Partner Spotlight: PaintCare

One of the easiest ways to spruce up a room or even the exterior of your home is adding a fresh coat of paint. But what happens when you’re done painting and you have a half or quarter gallon of paint left? Head to ReStore to safely dispose of your paint with PaintCare.

Recycling your leftover paint is an important way dispose of paint safely and keep toxic chemicals (like cadmium and lead) from seeping into groundwater and ecosystems. One gallon of improperly discarded paint can pollute up to 250,000 gallons of water!

Recycling paint also reduces greenhouse gas emissions and conserves raw materials and energy needed to manufacture new paint. Thankfully, ReStore is a trusted spot to recycle your paint, thanks to our partnership with PaintCare.

About PaintCare

PaintCare is a nonprofit organization created by paint companies through the American Coatings Association (ACA), and its mission is to manage leftover paint in states that have enacted paint stewardship laws. While not a government-run program, Minnesota’s own paint stewardship law does require paint manufacturers to provide a stewardship program. PaintCare fulfills this requirement efficiently and cost effectively.

The statewide paint recycling program allows households and businesses to recycle leftover paint, stain, and varnish conveniently and sustainably. To date, PaintCare has collected more than 85 million gallons of paint nationally and saved state and local governments millions of dollars.

PaintCare is committed to educating consumers on how to paint smarter, conserve product, and recycle what they don’t use. They’ve launched successful programs across the country following passage of paint stewardship laws in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

Paint Stewardship

The movement toward paint recycling comes in the wake of a paint stewardship law passed by the State Legislature in 2014. The law ensures everyone who produces, sells, and uses paint works together to minimize, reuse, and recycle unwanted paint.

This is the principle of product stewardship in action, bringing together all parties involved in the design, production, sale, and use of a product to minimize the environmental impact across a product’s life cycle.

A small fee on the sale of new paint – called the PaintCare fee – funds all aspects of the program, including paint collection, transportation, processing, and public education. The PaintCare fee in Minnesota varies by container size: $0.00 for half pint or smaller; $0.49 for larger than half pint up to smaller than one gallon; $0.99 for one gallon up to two gallons; $1.99 for larger than two gallons up to five gallons.

ReStore and PaintCare

ReStore is thrilled to be a part of PaintCare’s program in Minnesota. PaintCare has made it convenient to recycle leftover paint by establishing drop-off sites at local government facilities and paint retailers near residential neighborhoods throughout the state. ReStores in Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis, and New Brighton are PaintCare drop-off sites.

Notably, there is no cost to households and businesses when dropping off unwanted paint for recycling.

We accept both latex- and oil-based architectural paint products, including paints, stains, sealers, and varnishes. A full list of products accepted by the program is available on PaintCare’s website, so please review these requirements before bringing in paint.

When dropping off your leftover paint, keep in mind:

• Paint should be in its original container with its original manufacturer’s label.

• ReStore will accept up to five gallons of paint from each customer.

• Paint drop-off hours are the same as ReStore’s regular business hours.
  

If you have leftover or extra paint, consider dropping it off at ReStore. You'll save space in your home or garage and help protect the environment!