Macomb, IL – Illinois residents will soon have fewer options for disposing of unwanted paint. The Partners for Waste Paint Solutions Program is being cut by the Illinois EPA. The program has been in place for nearly 15 years.
Chad Braatz is the Solid Waste Coordinator at the Tri-County Resource and Waste Management Council is western Illinois. "I'm not a bleeding heart," says Braatz. "What's going to happen is there will be no place to take paint after November 30 in western Illinois, southern Illinois, or central Illinois."
There are 20 "Partners for Paint" programs throughout the state.
Braatz says the program is successful. "We started four years ago this September," says Braatz. "We have collected 499,384 pounds of paint as of 2 or 3 days ago. So we are averaging about 120-125 thousand pounds of paint each year."
"The residents have done their due diligence," says Braatz. "They have gone through and selected out the bad paints from home and brought them in."
Braatz says it's a partnership between a public or private entity and the EPA. He says the local entity collects the paint and the EPA disposes of it. Braatz says the local organizations cannot afford to provide the program to residents on their own. That's because it's too expensive to purchase liability insurance for the disposal of the paint.