Colorado Legislature Passes Paint Recycling Bill

Colorado’s legislature passed a bill requiring paint manufacturers to fund and operate a post-consumer paint take-back program throughout the state.

The extended producer responsibility (EPR) proposal, SB 14-029, now is before Gov. John Hickenlooper to sign into law.

If it becomes law, Colorado will be the eighth state in America to implement an EPR law for leftover paint, according to a news release from the Boston-based Product Stewardship Institute. In 2010 Oregon became the first state to establish a leftover paint collection program.

PaintCare Inc., the nonprofit organization established by the American Coatings Association that represents paint manufacturers, will fund and oversee the development of Colorado's program, as it has in other states.

The funding source will be a point-of-sale paint recovery fee that consumers pay to retailers.

The law will require all architectural paint manufacturers that sell their products in Colorado to register with the PaintCare program.