Recycling Unused Paint

A new study by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that after a
typical painting project – there’s about ten percent of the paint
leftover. Mark Brush reports on an effort to set up collection centers
for unused paint:

Transcript

A new study by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that after a
typical painting project – there’s about ten percent of the paint
leftover. Mark Brush reports on an effort to set up collection centers
for unused paint:


Like a lot of people, I’ve got all these old paint cans down in my
basement.


(Sound of paint cans clinking)


I’m planning to take most of them to a nearby collection center, but
many cities don’t have a collection center. So, of the 65 million
gallons of leftover paint around the country, a lot of it gets dumped.


Scott Cassell is the executive director of the Product Stewardship
Institute:


“This paint is going into our waterways, it’s polluting the
environment, it’s wasting resources so we need to mine for titanium
dioxide and other ingredients in the paint again. I think if people
understood that, they would be more than willing to pay a nominal fee
for the proper management of this product.”


Cassell’s group wants a fee to be tacked on to every can of paint. He
says this so-called “eco fee” will help pay for a national paint
collection program. Many paint manufacturers say they favor the plan.


For the Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

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