architectural use.

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. We cannot accept open or leaking cans.

Please review the detailed list below of PaintCare products and non-PaintCare products.

Accepted

The following are PaintCare products included in the program. When purchased, the PaintCare fee is applied. These products are accepted at no additional cost when dropped off at PaintCare’s participating drop-off sites.

  • Interior and exterior architectural paints: latex, acrylic, water-based, alkyd, oil-based, enamel (including textured coatings)
  • Deck coatings, floor paints (including elastomeric)
  • Primers, sealers, undercoaters
  • Stains
  • Shellacs, lacquers, varnishes, urethanes (single component)
  • Waterproofing concrete/masonry/wood sealers and repellents (not tar or bitumen-based)
  • Metal coatings, rust preventatives
  • Field and lawn paints

Not Accepted

The following are non-PaintCare products and are not included in the program. When purchased, the PaintCare fee is not applied. They are not accepted at PaintCare’s participating drop-off sites.

  • Paint thinners, mineral spirits, solvents
  • Aerosol paints (spray cans)
  • Auto and marine paints
  • Art and craft paints
  • Caulking compounds, epoxies, glues, adhesives
  • Paint additives, colorants, tints, resins
  • Wood preservatives (containing pesticides)
  • Roof patch and repair
  • Asphalt, tar and bitumen-based products
  • 2-component coatings
  • Deck cleaners
  • Traffic and road marking paints
  • Industrial Maintenance (IM) coatings
  • Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) (shop application) paints and finishes
  • Containers that are leaking or empty, and containers without the original printed manufacturer’s label are not accepted at retail drop-off sites