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Illinois

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Home States Illinois

Program Details

PaintCare offers drop-off sites throughout Illinois where the public can take unwanted paint for recycling. These sites are available to households, government agencies, and others with leftover paint.

  • 334
    334
    Year-round drop-off sites
  • December 2025
    December 2025
    Established

Drop Off Paint

Large Volume Pickup (LVP) Service

If you have a large amount of unwanted paint (100+ gallons), PaintCare offers a free service to painting contractors, property managers, and others with large amounts of leftover architectural paint.

Learn more about LVP

Products We 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.

PaintCare accepted products

Fee and Funding

PaintCare programs are funded by a fee (referred to as the PaintCare fee) which is applied to the purchase price of each container of new paint sold in the state. There is no charge for dropping off paint at a PaintCare drop-off site. The PaintCare fee is not a tax or a deposit. The fee funds all aspects of the paint stewardship program.

For more information on the fee, visit the PaintCare Fee Page.

The fee in Illinois is based on container size as follows:

Half pint or smaller
$0.00
Larger than half pint to smaller than 1 gallon
$0.45
1-2 gallons
$0.95
Larger than 2 gallons up to 5 gallons
$1.95
Half pint or smaller
$0.00
Larger than half pint to smaller than 1 gallon
$0.45
1-2 gallons
$0.95
Larger than 2 gallons up to 5 gallons
$1.95

Official Documents

State Agency

The oversight agency for the Illinois paint stewardship program is the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA).

Program Plan

PaintCare’s program plan for Illinois was approved by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) on October 28, 2025. This plan describes the operations, outreach, and other activities of the Illinois paint stewardship program:

Law

Laws relevant to the PaintCare program in Illinois can be found at https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs.asp

  • Illinois Compiled Statutes
  • Chapter 415 – Environmental Safety
  • 415 ILCS 175/1-70 – Paint Stewardship Act

Sales Tax

The Illinois Department of Revenue has provided an explanation of why the PaintCare Fee is subject to state sales tax in the following email: