Buffalo, NY (WBEN) If you've bought paint in New York recently, chances are you've seen a little extra fee on the receipt.
Although the state doesn't collect the fee, the money goes toward collecting and recycling unused paint.
Last year, New York introduced a new paint stewardship law. "The law requires that paint manufacturers implement a statewide paint recovery program," says Andrew Radin of PaintCare. "And the law also requires that a new fee on the purchase of all paint sold on the state be applied when purchasing that paint." He says the fee specifically supports the recovery and recycling of leftover paint, and folks can drop off and recycle their unwanted paint all year long at their convenience, and there is no charge for drop off.
Radin says no funds go to state government. "The fees are managed by PaintCare, which is a not for profit organization created by the paint manufacturing industry to manage this new environmental program. Before the PaintCare program, millions of gallons of unwanted paint ended up as waste in landfills," says Radin. He says now through this new environmental effort. PaintCare hopes to recycle close to 2 million gallons of leftover paint each year.
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Radin says since the program, was launched a year ago, PaintCare has collected 700,000 gallons of paint that otherwise would be in a landfill. That's not all, he says. "Two new businesses have opened up in New York State that are now reprocessing recycling much of the leftover paint that's been collected," adds Radin. He says there are drop off sites located throughout the state where folks can drop off their paint all year long. "They don't need to make a reservation, they don't need to wait for some special collection event. They can simply go to paintcare.org, put in their zip code, and they're going to find all the closest drop off sites to them," notes Radin. If you have a large amount, 100 gallons or more, PaintCare will pick up the paint at absolutely no charge.
The state's paint fee for containers larger than half a pint that's smaller than a gallon is 45 cents per container, for containers one to two gallons 95 cents per container, and for containers that are larger than two gallons up to five gallons, it's $1.95 per container.