Colorado

Professional painting contractors are one of the groups that are most affected by PaintCare. If you are a painting contractor, please review the information below to learn more about PaintCare, the fees, and paint recycling services that are now available from PaintCare.

As required by state law, a paint stewardship assessment (“PaintCare Fee”) is added by manufacturers to the wholesale price of all architectural paint sold in the state. This fee is paid by manufacturers to PaintCare to fund setting up drop-off sites for leftover, postconsumer paint, and for the transportation, recycling, and proper disposal of that paint. The fees also pay for consumer education and program administrative costs. The fees are based on container size as follows:

Important Note:

It is expected that contractors will pass the fees on to their customers in order to recoup the fees they pay on the product. When estimating jobs, contractors should take these fees into account by checking with your suppliers to make sure the quotes for paint products include the fees. You should also let your customers know that you will be including these fees in your quotes.

Retail drop-off sites provide a convenient and no cost recycling option for painting contractors and other businesses. Businesses that generate less than 220 pounds of hazardous waste* per month will be able to use these sites to recycle all program products (both water and oil-based) with some restrictions on quantities per month. Larger businesses (those that generate more than 220 pounds of hazardous waste per month) may use the drop-off sites for their water-based program products only; they are not able to use the sites for oil-based paint or other solvent-based products.

*220 pounds is about 20-30 gallons of paint. When counting how much hazardous waste you generate in a month, oil-based paint counts (because by law it is a hazardous waste), but latex and other water-based paint does not count toward the 220 pound monthly total.

Information for painting contractors is available below.

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Let your customers know that you are a paint drop-off location!  Visit our Drop-Off Site Promotion Toolkit for artwork for digital advertising, social media, or print advertising.

You can also order free point-of-sale (POS) materials or signage for your business or organization. 

• Drop-Off Site Promotion Toolkit. Use these digital and print ad templates to promote your store as a PaintCare drop-off site on a website, in social media, or in a print newspaper or other publication.
• Order signs and point-of-sale materials
• Connect with us on Facebook

PaintCare provides exempt generator certification forms to drop-off sites to be signed by all businesses and organizations that drop off oil-based paint or other solvent based program products. Signing the form is not necessary for those with only latex or water based program products. The form was updated in August 2017 due to changes to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act regulations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Download the current form here: Exempt Generator Certification Form

Not a drop-off site, but are interested in becoming one? Please see the information in the Partnering with PaintCare section at the bottom of this page.   

The Colorado Paint Stewardship Law requires retailers of paint to include the PaintCare Fee in the sale price of program products and only sell products registered with the program starting on July 1, 2015. (Retailers may also volunteer to become a drop-off site – see fact sheet below). More details are provided here:

a. Add Assessment Fee: Manufacturers must add the PaintCare Fees to their wholesale price of each container of paint. Retailers must ensure these fees are passed down to the consumer. Fees are by container size and are as follows in current states:

b. Sell Registered Brands: Retailers must make sure they do not sell unregistered architectural paint brands. Retailers can verify the registration of manufacturers and brands using the following lists which are updated regularly. If you are a retailer and do not see a manufacturer or brand of paint sold in your store on these lists, please contact PaintCare at (855) 724-6809.

• Registered Manufacturers
• Registered Brands

c. Provide information to the public about the fees and how to recycle paint. PaintCare provided a “starter pack” of brochures and other print materials to retailers prior to the start of the program. Additional materials may be ordered for no charge at any time. (See below for order form.)

The following fact sheets are available from PaintCare for your staff and your customers.

• Retailer Fact sheet. This document explains how the paint stewardship program affects retailers and what is required of retailers according to the paint stewardship law.
• Fact sheet: Assessment Fees. Answers to common questions from retailers about fees.
• Painting Contractor Fact sheet. This document is helpful for retailers to explain the program to their customers who are painting contractors so that they can be prepared to incorporate fees into future job estimates.
• Large Volume Pick-Up Service Fact Sheet

Brochures and other printed materials are available to retailers and facilities at no charge. 
Order additional materials online, or place an order by calling PaintCare at (855) 724-6809 or by sending a completed form by email, fax, or regular mail.

