The company that will run the national waste paint collection scheme is working on implementation plans ahead of its roll-out in May.
Paintback Ltd is currently liaising with potential collection partners and finalising its operational infrastructure before launching to retailers and tradies in early autumn.
The ACCC gave regulatory approval this past October fo a levy for a National Paint Product Stewardship Scheme, which allows Dulux Group, PPG Industries, Valspar, Haymes and Resene – together responsible for more than 90 per cent of paint sold in Australia – to add 15 cents a litre to the wholesale price of their products to fund a national collection scheme.
Similar to other Australian product stewardship schemes, Paintback will be a coordinated national program, funded and run by the industry. It will aim to offer a collection service to 85 per cent of the population by 2021. People won’t be charged to dispose of paint at the designated collection points, while trade and DIY painters will be able to drop off up to 100 litres per visit in 20-litre containers.
Paintback’s Chief Executive, Karen Gomez, explained that the plan is to establish paint-specific depots at existing council-run waste management facilities at first, then later set up standalone or mobile collection points in other areas.
“We are working with sites that are set up to safely collect waste paint and are in convenient locations in major population areas,” said Karen.
“We are liaising with local government transfer stations, as we see these as ideal for waste paint collection, given they are purpose built for handling waste. It also provides the convenience for people to drop-off other waste streams while there,” she added.
Karen explained that there are challenges around other potential sites suggested, such as retail outlets, due to licensing laws, waste permits being required and space constraints of sites set up for another purpose.
Stage one will see 14 disposal sites launched in the New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australian capitals, with Tasmania, ACT and Northern Territory to come online by the end of this year. Stage two will see collection points rolled out to major regional centres throughout 2017.
The Paintback website will have more details of the scheme roll-out in the coming weeks.