Rhode IslandRhode Island

Contact: Laura Honis, Rhode Island Program Manager, lhonis@paint.org (203) 747-4494

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Drop-Off Sites

It’s more convenient than ever to recycle paint in Rhode Island. Since the start of the Rhode Island paint stewardship program in June 2014, PaintCare has set up 29 drop-off sites in Rhode Island where the public can take unwanted, leftover paint for recycling. Most of these sites are at paint retailers (paint and hardware stores) that have volunteered to take back paint, and they are available to any household and business in Rhode Island. These stores accept paint whenever they are open for business.

woman carrying leftover paint cans in a hardware store

A few restrictions apply: there are limits on how much paint can be dropped off per visit. Also, note that certain businesses — those that produce more than 220 pounds (about 20-30 gallons) of hazardous waste per month — can only drop off latex paint (they may not drop off oil-based paint). PaintCare will also be working with the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation to continue accepting paints, stains, and varnishes at their Saturday Eco-Depot events. Eco-Depot will continue to be for households only. When you decide it’s time to recycle your paint, please call your site ahead of time to confirm their hours and to make sure they have space to accept the amount of paint you would like to recycle.

Products We Accept

Participating PaintCare drop-off locations accept the following:
  • House paint and primers (latex or oil-based)
  • Stains
  • Deck and concrete sealers
  • Clear finishes (e.g., varnishes, shellac)
The architectural paint products we accept are referred to as “PaintCare Products” and must be in containers that are no larger than 5 gallons in size. PaintCare Products must be in their original container with original manufacturer label and secure lid. PaintCare does not accept spray paint (aerosols) or anything in containers larger than 5 gallons. We cannot accept open or leaking cans. Please review our detailed list of PaintCare Products vs. Non-PaintCare Products.

Fees

PaintCare programs are funded by a fee (referred to as the PaintCare fee) which is applied to the purchase price of new paint sold in the state. The fee is paid to PaintCare by paint manufacturers and is then added to the wholesale and retail purchase price of paint, passing the cost of managing post-consumer paint to everyone who buys paint. You may see a line item on your receipt or invoice for each container of paint you purchase. There is no charge for dropping off paint at a PaintCare drop-off site. The PaintCare fee is not a tax; it does not go to the state to operate the program. The PaintCare fee is also not a deposit; you don’t get it back when you drop off paint–a common misunderstanding. Fees fund all aspects of the paint stewardship program. This includes paint collection, transportation, recycling, public outreach, and program administration, and to manage “legacy” paint, material that has been accumulating in homes and businesses from before the program started. The fees are based on container size as follows:
Container Size Fee
Half pint or smaller $0.00
Larger than half pint up to smaller than 1 gallon $0.35
1 Gallon $0.75
Larger than 1 gallon up to 5 gallons $1.60

Program Brochure

PaintCare’s program brochure is intended for the general public. To request free paper copies of this brochure for you or others, please contact us at 855-PAINT09. In addition to paint stores, real estate agents, property managers, and painting contractors, others are welcome to order brochures and distribute them to their customers.
RI Brochure English
XX Brochure Spanish Spanish

Contractors

Professional painting contractors are one of the groups 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 available from PaintCare. man carrying leftover paint cans in a hardware store

Fees and Funding

As required by state law, a paint stewardship assessment (“PaintCare Fee”) must be 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:
Container Size Fee
Half pint or smaller $0.00
Larger than half pint up to smaller than 1 gallon $0.35
1 Gallon $0.75
Larger than 1 gallon up to 5 gallons $1.60
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.

Use of Retail Drop-Off Sites by Businesses

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.

Large Volume Pickup (LVP) Service

If you have a large amount of unwanted paint, PaintCare offers door-to-door pick-up service that benefits both contractors and our volunteer drop-off sites. This free service is available to households or businesses with at least 200 gallons of paint.

Download/Print

Information for painting contractors is available in English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Already a Drop-Off Site?

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. 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.

