Take Paintback to collection points. Here's how it works

Did you know that you can take your household paint to a Paintback collection centre for recycling?

After years in operation, you may still not have heard of Paintback. If, like me you have a pile of paint under your house or stuffed in a storeroom, waiting for some muscle bound fairy to fly off with it in a halo of blue and yellow, you are in for very good news. (Not about the fairy. More the paint.)

Paintback are powering across Australia and now have over 100 collection locations to which anyone can take their left over paint. (Trade or home owner.)  

Most paints, sealers and packaging are accepted

Most paints that would be found in a household reno are accepted: interior and exterior architectural paint, deck coatings and floor paints, packaging (plastic and steel containers), primers, sealers, stains and shellacs, undercoats, varnishes and urethanes as well as wood coatings.

These products aren't accepted

Aerosol paints (empty aerosol tins are accepted in council recycle bin), anti-fouling coatings, automotive and industrial surface paints, caulking compounds, epoxies, glues or adhesives, colorants and tints, isocyanates, melamine, metal and rust preventative, metal coatings, paint thinners, mineral spirits or solvents, resin roof patch, tar-based or bitumen-based products, texture coatings, traffic paints and two-component coatings.

How much paint can be dropped off?

At any one visit to a collection centre, you can drop up to 100 litres of paint capacity in any size container up to 20 litres. Paint must be in the container it was sold to you in so that staff know how to treat the paint product. You can also drop off empty containers. There is no charge for drop off (and no rebate either).  

About 85% of Australians are within 20km of a collection centre, but you can check for your local by going to Re- and putting in  your location and material type. 

What happens to your paint products when you drop off?

• Collected waste paint tins are firstly separated from their packaging (plastic or tin), which is recycled. 
• Solvent paint is used as an energy source replacing coal in high temperature kilns that product cement
• The water is separated from acrylic paint and recycled. Acrylic paint byproduct is part of the work in progress with Paintback's R&D team who are looking for new uses for paint by products and how to recover valuable ingredients like Titanium dioxide from acrylic paints. 
• Paint tins are recycled into new steel products
• Plastic containers are a work in progress with R&D 

Mineral paints are not collected, but they are not a chemical paint

Mineral paints from places like Bauwerk Colour are way safer for your health. Bauwerk lime paints are a conventional low or zero VOC paint. That just means the paint is made from plastics but with one toxic part removed. These kinds of paints are made traditionally with clay, minerals and beautiful natural pigments. It not only means you can paint without fumes, but wash-up and disposal is safe and non-polluting. 

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