New York State paint can tax.

[Packard]

New York State now has a paint can tax.  It is $0.95 for one gallon cans.  You are supposed to bring the cans (with left over contents) to a recycling plant.  The stores will not take the empty cans. 

They have a list of locations to bring it to. 

I don’t think they credit back the fee when you return the can.  I guess they want to discourage tossing the empties in the trash.

For a pro, this could add up to quite a bit.  I don’t see myself driving around to recycle a single can, empty or otherwise, to the paint recycling plant.
https://www.paintcare.org/paint-recycling-program-launches-in-new-york-state/#

I have no doubt that other states will follow. 

 

[six-point socket II]

That is awesome. We don't have a tax, but we do have recycling sites that will accept residents and local businesses left over paint and many other chemical/cleaning/fertilizing/(...) products for free. (There might be sites that are not free depending on who runs them)

You wouldn't believe how many people still "thin" paint with water or actual paint thinner (& other chemicals) to flush it down the toilet ...

Definitely a great step in the right direction.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[PeterJJames13]

I’ll chime in here because I know a little about this. There was some confusion and misinterpretation when this rolled out in 2022. You can still dispose of water soluble paint in your garbage as long as it is properly hardened and the paint cans are open and can be verified. Different towns will still have different regulations with this but in most towns you still can do this. Oil based finishes should be properly disposed of at a drop off center. And the fee that is charged are actually charged by paint manufacturers (Benjamin Moore) and retailers just pass the cost to the customers. No surprise that NY was one of the first states to roll it out and no doubt other states will follow.

 

[cpw]

Connecticut had the paint care fee a few years before NYS.  For the latex, our local Sherwin Williams will take old paint.  As always, an empty can you can just toss with the lid off.

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

Minnesota has been enrolled in the PaintCare program since 2014:https://www.paintcare.org/states/minnesota/

Great to hear the program is continuing to expand.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

And this is exactly why recycling programs are such failures. They expect people to make a special trip and pay a fee for something that they can just throw away?
I have a vision problem......I can't see it.  [blink]
Recycling needs to be the easiest option, or it just won't take off.

 

[mcfal12]

IMO system is flawed. Most people won’t use the entire can and would like to save it so that they can potentially use it for touchups in the future. Instead of charging people who don’t return it why don’t you incentivize people to do it by paying them when they do return it. And $.95 is ridiculous because how much carbon emission are people now supposed to create, which I’m saying, in a dumbfounded tone, because if you live in New York, you see how much junk they throw out there and try to say we’re doing this for climate change, when all of these things are really about money, grabs for the state who miss manages their tax income

 

[Packard]

I might recycle more if the store where I got the paint would accept the empties.  Then a truck could run a “route” to all the served paint stores and collect the empties.  Driving a route to collect 500 empty cans makes more sense than for 500 people to drive to the accepting depot.