Our Story

PaintCare Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, represents paint manufacturers (paint producers) to plan and operate paint stewardship programs in U.S. states and jurisdictions that pass paint stewardship laws.

PaintCare is a program of the American Coatings Association (ACA) a membership-based trade association of the paint manufacturing industry. Working through the Paint Producer Stewardship Initiative (PPSI) facilitated by the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), ACA supported the passage of the nation’s first paint stewardship law in Oregon and established PaintCare in 2009.

Since then, PaintCare has launched programs across the country following the passage of similar laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maine, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, and is developing a program for Illinois.

In states where PaintCare operates, we encourage households and businesses to take their unwanted, leftover paint to a PaintCare drop-off site. Most sites are paint retailers, which are convenient locations open year-round and seven days a week. Across the PaintCare programs, there are more than 2,400 drop-off sites, most of which are paint retailers.

To date PaintCare has…

  • Collected 69.7 million gallons of paint
  • Provided 9,967 large volume pickups
  • Hosted 356 paint drop-off events

Awards and Recognition Received by PaintCare

  • Environmental Initiative Award,” SEAL Business Sustainability Awards. 2023.
  • “Best Booth Award,” Northeastern Retail Lumber Association LBM Expo. 2022.
  • California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) Award for Outstanding Household Hazardous Waste, Universal, Electronic Recycling. 2021.
  • Best Paint Recycling Initiative- USA,” BUILD’s Recycling and Waste Management Awards. 2020.
  • “Best Public/Private Partnership,” CalRecycle Used Oil/HHW Awards. 2020.
  • “Outstanding Industry Partner,” North American Hazardous Materials Management Association (NAHMMA). 2019.
  • Program of the Year Award, Maine Resource Recovery Association. 2019.
  • “Community Champion” recognition in Washington, D.C. 2018.
  • Environmental Sustainability Leadership Award, Northeast Recycling Coalition (NERC). 2018.
  • ASAE Power of A Gold Award. 2016.
  • Bow & Arrow Award for Coalition Building, California Product Stewardship Council. 2016.

Current PaintCare States

Click on the green states below to learn more about individual state PaintCare programs.