• Order Form for Brochures and Other Printed Materials (PDF) Also in Word

The following materials are available:

• Program Brochure (“Recycle with PaintCare”)
• Fact Sheet for Painting Contractors Also available in Spanish
• Mini Card (Find a paint drop-off site) Also available in Spanish
• Large Volume Pick-Up Service Fact Sheet Also available in Spanish
• General Poster for Retailers This poster is intended for use in stores in the paint department or near the cash registers to help explain the PaintCare program and Fees to customers.
• Leftover Paint Receipt Form Use this receipt if someone dropping off paint asks for one. (Some county or city inspectors ask businesses to show receipts to demonstrate that they disposed or recycled of their paint.)

PaintCare welcomes partnerships with municipal agencies, especially those that operate household hazardous waste collection programs, transfer stations, recycling facilities, and landfills. PaintCare covers the cost of paint storage bins, paint transportation and recycling, and public outreach and education. There is no monetary compensation for operations or labor costs associated with serving as a drop-off site. To learn more, please see the following fact sheets and interest forms. For municipal agencies that wish to offer services to PaintCare in addition to serving as a drop-off site, monetary compensation may be negotiated. These additional services include reprocessing paint at your site, bulking paint in situations where storage space is limited, offering usable paint in original containers to the public (Reuse Program), and transportation from municipal satellite sites (e.g., landfills) to a main site. Read more about becoming a PaintCare drop-off location:

• Fact Sheet for HHW Programs. If you would like to partner with PaintCare, please fill out our Online HHW Interest Form (or use the Word or PDF version and send by email, fax or regular mail).
• Fact Sheet for Transfer Stations, Landfills and Recycling Centers. If you would like to partner with PaintCare, please fill out our Online Interest Form (or use the Word or PDF version and send by email, fax or regular mail).

Watch our video about becoming a PaintCare drop-off location:

To request a copy of PaintCare’s standard agreement for municipal agencies, please contact Colorado Program Manager Kevin Lynch at klynch@paint.org or 720-481-8858.

In rural areas of Colorado far from established year-round drop-off sites, PaintCare plans to host a number of paint collection events. These events will be open to both residents and qualifying businesses. In underserved areas of the state, we are looking for municipalities, retailers, and other organizations with which to partner and identify the best locations for hosting paint drop-off events. Read more about partnering with PaintCare on rural events:

• Fact Sheet: Partnering for Rural Events

If you are already a PaintCare partner you can order PaintCare signs for your location, click here for a Sign Order Form.

Municipalities that have contracts with PaintCare may request partial funding for pre-approved joint outreach activities with PaintCare to promote PaintCare drop-off sites and events. Past projects have included newspaper advertising, direct mail, and radio campaigns. For details, please read the following fact sheet.

• Fact Sheet: Joint Outreach Projects
• Proposal Form (Word). Form also available as PDF

PaintCare encourages household hazardous waste programs, reuse stores and others to operate paint reuse programs (i.e., swap shops or exchanges). Reuse programs return good quality unused paint to the local community at low or no cost. Reuse is a preferred method of waste management. To encourage reuse, PaintCare will compensate paint drop-off sites operating a reuse program under a contract with PaintCare. PaintCare allows two different reporting methods by container or by volume as described here.

• Fact Sheet: Reuse Pricing

PaintCare prepares an annual report for the 12 months ending December 31. The first report for Colorado covers 6 months because the program started in July 2015.

• Annual Report 2017 (January – December 2017)
• Annual Report 2016 (January – December 2016) Revised February 12, 2018
• Annual Report 2015  (July – December 2015) Revised January 4, 2018

PaintCare’s plan for Colorado was approved in June 2014. This plan describes the operations, outreach, and other activities proposed for the Colorado Paint Stewardship Program

• Colorado Paint Stewardship Program Plan (June 12, 2015)

The Colorado paint stewardship program is required by the Colorado Paint Product Stewardship Act (SB 14-029), signed by Gov. Hickenlooper on June 6, 2014.

The state oversight agency for the Colorado paint stewardship program is the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).

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

• Colorado Dept. of Revenue Letter regarding Colorado Sales Tax (November 28, 2013)