Paint Manufacturers Pay 100% of Costs for Recycling
CPCA continues to liaise with provincial governments on new legislation and/or regulations related to waste management and recovery. The paint and coatings industry in Canada now leads the world in post-consumer paint recycling with a program in every province. In 2023, approximately 23 million kilograms of leftover paint was recovered and recycled in Canada, enough to paint 2.1 million homes. One of CPCA’s primary goals, on behalf of its members, is to ensure appropriate regulations are in place to achieve the best possible outcomes for the environment.
Product Stewardship by the Numbers
Manufacturer Costs Paid for Paint Recycling
Increase in Regulatory Costs in Ontario
Industry Resources
Why Product Stewardship Matters
In Canada, three paint recycling companies service Canadians. Product Care Recycling, Alberta Recycling Management Authority, and Éco-Peinture. They provide essential services such as paint recycling, Paint Share programs, and other household waste programs, ensuring the best in product stewardship and life-cycle management of paint and coatings products used by Canadians.
400% Increase in Regulatory Fees?
New systems for paint recycling in Ontario were ill-conceived with requirements for expensive digital reporting systems that take years to build at exorbitant costs for industry and add little or no value to recycling outcomes. Increased costs for operations with staffing levels increasing 10 times since the new Act was introduced five years ago to 100 staff today. Ongoing duplication of work by the Professional Recycling Organizations (PROs) also increases costs for paint manufacturers and regulatory fees charged by the Authority overseeing waste recycling. There are other challenges such as excessive non-compliance penalties without any appeal mechanism, excessive reporting requirements such as producer audits previously done by PROs, and all without improvement in recycling outcomes for paint. It is a classic example of administrative red tape and paper burden, which no other Province in Canada has, nor in other countries where producers pay 10% of the cost of recycling in Ontario. Change is required to improve value for money and better recycling outcomes expected by taxpayers in Ontario, who ultimately bear the cost burden as they do for all consumer products.
Benefits Recycling in Canada
Landfill Costs
Paint manufacturers in Canada ensure household and special waste products are recovered as ‘the’ regulated party in all provinces for waste recycling. Through municipal paint collection programs and return-to-retail sites, manufacturers cover the cost of transportation, recycling, and proper disposal of post-consumer paint. Most of the paint managed by the three program operators in Canada is recycled back into reusable paint, used to create energy, or used for another beneficial purpose. All paint recycling programs discourage the inappropriate disposal of paint in landfills.
CPCA Focus on Paint Recycling and Stewardship
Product stewardship is NOT a principle for merely shifting the cost burden for a product’s end-of-life management to producers. Product manufacturers in the coatings industry strive to ensure their products and packaging create the least impact on human health and the environment while remaining functional and cost-effective for their end-use customers. However, they still need to have Provincial Governments enact ‘reasonable’ regulations, which do not add administrative burden for producers that ultimately end up in increased costs for consumers.