ConnecticutConnecticut

Contact: Laura Honis, Connecticut 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 Connecticut. Since the start of the Connecticut paint stewardship program in July 2013, PaintCare has set up 154 drop-off sites in Connecticut 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 Connecticut. These stores accept paint whenever they are open for business.

man carrying leftover paint cans in a hardware store A number of PaintCare drop-off sites are transfer stations – these locations only accept paint from their own households. 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). 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, other organizations (e.g., government agencies, real estate agents, property managers, painting contractors) are welcome to order brochures and distribute to others.
CT 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.

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, Polish, 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 Connecticut 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: Add PaintCare Fee: Manufacturers must add the PaintCare Fee to the 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
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:

Publication 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 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 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.

Reuse Pricing

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.

Summary of 2019 Connecticut Annual Report

This one-page infographic (8.5″x11″) highlights the successes from the most recent reporting period for the Connecticut 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 Reports

PaintCare prepares an annual report for the 12 months ending June 30.

Program Plan

PaintCare’s program plan for Connecticut was approved on May 1, 2013. The original version (March 2013) was revised and resubmitted in April 2013. This plan describes the operations, outreach, and other activities of the Connecticut Paint Stewardship Program:

Law

The Connecticut program is established by Public Act 11-24 passed in 2011 and signed by Governor Dannel Malloy.

Evaluation Reports 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. At the request of PaintCare and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, PSI evaluated performance of the first two years of the PaintCare program in Connecticut. This report summarizes PSI’s findings, based upon surveys conducted with five stakeholder groups.

State Agency

The oversight agency for the Connecticut program is the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).

Audit

The following letter is provided to demonstrate compliance with the requirement to conduct a biennial audit regarding the PaintCare Fees in Connecticut.

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: