Paint Recycling
The Nova Scotia Paint Recycling Program went into effect on June 1, 2002.
Under Nova Scotia’s Solid Waste-Resource Management Regulations, paint manufacturers, distributors and retailers are required to provide consumers with a program to recycle their unwanted paint.
As a result of these regulations, RRFB Nova Scotia has been given responsibility for the administration of the recycling program, through an agreement with the Paint and Coating Industry, as well as Nova Scotia Environment.
The program is supported through an "eco-fee" that is applied to each new container of a regulated paint product sold in Nova Scotia and covers all costs associated with the responsible recycling of your leftover paint.
The following eco-fees apply to regulated paint products in Nova Scotia:
| 100 ml to 250 ml | 10¢ |
| 251 ml to 1 litre | 25¢ |
| 1.01 litres to 5 litres | 50¢ |
| 5.01 litres to 23 litres | $1.00 |
| Aerosol paint (any size) | 10¢ |
As the program administrator, RRFB Nova Scotia oversees the handling, transportation and recycling of all post-consumer paints and stains. Nova Scotians can return leftover paint to any of the 83 Enviro-Depots located throughout the province, free of charge.
What Paint Products are Regulated?
Regulated paint products include: latex, oil or solvent-based architectural coating, including stain and paint for commercial and industrial use, but does not include a specially formulated industrial, automotive or marine coating.
Check out a sample list of “What’s IN and What’s OUT” of the program.
What Happens to Used Paint?
- Leftover paint collected at each of the province’s ENVIRO-DEPOT™ locations is sent to a paint sorting facility located in Springhill, Nova Scotia.
- The Springhill facility sorts the paint by product type and consolidates each into collections drums.
- Once sorted, the leftover paint is shipped to a paint recycling plant.
- There, old paint is reprocessed to make new paint and sold under prominent brands such as Boomerang (boomerangpaint.com).
Over 3 million containers of paint are purchased every year in Nova Scotia and up to 25 per cent of the paint is never used.
