Accepted Products
Paintback accepts a maximum of 100 litres in volume per visit. This must be carried in secured containers no larger than 20 litres.
The following list outlines the products that Paintback will and will not accept:
- Deck coatings and floor paints
- Interior and exterior architectural paint
- Packaging
- Primers
- Sealers
- Stains and shellacs
- Undercoats
- Varnishes and urethanes (single components)
- Wood coatings
- Aerosol paints
- Anti-fouling coatings
- Automotive and industrial surface coating (shop application) paints and finishes
- Automotive paints
- Bagged renders
- Caulking compounds, epoxies, glues or adhesives
- Colorants and tints
- Demolition waste
- General waste – plastic, cardboard
- Household chemicals
- Industrial maintenance coatings
- Isocyanates
- Melamine, metal and rust preventative
- Metal coatings
- Paint additives
- Paint thinners, mineral spirits or solvents
- Painting equipment – brushes, rollers, trays, rags etc.
- Paint washings
- Resins
- Roof patch or repair
- Tar-based or bitumen-based products
- Texture coatings
- Traffic paints
- Two-component coatings
- All non-paint products
Household FAQs
The following information will help you better understand the Paintback journey.
Why do we need Paintback?
Paint is a high volume low toxicity product, that needs to be managed safely when disposing of it. There are valuable materials that can be repurposed and Paintback gives the pathway for all this to happen.
What will the funding be used for?
Funds are used for paying the costs of transport, collection and treatment of unwanted paint and packaging. It also allows for research into new and improved ways to deal with unwanted paint and packaging. It also pays for education and promotion of the scheme to encourage people to dispose of their unwanted paint and packaging responsibly.
Paintback is an industry-led initiative, founded to responsibly manage the disposal of Australia’s unwanted paint and packaging. Operating as an independent not-for-profit organisation, Paintback and offers a variety of free to drop-off locations across Australia. New sites are regularly being established in both regional and metropolitan areas.
Through research and development, Paintback is finding new uses for paint and packaging in resource recovery and methods of disposal that avoid harming the environment.
It is free to drop off your unwanted paint and packaging for both, DIY and professional painters.
Visit the Find a Location page to find your closest drop off point.
Our dedicated drop-off points are purpose built for the safe management of traffic and storage of unwanted paint and packaging. Drop-off points will accept up to 100 litres per visit in containers of 20 litres or less. Paint must be in its original packaging and unmixed. Unwanted paint cannot be accepted at retail or trade centre outlets, unless otherwise specified.
Paintback accepts a maximum volume of 100 litres of eligible paint and packaging per visit. This must be secured in containers no larger than 20 litres. This is to ensure that Paintback locations are not overwhelmed by large volumes of unwanted paint quickly. The container size limit ensures safe manual handling of the paint from your vehicle at the collection point. All paint must be secured in the original containers it was purchased in. The volume of the material being dropped off is measured by the size of the container not the amount of paint inside.
Examples:
You can return:
- Up to 5 x 20 litre paint cans
- Up to 10 x 10 litre paint cans
- Up to 50 X 2 litre paint can
To fund the collection, treatment and transportation of the unwanted paint and packaging, a levy of 15 cents (plus GST) per litre is applied to the wholesale price of eligible products in containers over 1 litre and up to 20.
Funds are used for paying the costs of transport, collection and treatment of unwanted paint and packaging. It also pays for education and promotion of the scheme to encourage people to dispose of their unwanted paint and packaging responsibly. Paintback invests in research and development to find new and improved ways to deal with unwanted paint and packaging.
Paintback’s founding members are Dulux, Haymes, PPG, Resene and Wattyl. Rust-Olem and Tint along with Paintback's founding members represent 90% of the Architectural & Decorative paint sold in Australia. Paintback welcomes the opportunity to partner with new and existing paint companies.
The levy represents the cost of collecting and treating the paint. GST applies to all goods and services. The Australian Tax Office has ruled that GST applies to the Paintback levy.
No. Paintback uses purpose-built collection and storage points at participating councils and commercial sites. These drop-off points are also designed to ensure both customer and employee safety when products are deposited.
Paint and hardware stores are convenient locations to buy new paint, but retail and trade outlets are not equipped or licensed to handle liquid waste and cannot accept it.
Paintback transports it from the collection point for treatment. The packaging and unwanted liquid are separated, and the containers are recycled.
Unwanted Paint is treated in several ways including energy recovery for solvent-based paint and liquid/solid separation for water-based paint. This process significantly minimises landfill over previous practices.
Yes, empty cans and pails with dried up paint inside can be dropped off at any dedicated Paintback collection point.
Packaging includes only plastic and metal containers in which paint was originally sold.
Paintback accepts up to 100 litres per visit. The 100-litre maximum is based on the capacity of the container, not the volume of paint left over in the container.
Only empty containers can be stacked inside larger empty containers provided the largest container does not exceed 20 litres in capacity. This practice allows our collection sites to maximise space in the collection bins and provides everyone the opportunity to use the bins safely.
Visit our Accepted Products page for more information on what can be brought to a Paintback drop-off location.
All DIY and trade painters who purchase eligible products from participating paint brands fund the scheme through the levy.
The limit on returning products is in place to ensure there is enough space for others to drop-off their unwanted paint material and for the safety of Paintback visitors and location operators.
Many states in Australia have a legal limit on transporting chemicals by vehicle. The drop-off limit supports these laws by only allowing a maximum of 100 litres of paint and packaging to be brought to any dedicated Paintback location.
The 100-litre maximum is based on the capacity of the container, not the volume of paint left over in a container.
Only empty containers can be stacked inside larger empty containers provided the largest container does not exceed 20 litres in capacity. This practice allows our collection sites to maximise space in the collection bins and provides everyone the opportunity to use the bins safely.
Examples:
You can return:
Up to 5 x 20 litre paint cans
Up to 10 x 10 litre paint cans
Up to 50 X 2 litre paint cans
It’s a voluntary scheme and we have a research capability to find innovative new uses for the used paint and packaging, which is funded through the 15c per litre the industry applies to the paint (which also covers the collection and transport costs).
The research we do is developing the circular economy: ranging from product development in recycling old paint pails into new ones, through to advanced innovation in extracting titanium dioxide from the used paint for use in new paint. Looking at geo-polymers is another interesting field of investigation – this is also known as “green concrete” which is lightweight and requires a lot less carbon compared to traditional concrete.