Towns across Franklin County have signed letters in support of a paint recycling bill that advocates say could save municipalities money and help protect the environment. Bernardston, Northfield, Montague, Deerfield, Sunderland and Hawley have signed letters pledging their support for 鈥淎n act relative to paint recycling,鈥澛�(H.823/S.551), according to a fact sheet on the bill from Sen. Jo Comerford鈥檚 office.
鈥淩ecycling paint through the PaintCare program … will lower disposal costs for taxpayers, keep our waterways clean, and reduce the amount of hazardous waste going to landfills and incinerators,鈥� the fact sheet reads.聽The nonprofit PaintCare represents paint manufacturers to help plan and operate paint stewardship programs throughout the United States.
How the paint stewardship system works is all participating paint retailers collect a point-of-sale fee of less than $1.25 per gallon. Those collected funds are managed by PaintCare, according to Comerford鈥檚 office. The money is used to establish paint collection sites, transport it for processing and distribute public education materials on the proper management of paint. Retailers can choose to opt in to the program and can be compensated by PaintCare. Franklin County Solid Waste Management District Executive Director Jan Ameen has been a proponent of this legislation for more than a decade. She said this year has seen the most forward momentum thus far.