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managing le tover architectural paint when ormer Governor Schwarzeneggersigned AB 1343 (Hu man) into law. Because o this law, which was supportedby paint manu acturers, retailers and local governments, starting July 1, 2012,

the paint industry will begin operating a Statewide stewardship program orarchitectural paint through a non-pro t called PaintCare. PaintCare is alsoresponsible or Oregons paint stewardship program which started July 2010and along with the lessons learned rom the Be Paint Wise Partnership project,both will provide the oundation or Cali ornias uture program.

What Does the Public Think?

The project started with a ocus group study to understand what the publicknew about paint as a problem, where to bring it at end o li e and to determinewhy they overbuy. Two ocus groups were conducted in Sacramento and themajor ndings were:

Use bullet points in messaging Message should come from a variety of sources Prefer message at point of sale Only 1 in 20 knew where HHW facility was Most consumers dont equate themselves as the funders of local

governmentCPSC concluded that the public needs help when purchasing the right

amount o paint, they do not read paper instructions and want all theirin ormation about proper management at the point-o -sale, they dont knowwhere the HHW acilities are and wont go that ar out o their way, andthey dont trust government or industry so the messaging should be rom apartnership. These ndings led the CPSC to develop the partnership messageand logo, ensure that public education materials on how to buy the rightamount were at the point-o -sale, and that they needed more convenientcollection locations such as retailers.

Paint Recycling Becomes Much EasierThe project was success ul at recruiting 17 retailers in the three countiesto be paint collection locations. CPSC learned that the public responded totwo things: advertising the program and convenience. Some retailers statedthat i there was an ad in the newspaper or radio, they might have 100 phone

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Figure 1Photo taken at a home near Oroville, CA in 2009.Images courtesy o Cali ornia Product StewardshipCouncil.

Visions employee picks up paint rom Red Blu Paint Mart.Images courtesy o Cali ornia ProductStewardship Council.

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calls in one day asking about paintdrop-o . They love the program andhave collected more than 9,000 gallonsin just one year o the program in thethree counties. The uture Statewideprogram will target architecturalpaint, which the law de nes as interiorand exterior architectural coatings soldin containers o ve gallons or less orcommercial or homeowner use, butdoes not include aerosol spray paint

or architectural coatings purchasedor industrial or original equipmentmanu acturer use. Contractors and do-it-yoursel ers alike will bene t rom thenew program.

Our goal is to create a network o take-back sites throughout the Stateto make it easier or do-it-yoursel ersand contractors to recycle le toverpaint, explains PaintCare ExecutiveDirector, Alison Keane. Werecurrently working with stakeholders tounderstand the current in rastructure

and develop the parameters orestablishing collection sites. Theprogram will include many existingHHW programs and is expected toincrease the total number o collectionsites throughout the State signi cantly,giving consumers convenient, localoptions or paint recycling. Ideally,wed like you to be able to recyclele tover paint at the same place youpurchase new paint, adds Keane.

Consumers can expect an increasein the cost o new paint purchases inorder to und the take-back program.Although Cali ornias ee structurehasnt been determined yet, it isexpected to be similar to Oregons per-container assessment ee structure:

$0.35 for pints and quarts $0.75 for one gallon containers $1.60 or two to ve gallon

containers.Abby Boudouris, Household

Hazardous Waste Coordinator with

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Ace Hardware Store display or Visions Green Seal Certifed recycled content paint. Top Right: Paint swap location at HHW acility in San Joaquin County.

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the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, explains theprogram bene ts. Local governments are saving money, wereseeing collection sites in places where there previously was noservice and the services that were already in place are now moreconvenient or consumers.

Product Care is a non-pro t organization operating Canadaspaint stewardship programs and is an advisor to PaintCare.Product Cares President, Mark Kurschner, explained that somepainting contractors were wary o the new system at rst. Itsnot unusual or people to be concerned about how a new systemwill actually play out. But the response has been very positive and

weve been able to help many painting contractors properly recyclelarge quantities o paint.Paint retailers are also expected to bene t rom the stewardship

system. Steve Dearborn, President and CEO of Miller Paint, hasexperience with Oregons program both as a retailer and as apaint manu acturer. As a retailer, were o ten on the ront lineintroducing customers to the program or the rst time. Wereo ering the community a solution or all the paint thats beenstored in garages. Were also selling recycled paint in the store,which shows that were closing the loop. And as a manu acturer,we eel like were properly managing our product. Dearbornadded that his stores are seeing new visitors who come to recycle

paint and that represents an opportunity to convert those visitors to uturecustomers.

