with permission
Pat Widlitz
UPDATE — Two weeks ago, a bill that would help towns get rid of old paint cans was unanimously approved by the State House of Representatives. But the Senate sat on the bill and many others until the last day of the session. It did put the paint bill on its consent list, which meant it would be automatically approved. Alas, time ran out and the bill found itself on the other side of midnight and didn’t get through.
State Rep. Patricia Widlitz (D- Guilford-Branford) who spearheaded the paint legislation, said the Senate held virtually all the House bills “until the last day of the session.” She is investigating what action she will take next but it could well turn out that all the work that went into the bill will have to wait until next year even though the bill won ‘‘consent.”
The paint bill is a major initiative for the state that has won support from manufacturers, businesses, municipalities and environmental groups, in part because the industry’s major association, the American Coatings Association, (ACA) is promoting it.
The bill returns the cost of getting rid of a resident’s unwanted or unused paint cans to the paint manufacturer. Normally, that municipality has to pay for such paint disposal, in part because paint may be considered hazardous.
“Not only will this program be good for the environment, but it also shifts the burden of these duties from the municipalities to the paint manufacturers themselves while making it more convenient for the consumer,” Widlitz said. “Over 744,000 gallons of paint go unused in Connecticut every year, and consumers need a legal, affordable option to dispose of them.”
In an interview, Widlitz said the House environmental committee introduced the bill and asked “me to work on it. We pulled everyone together, including, the retailers, the manufacturers and the ACA. The ACA, she said, is pressing this initiative.
According to its website, The ACA “advances the needs of the paint and coatings industry through advocacy and programs that support environmental protection, product stewardship, health, safety, and the advancement of science and technology. It is based in Washington, D.C. The industry has faced environmental and legal pressure to change how it operates.
The idea for the legislation started as a pilot program in Oregon, Widlitz said. Since then, about nine states have signed a memorandum of understanding that they would like to do this program. All the states are working with the ACA. “That means they will collect, recycle and dispose of paint, and do it in such a way that is environmentally friendly. It is much less expensive to do it this way than to take it to the hazardous waste facilities,” she said.
Hazardous waste sites in towns and cities will still accept paint cans, but there will now be additional collection sites set up by retailers. And while specific sites have yet to be identified, larger stores, like Home Depot and Wal-Mart, have signed onto the bill, Widlitz said.
Widlitz said similar legislation is currently pending in Vermont and California. “They are lined up ahead of us.” She said the ACA wants to roll out these new laws one state at a time. “A lot of effort goes into education and setting up collection points. If Connecticut passes our legislation and either California or Vermont or both do not pass theirs, we will be first in line. If both states pass it, then we are third in line.
“When the bill passes, the ACA will put forward a plan that must be approved by Department of Environmental Protection. The plan will suggest a fee that will be charged on every can of paint that is sold in the state. You won’t be able to sell paint in the state of Connecticut unless you participate in this program,” she said.
The extra charge on a can of paint will be done at the wholesale level, she added. “It will be included in the price and consumers will get notice of the plan and its purpose.”
“The reason the paint industry and the ACA support this idea is that it enables them to develop a post-consumer paint management system that brings all participants in the life cycle of the product together to take shared responsibility for its proper disposal,” Widlitz said. This means that paint stores get to connect with the consumer at collection sites.
Smaller hardware stores will not be required to have collection sites but they must participate in the program, she said.
Widlitz praised Peg Hall, who recently retired as Branford’s Solid Waste and Recycling Manager, for her key work on two major pieces of legislation, this bill, which establishes a statewide paint stewardship program so that the burden of paint recycling does not fall only to towns and cities and a second law, adopted in 2007, that centers on electronics recycling.
Widlitz said it has taken two years for the Department of Environmental Protection “to do the regs” for the electronics recycling law. . The first set of regulations had a couple of flaws; they are now reworking them. Hopefully the electronics program will go into effect at the end of this summer.”.
Hall recently testified in support of a the paint bill. The bill is also co-sponsored by State Rep. Lonnie Reed, D‑Branford and State Sen. Ed Meyer, D‑12.
The new law, Widlitz said, as she anticipated its passage in the Senate, will have tremendous impact: It will release the municipalities from the cost of doing this.”
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