PaintCare

PaintCare is a nonprofit that represents paint manufacturers and runs the paint stewardship programs required by law in twelve states and the District of Columbia. A fee built into the price of new paint pays for drop-off sites, mostly paint retailers, where households and businesses leave leftover paint at no charge. It does not collect at the curb. Open PaintCare’s site locator first, then call the site before you go.

Which states and who pays

PaintCare operates in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia. The American Coatings Association, the paint industry’s trade group, set it up in 2009 after Oregon passed the first paint stewardship law. The newest programs began in Illinois in December 2025 and in Maryland in April 2026.

Manufacturers pay a fee to PaintCare on each container of architectural paint sold in a program state and pass it through the price, so you pay it at the register. It is not a tax or a deposit, and it varies by state and container size. For a can of 1 to 2 gallons it runs from $0.65 in California to $1.45 in Washington. Dropping paint off costs nothing.

What is accepted

• Accepted: interior and exterior house paint (latex, acrylic, oil-based, alkyd, enamel), primers and sealers, stains, deck and floor coatings, shellac, lacquer, varnish and single-component urethane, masonry and wood waterproofing sealers, metal and rust-preventive coatings, and field and lawn paint.
• Container rules: the original container, 5 gallons or smaller, with the maker’s printed label and a secure lid.
• Not accepted: aerosol spray paint, thinners and solvents, auto and marine paint, art and craft paint, caulk, glue and epoxies, two-part coatings, tar and asphalt products, pesticide wood preservatives, deck cleaners, road-marking and industrial coatings. Leaking, empty or unlabeled containers are refused.

How to use it

Search the drop-off site locator by location. Blue flags are PaintCare sites; gray flags are sites in states without a program. Every PaintCare site takes up to 5 gallons per visit, and some take more, but call ahead to confirm hours and whether the site takes your type and amount of paint. With 100 gallons or more, painting contractors, property managers and others can request a free large volume pickup. Some sites run PaintShare, which gives good unused paint back to the community at low or no cost. Hotline: 855-724-6809 (855-PAINT09).

What this is not

It is not a curbside service or a hauler. It takes only architectural paint products, not other household hazardous waste. A town transfer station or county facility in a PaintCare state is a program site only if the locator lists it. Outside the program states, the locator shows household hazardous waste sites and events; confirm with the operator that they are still running.

On Trashbagging

See also: how to dispose of paint · household hazardous waste.

PaintCare state hubs: California · Colorado · Connecticut · Illinois · Maine · Maryland · Minnesota · New York · Oregon · Rhode Island · Vermont · Washington · District of Columbia.

Context photo: Paint cans arranged on shelves in a store. Santeri Viinamäki, 2017-05-02. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source. Resized for web.