Evaluation Question
Data Sources & Methods
Key Findings
Key Learning
 

 

Key Learning

  • One components of determining the effect of the program on the market for post-consumer paint is by tracking data on post-consumer paint sales, including both the price and amounts sold. OR should begin tracking this information to better understand the market.
  • One role that a paint recycling program can fulfill is to develop a market for post-consumer paint. In OR, a market existed already to some degree with Metro selling MetroPaint since 1992. However in states without a market for post-consumer paint, the paint recycling program would need to work to develop the market.
  • The market outcomes for paint should be viewed in a full cost accounting framework. Market price, quantity sold, and profitability are limited measures of the success of a market for post-consumer paint. A broader view would take into account the avoided costs of managing the leftover paint and the reduced environmental impacts of recycling the paint.
  • Some of the impacts and key questions for future paint recycling programs and their evaluations to consider include:
    • For consumers: The post-consumer paint market will offer a lower-priced alternative to virgin paint. Will the availability of a lower-priced alternative impact the price consumers pay for virgin paint? Will the post-consumer paint be of sufficient quality that consumers accept it was a viable alternative?
    • For retailers: Will retailers begin to stock post-consumer paint? Will the availability of a lower-priced alternative reduce sales of virgin paint? How will profitability of retail paint sales be affected?
    • For producers: Will the availability of post-consumer paint affect producers’ sales of virgin paint? Will producers consider expanding their product lines into the post-consumer market and begin offering post-consumer paint?
      Providing answers to these questions will require extensive and more detailed research into the impacts of post-consumer paint on paint markets in general.
    • Information is needed on consumer acceptance of leftover and post-consumer/recycled paints as a viable product for them to use. This basic level of market research would provide a baseline for the potential size of the market and also help to identify specific concerns that consumers may have.
 

Related Materials

PPSI Paint Evaluation Preliminary Findings