WASHINGTON – PaintCare announced the launch of its first-ever Innovative Recycling Grant Competition. The competition is intended to identify and accelerate the commercialization of novel technologies for recycling leftover latex house paint. Currently, most leftover paint collected for recycling is re-blended back into paint. However, there are few viable options for the amount of paint collected that is difficult to recycle because it is an unmarketable color (e.g., pinks, yellows), spoiled, dried out, or has been frozen and thawed too many times.

PaintCare believes there is untapped potential for developing new recycling technologies for the fraction of latex paint that is currently not recycled back into paint. However, more work is needed to advance these ideas towards commercialization. PaintCare will conduct three separate competitions using funding from the PaintCare recycling programs currently operating in California, Colorado and Connecticut. The winner of each competition will be awarded a grant of up to $100,000 for a technology that is expected to return benefits to the state that contributed the funding.