Politics & Government

Paint Bill Promises to Recycle More, Spend Less

Supporters of the bill say municipalities would save thousands because fewer residents would have to go to household hazardous waste collection sites to dispose of leftover or unused paint.

Ed Greim, owner of EAG Painting in Guilford, can remember many customers over the past decade of business with basements chock-full of old cans of paint – some cans, he said, over 20 years old.

Greim said clients ask him what to do with all this leftover, unused paint, but he never has a decisive response.

“It would be good to have an easy answer,” said Greim. “As a painter, you want to help the customer.”

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Pending Gov. Dannel Malloy’s signature, Greim may have his easy answer.

After the state Senate’s undivided approval earlier this month, the House of Representatives last week passed unanimously a bill that would start a paint recycling program where retail paint and hardware stores would serve as collection sites for leftover or unused paint.

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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, said State Rep. Pat Widlitz (D-Guilford, Branford). The American Coatings Association (ACA), the paint industry’s major organization, is backing the program, which would allow a nonprofit to collect a nominal fee for the recovery, recycling or proper disposal of the discarded paint at the facility.       

Widlitz has been at the head of this paint legislation going back to last year, when her attempt to make a similar bill into law came up short as the state Senate missed its deadline to vote on it.

“This bill takes the burden off municipalities and provides a convenient, environmentally appropriate way to dispose of paint,” said Widlitz. “It’s consumer-friendly, pro-business and saves money for the taxpayers.”

Currently, if Connecticut residents want to get rid of leftover or unused paint they have to go to a household hazardous waste collection site, which are scarce, only open on Saturdays and closed during winter, said Tom Metzner, an environmental analyst with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

And if your town is not a member, you can’t use the site, he said.

That’s because municipalities foot the bill for disposing waste at these locations, such as the one in New Haven called HazWaste Central, which serves 16 towns in the area.

“Statewide it costs $680,000 a year, charged back to municipalities,” said Widlitz of the price of disposing just paint at the household hazardous waste collection sites in Connecticut. There’s no direct cost to residents at the collection site but towns are charged $4.60 for every gallon of paint that’s processed there and these costs increase property taxes, she said.

Thirty to 50 percent of the town’s hazardous waste expenditures are from paint disposal, said Metzner, adding that the collection sites don’t accept latex-based paints and the proposed program would, along with the following:

  • Oil-based paint
  • Deck coating
  • Waterproof sealers
  • Primers
  • Varnish
  • Stains
  • Shellac

If Malloy gives the go-ahead, Connecticut would become the third state in the nation to pass the law, joining Oregon and California. Under the paint stewardship program, “a small fee would be tacked on to the paint’s retail price,” said Widlitz. In Oregon, where the same program started in 2010, it was .75 cents more a gallon, she said. The DEP is in talks with paint manufacturers now, said Metzner.

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.

“We expect they will,” said Metzner. He said there’s incentive for the state’s paint and hardware stores to jump on board with the program, which is slated to launch in July 2013. “You bring in your old paint, maybe you’ll buy some new paint.”

But at least one area hardware store manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the program would create “quite the burden” on her business.

“To involve us on that level, it will be a burden on small business,” she said of the added work the program might entail. 


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