Connecticut to Adopt
Paint Recycling Program
With undivided approval from the state Senate last month, the House of Representatives recently approved a bill that would start a paint recycling program
in Connecticut for retail paint. Under the program, recycling drop-off locations
will be established at certain paint retail centers with the potential for future
businesses established to recycle or properly dispose of paint products.
This latest success represents another step forward for the American Coatings Association’s paint recycling agenda. Under the paint stewardship program, the discarded paint would go from the retail store to a facility where it
can be either disposed of properly or recycled.
A nonprofit organization representing the industry will collect a nominal fee
for the recovery, recycling or proper disposal of architectural paint. To pay for
this a small fee would be tacked on to the paint’s retail price. In Oregon, where
the same program started in 2010, it was .75 cents more a gallon. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is in talks with paint manufacturers.
Advocates of the bill don’t see the extra cost deterring retailers from participating in the program, which they would not be mandated to do.
“There are 7. 4 million gallons of paint sold in Connecticut each year. Ten
percent of that total is leftover or unused,” said State Representative Pat Widlitz
(D-Guilford, Branford), who negotiated the bill and led the effort to pass it on
the House floor. “This program will save our towns money, cost less than the
current hazardous waste collection process and insure the proper disposal and
recycling of unused product in an environmentally appropriate manner.”
In 2008, it was calculated the cost of disposing leftover and unused paint in
Connecticut at hazardous waste collection locations was $620,000. It is esti-
mated the recovery cost involved in this new program will be a fraction of that
number, specifically $.75/gallon and $1.60/5 gallon. Latex-based paint not
brought to hazardous waste collection sites results in increased tipping fees for
municipalities when containers are just placed in the trash after drying out.
Types of paint products that can be covered under the program include:
• Oil-based paint
• Deck coating
• Primers
• Stains
• Latex-based paint
• Waterproof sealers
• Varnish
• Shellac
Following approval of regulations by the DEP, the program is expected to be
running by July 1, 2013. The bill next heads to the desk of Governor Dannel
Malloy for his expected signature.
TWRIGHT@RODPUB.COM
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