Paint Volumes

• Interviewees noted that they had not observed a significant change in the total gallons of latex or oil-based paint collected since the PaintCare program began. In most cases the interviewees reported that they were able to accommodate the higher volumes with a few adjustments.
• One interviewee noted a shift towards collecting a higher proportion of latex than oil-based paint.
• Another interviewee observed increased traffic from paint contractors because the county charged a fee for large volumes prior to the program.

Non-Paint

• Interviewees reported no significant changes in the amounts of other HHW products and moderate shifts in available capacity for processing other HHW products.
• Three HHWs saw an increased capacity to handle other products because they were able to reassign staff from crushing paint cans and bulking the material for disposal to other tasks; one HHW site stopped collecting paint.

Cost

• Five of seven of the interviewees reported significant cost savings resulting from the program even when accounting for increases in customer traffic and material volume. The cost savings are reported to result from the avoided labor, disposal, and transportation costs associated with handling oil-based and unusable latex paints. Some examples of avoided costs from interviewees include:
  • Saving $1500 per month out of a $100,000 annual budget due to avoided paint disposal costs.
  • Cumulative savings of $45,000 to 50,000 resulting from less paint handling by staff and avoided disposal, landfill, and transportation costs.
  • A cost decrease of 40% from pre-program costs due to avoided disposal costs associated with oil-based paints.
  • Avoided costs of $75,000 to $100,000 per year out of an annual budget of approximately $300,000 due to avoided costs of disposal and transport of paint.
    
• A separate cost reported by three interviewees was the need for HHW staff to conduct outreach and education before and during paint collection. These interviewees felt that the efforts by the program did not achieve sufficient reach within their county. Of particular interest to these interviewees was providing additional information to customers on the location of the nearest collection site, the types of materials that would be accepted, and the purpose of the fee.