Paintcare Maine

Maine’s Paint Stewardship law went into effect late in 2015, requiring the paint manufacturing industry to develop a financially and environmentally sustainable program to manage the post consumer life of architectural paint.

The program is funded through a fee - called the paint recovery - added to every container of paint sold. It is referred to as the paintcare recovery fee and it varies based on the volume of the paint container.

Paintcare Maine is the non-profit formed to handle the collection of the paint from recovery centers and properly dispose of it. They have set up a number of Paintcare drop-off sites throughout Maine, usually at businesses that sell paint. In Gray, our recycle center is one of those Paintcare drop-off sites, so now we accept latex as we always did and now can receive oil based paints, primers, sealers, stains, shellacs, varnishes and waterproofing sealers as well. Paintcare picks up the product from us so as a Town we no longer need to find an agent to take the paint away.

All paint dropped off must have its original label attached and a lid on the container. As with all programs there are items that are not accepted. These are listed on a new poster above the Paint recovery area. In general they include paint thinners, mineral spirits, auto and marine paints, caulk, tar, commercial paints, wood preservatives, glues and epoxies.

If you have questions on any item please see one of our Recycle staff.