Every year, Product Care Recycling collects millions of litres of leftover paint across Canada, much of it still in good condition and ready for a second life.
The best environmental outcome is to use what already exists, since manufacturing new paint carries its own carbon footprint. According to an analysis by Community RePaint, reusing one litre of leftover paint avoids around 2.7kg of CO₂ emissions compared to buying new paint.
Qualifying household water-based paint collected through our programs is consolidated at our facility, filtered, and prepared for reuse in community and infrastructure projects.
Putting reused paint to work
The leftover water-based paint collected through our programs is consolidated at our facility, where it is assessed for quality, bulked, filtered, and stabilized with preservatives. After this processing, the paint is ready for reuse. Reusing paint keeps valuable materials in use longer and helps reduce waste, supporting a circular economy.
Staff at Product Care’s Delta facility processing leftover paint.
We support community-driven reuse where possible. Since 2015, we’ve donated over 250 drums (50,000+ litres) of paint for use in the town of Bulembu, Eswatini. All paint was processed at our Delta facility and conditioned for reuse in homes, schools and care centres.
Projects like Bulembu highlight what’s possible when paint reused in large-scale projects is used intentionally to support communities in need. Watch Bulembu’s video here to see how paint was put to use.
PaintShare for Canadian consumers
Our PaintShare program helps Canadians reuse leftover paint locally. In the past 5 years, Canadians have picked up more than 300,000 litres of leftover paint from participating PaintShare locations. The paint is available to the public for free on a first-come, first-served basis.
Assorted leftover paint cans available for reuse at a PaintShare collection site.
Let’s work together
We’re looking for partners who see the potential in reuse. If you represent a local government, non-profit, or developer, we’d love to explore how paint can support your next community or infrastructure project.
To start a conversation, contact us at communications@productcare.org.