Responsibilities of All Retailers

The Rhode Island 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. (Retailers may also volunteer to become a drop-off site – see fact sheet below). More details are provided here: a. Add PaintCare Fee: Manufacturers must add the PaintCare Fee 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 as follows:
Container Size Fee
Half pint or smaller $0.00
Larger than half pint up to smaller than 1 gallon $0.35
1 Gallon $0.75
Larger than 1 gallon up to 5 gallons $1.60
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) 726-6809.

Publications for Your Customers

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. The following materials are available:

Publications for Your Employees

Partnering with PaintCare to be a Drop-Off Site

Fact Sheet: How to Become a Drop-Off Site. Explains the responsibilities for paint retailers that volunteer to take back leftover paint from the public.
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click to play video
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Retailers may volunteer to be a paint drop-off site and accept paint from households and certain businesses in their community. To learn more about what is involved in becoming a drop-off site, please read the above fact sheet. If you would like to be a drop-off site, please fill out our Online Retailer Interest Form, or use the Word or PDF version and send by email, fax or regular mail.

Partner with PaintCare

PaintCare welcomes partnerships with municipal agencies, especially those that operate household hazardous waste collection programs, landfills, and transfer stations. 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 sheet and interest form. 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 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 (“Waste Exchange”), and transportation from municipal-owned satellite locations to a main site. Read more about becoming a PaintCare drop-off location: Watch our video about becoming a PaintCare drop-off location:

Signs

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

Joint Outreach Projects

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.
Link Suggestion File Thumbnail
At the request of HHW programs in PaintCare states, we developed suggested text and images on what to include when linking to PaintCare’s website.

Summary of 2019 Rhode Island Annual Report

This one-page infographic (8.5″x11″) highlights the successes from the most recent reporting period for the Rhode Island PaintCare Program (July 2018 to June 2019). Please consider downloading and printing a copy of the infographic and then posting it for staff and the public at your business or organization.

Annual Report

PaintCare prepares an annual report for the 12 months ending June 30. The first report for Rhode Island covers 13 months because the program started a month early.

Program Plan

PaintCare’s program plan for Rhode Island was approved on March 20, 2014. The original version (March 3) was revised and resubmitted on May 14. This plan describes the operations, outreach, and other activities of the Rhode Island Paint Stewardship Program:

Law

The Rhode Island program is a result of Senate Bill 2083A, Proper Management of Unused Paint, passed in 2012 and signed by Governor Lincoln Chafee.

Evaluation Report by Product Stewardship Institute

The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) evaluated the effects of the PaintCare program on household hazardous waste (HHW) programs in five states that implemented paint stewardship prior to September 2014: California, Connecticut, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. This report summarizes PSI’s findings from the cross-state evaluation.

State Agency

The state oversight agency for the Rhode Island program is the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is the agency overseeing implementation of the new law.

Sales Tax

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

COVID-19: PaintCare Impacts & Resources

 

As a public health precaution due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the recommendation of the CDC posted March 16 to limit discretionary travel, PaintCare advises that households and businesses consider refraining from dropping off paint for recycling at PaintCare locations until all applicable local, state, and federal public health orders and guidance have been lifted. The current status of PaintCare collections services follows:

 

  • Many government-run household hazardous waste (HHW) programs are temporarily closing their year-round HHW facilities, postponing HHW drop-off events, or greatly reducing their hours. 
  • While most paint stores remain open, some have reduced their hours or are otherwise changing operations to minimize physical contact with customers. Many of these stores have asked us to temporarily remove them from the PaintCare site locator at paintcare.org.
  • PaintCare has cancelled its own paint drop-off events through June and intends to reschedule them as soon as possible after government restrictions are lifted.
  • PaintCare’s pickup service for large volumes of paint (200+ gallons) is temporarily unavailable. Customers submitting requests will be contacted by PaintCare staff and informed about the service being temporarily unavailable and that PaintCare will notify them again when the service resumes.

 

If You Do Plan to Drop Off Paint for Recycling

 

If you do plan to take leftover paint to a drop-off location for recycling, take precautions: