Product Stewardship

Paint

Oregon has become the first state in the nation to enact a law requiring paint manufacturers to safely manage leftover latex and oil-based paint from consumer and contractor painting jobs. This historic product stewardship legislation responds to the problem of managing leftover paint -- the largest component of local household hazardous waste collection programs. An estimated 10 percent of the more than 750 million gallons of architectural paint sold each year in the United States is unused. This difficult-to-manage waste can be captured for reuse, recycling, energy recovery, or safe disposal, but doing so requires public awareness and a convenient and effective local infrastructure, currently beyond most local budgets and capacity.

The new paint stewardship law, signed July 23, 2009, is expected to result in the proper management of an estimated 800,000 gallons of leftover paint each year and to provide Oregon governments with service valued at over $6 million. Paint recycling will be more convenient throughout the state, particularly in areas where local governments do not offer paint recycling opportunities. Governments that currently collect leftover paint will realize a direct financial savings. Communities that are currently underserved will see new services. Under the new law, the paint industry will set up a program to reduce paint waste, increase reuse and recycling, and safely dispose of remaining unusable paint. Costs for safely managing leftover paint will be incorporated in the purchase price of new paint.

This new law ties into the wider producer responsibility movement, in which Oregon is a national leader. Producer responsibility means manufacturers take responsibility to reduce the life cycle impacts of a product, including internalizing the end-of-life management costs, rather than having government set up and fund collection programs for waste products. The U.S. movement has resulted in 19 state electronics laws (including Oregon E-Cycles), seven state thermostat laws, one fluorescent lamp law, and several laws on batteries and auto switches.

The law requires the program begin no later than July 2010, but since the Oregon law will serve as a demonstration for other states, we expect collection to begin sooner. DEQ and the paint industry have been meeting, and we expect a plan to be submitted to DEQ for approval in February 2010.

• Fact sheet: Oregon's Paint Product Stewardship Law PDF
• House Bill 3037 - Enrolled PDF
• Oregon paint news release, July 24, 2009 PDF
• Oregon PaintCare Program Update for Local Governments PDF
• Oregon Environmental News - OregonLive.com
  Your leftover paints are turning into bright recycling success
• Paint Product Stewardship Stakeholder Meetings
  • Next meeting: February 9, 2010
    1:30 pm to 4:30 pm
    • Meeting agenda PDF
    • PaintCare presentation PDF
    • PSC presentation PDF
    • Metro Paint presentation PDF (3.4MB)
    • Evaluation Overview presentation PDF
  • December 10, 2009
    • Meeting agenda PDF
    • Bradshaw presentation PDF (2MB)
    • Earth 911 presentation PDF
    • Paintcare presentation PDF
  • September 24, 2009
    • Meeting agenda PDF
    • PaintCare Presentation PDF (1.5MB)
• Paint Smart Pilot Program: Evaluation and Final Report, September 1998 PDF
  Prepared by Cascadia Consulting Group
• Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) Paint Law Fact Sheet PDF
• PSI Paint Product Stewardship Initiative Prospectus PDF

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