It will soon be more convenient than ever to recycle paint in Illinois. Once the Illinois paint stewardship program officially starts, PaintCare will offer drop-off sites throughout the state where the public can take postconsumer (leftover) paint for recycling and proper disposal. These sites will be available to households, businesses, government agencies, and others with unwanted paint in Illinois.
- Paint stewardship program expected to launch in 2025
- Read the Paint Purchasers Fact Sheet for a program overview
- Manufacturers that sell paint in a PaintCare state are required to register their company and brands with PaintCare. Visit the Manufacturers page to learn more and register.
Fee and Funding
PaintCare programs are funded by a fee (referred to as the PaintCare fee) which is applied to the purchase price of each container of new paint sold in the state. There is no charge for dropping off paint at a PaintCare drop-off site. The PaintCare fee is not a tax or a deposit. The fee funds all aspects of the paint stewardship program. For more information on the fee, visit the PaintCare Fee Page.
On March 21, 2025, PaintCare submitted a draft program plan for the Illinois paint stewardship program. As part of the program plan, PaintCare proposed the following fee structure, subject to approval by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). The proposed fee structure is based on container size as follows:
$0.00
$0.45
Larger than half pint up to smaller than 1 gallon
$0.95
$1.95
Larger than 2 gallons up to 5 gallons