For the paint that is collected, some can be reused may be recycled intonew paint, and or ones that cannot, paint can be recycled into other products,including being used as an additive to cement or burned (such is the case oroil-based paint) to use as a uel.

Buying Recycled Content Paint: Cost and QualityAnother major goal o the grant was to increase awareness and purchaseo recycled content paint. CPSC was success ul at getting three retailers tocarry a green seal-certi ed recycled paint. Not only does recycled paint costless than virgin paint, but buying Green Seal certi ed paint also means youwill get a product that has been rigorously tested and proven to per ormby the Master Painters Institute (MPI). Recycled Content Paints certi edby Green Seal are posted on the Green Seal Web site at www.greenseal.org/FindGreenSealProductsandServices.aspx?vid=ViewProductDetail&cid=10.

Creating market demand or recycled paint helps ensure an end-use or thisvaluable resource as well as reducing costs to local government. Ultimately, thisbene ts businesses because as garbage ratepayers and taxpayers, businesses undlocal government operated hazardous waste programs. Encouraging the use of recycled-content paint is a primary goal o the grant project as the partnersrecognize that the uture viability o the recycled paint market depends onconsumer demand or recycled paint products. Two Green Seal certi edpaint remanu acturing plants exist in Cali ornia: Visions Paint Recycling inSacramento and Amazon Environmental in Riverside. Kelly Moore is in processwith the certi cation. All three make custom colors.

Using recycled paint also helps support California jobs, improves theeconomy and uses a non-renewable resource, titanium dioxide, which wouldotherwise go to waste. State governments and the American CoatingsAssociation saw the problem and worked or two years to develop the GreenSeal recycled paint standard through the Paint Product Stewardship Initiative

Buy the Right Amount Education Card developed in English and Spanish. The CPSC teamdeveloped and distributed these cards to the participating retail collection sites and they are verypopular and easy to use.

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acilitated by the Product Stewardship Institute. The project was unded byCalRecycle ( ormerly the Cali ornia Integrated Waste Management Board). Toachieve Green Seal certi cation, the new paint has to be ltered, ph tested and,

ultimately, must pass the same per ormance tests as virgin paint. Green Sealcerti cation means that a product has been tested according to science-basedprocedures, that works as well or better than others in its class, and that hasbeen evaluated without bias or confict o interest. Meeting these standards o quality and per ormance is no small achievement.

Paint SWAPS: Highest and Best UseThe highest and best use or paint, and the most coste ective way to

manage le tovers, is to give it to someone who can use it. Many HHW acilities

and Habitat or Humanity locations o er a paint swap location where peoplecan leave usable paint to be used by others. CPSC was success ul at establishingpaint swaps in one retail store and at one land ll and one trans er station.We learned that retailers have many ears about becoming a swap locationincluding the ear o o ering ree paint to compete against purchase o newpaint. The only retailer we were able to convince to become a swap locationdid so under two conditionsit was only advertised to low-income groups andthe shelf wasnt in the front of the store. Even with those conditions met, thestoreowner has had problems with people wanting speci c colors and gettingmad at him when they are not available or ree.

Project SuccessIn short, the Be Paint Wise Partnership project has been a huge success and

CPSC has learned a lot o in ormation and developed models that can be usedby others across the country. This is an exciting time or product stewardship.Cali ornia local governments are nally going to see some nancial relie .

Because paint is costing local governments over $27 million per year tomanage, this program will have tremendous Statewide impact. But the bene tsgo beyond cost savings or taxpayers and garbage ratepayers. CPSC has alreadyseen an increase in green jobs as Cali ornias paint recyclers gear up to handlemore paint, so the Statewide program is really a win-win-win or consumers,taxpayers and the economy.| WA

Heidi Sanborn helped ound and is the Executive Director o the Cali ornia Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) based in Sacramento, CA. Heidi speaks internationallyon producer responsibility and is widely recognized as the expert on EPR policy in the

U.S. She can be reached at (916) 480-9010 or via e-mail at heidi@calpsc.org.For a complete listing o all CPSC project work, visit the CPSC project page at www.calpsc.org/projects/SanJoaquin-HD17.html

To fnd a location near you that will take back paint rom businesses, visit www.earth911 and search by zip code.

This document was produced under a grant by San Joaquin County. The statements and conclusions contained in this document are those o the grantee and not necessarilythose o the Department o Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), its employeesor the State o Cali ornia and should not be cited or quoted as o fcial CalRecycle policyor direction. The State makes no warranty, expressed or implied, and assumes no liability

or the in ormation contained in the succeeding text. Any mention o commercial productsor processes shall not be construed as an endorsement o such products or processes.

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2011 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted rom Waste Advantage Magazine. Contents cannot be reprinted without permission rom the publisher.