O’Mara first introduced the legislation in 2016 when he
served as chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee. The Senate consistently approved the measure
with overwhelming bipartisan support, but it failed to move in the state
Assembly until this year. O’Mara co-sponsored the measure in 2019 with Senator
Tim Kennedy (D-Buffalo). O’Mara said the
new law would create local jobs, provide relief to local property taxpayers,
and encourage environmentally sound recycling and disposal of unused paint in
New York State. He pointed to the
initiative as an example of how government and industry can work together to
implement effective environmental policies and programs.
“It’s been a long legislative battle to finally achieve this
important new law that represents a significant step forward for state
government working together with industry on important challenges. It will help create a more business-friendly
climate in New York State and, hopefully, better, more workable laws in other
areas,” O’Mara said. “Working together
can go a long way on reaching an end result on additional issues that would
benefit our state fiscally, economically and environmentally.”
New York State Association of Counties Executive Director
Stephen J. Acquario said, “Most leftover paint is currently disposed of in the
garbage, despite the efforts of local governments. Extended producer
responsibility is an important policy tool to reduce the financial burden on
municipalities and minimize the environmental impact of the products we
consume. We thank Senator O’Mara for
sponsoring this legislation and we applaud Governor Cuomo for signing it into
law so we can provide relief to local property taxpayers, increase resident
convenience, and create new jobs in recycling and manufacturing.”
The national Product Stewardship Institute
(www.productstewarship.us) has estimated that approximately 3.1 million gallons
of paint go unused each year in New York State -- with the costs of collecting
and managing the paint’s disposal mostly falling on local governments. Under
O’Mara’s legislation, through which paint manufacturers would be responsible
for managing the recycling and disposal of unused paint, local governments
would save approximately $25 million annually.
The measure has drawn the support of a range of
environmental advocacy organizations, paint industry representatives, and
municipal agencies. The joint,
bipartisan New York State Caucus of Environmental Legislators has identified it
as a priority in the past. In addition to reduced costs on local taxpayers,
O’Mara said, a Paint Stewardship Program will create convenient recycling
opportunities and green sector jobs, reduce disposal in favor of recycling, and
result in less waste as consumers will become smarter and more efficient
shoppers for paint.
Under the law, the state Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) is directed to develop a plan for paint manufacturers and
sellers to form and cover the costs of a statewide, not-for-profit Paint
Stewardship Program. The plan would seek
to minimize the involvement of local governments in the management of
post-consumer paint by reducing its generation and establishing agreements to
collect, transport, reuse, recycle, and/or burn for energy recovery
post-consumer paint at appropriately licensed collection sites and facilities
using environmentally sound management practices. The measure further specifies that the plan
include annual program audits and reports, education and outreach to consumers,
and details on how post-consumer paint would be collected, treated, stored,
transported and disposed.
States that have implemented comparable programs are showing
impressive results. Oregon has collected and recycled over 1,000,000 gallons of
paint since implementing its program in July 2010. California launched its
program in 2012 and has over 350 new collection locations accepting paint for
recycling.
