PaintCare offers drop-off sites throughout California where the public can take unwanted paint for recycling. These sites are available to households, businesses, government agencies, and others with leftover paint.
- Established in October 2012
- 804 year-round drop-off sites
- 35.2 million gallons collected (estimate)
Enter your zip code, city and state, or street address to find the nearest, most convenient paint drop-off site to you. All PaintCare sites accept up to 5 gallons per visit (some take more). Please call ahead to confirm business hours and ask if they can accept the type and amount of paint you would like to recycle. Sites do not accept aerosol coatings, leaking, unlabeled, or empty containers.
Paint Drop-off and
Giveaway Events
for Households & Businesses
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 California is based on container size as follows:
$0.00
$0.30
Larger than half pint up to smaller than 1 gallon
$0.65
$1.50
Larger than 2 gallons up to 5 gallons
