Resene PaintWise
How to recycle paint and paint containers

More than six litres of household paint is sold each year for each and every person here. That's a lot of paint particularly as much of it is left sitting in paint containers and ends up in landfills. There are lots of ways you can reduce this burden on the environment... here's some ideas to get you started:

Resene donates recycled paint, known as Resene EchoPaint, to community groups for their activities. If you’re part of a community group that needs paint, click here to find out more and apply.

Be PaintWise!

Bring unwanted paint and paint containers into your local Resene ColorShop and let us recycle or dispose of them responsibly. Resene will offer good quality Resene paint to community groups for reuse, recycle packaging materials that are recyclable, send solventborne paints to solvent recovery, find alternative uses for waterborne paints, such as graffiti abatement, and dispose of the rest for you.

Selected Resene ColorShops have been designated as Resene PaintWise Collection Centres. Drop off your unwanted paint and paint containers to any of these designated Resene ColorShops at any time during their opening hours.

You are welcome to bring back any brand of decorative paint. A small charge applies to non-Resene branded product to help offset the costs of the PaintWise programme. Find out more about the PaintWise levy.

› View Resene PaintWise acceptance list

We can only accept items listed on the PaintWise acceptance list. We do not recycle paper, cardboard, batteries or any other general recycling – contact your local Council for assistance with recycling other items. Due to Government regulations there are limits on how much recycled paint can be held in any location at one time, which means from time to time a store may not be able to accept your returns immediately and may ask you to return them at another time.

Resene PaintWise Collection Centres

Resene PaintWise Collection Centres

• North Island ColorShops
• South Island ColorShops

Due to safety requirements, paint and paint containers will only be accepted at these Resene ColorShops during normal store hours. Sorry, paint and packaging returns cannot be accepted by any other Resene ColorShops.

When dropping off paint and paint containers:

• Ensure paint is in its original correctly labelled container.

• Ensure containers are well sealed and will not leak.

• Leave small amounts of waterborne paint in its container, put out of reach of children and leave the lid off for the paint to dry then bring it in to one of the Resene ColorShops detailed above.

We cannot accept: Aerosols or any other materials - contact your local council for recommended disposal. We can only accept automotive and marine paints made or sold by Resene Group companies.

Sorry, we don't accept waste water. Returned packs of paint must contain what it says on the container. For wash water use the Resene WashWise process or our recommendations on how to clean brushes and rollers. 

Resene Automotive and Light Industrial stores

Resene Automotive and Light Industrial also provides a paint and paint recycling programme in their stores.

Products made or sold by Resene Automotive and Light Industrial can be returned to any Resene Automotive and Light Industrial store. Please note acceptance criteria differs from the Resene ColorShop PaintWise service. See your Resene Automotive and Light Industrial store for details.

The stores that can accept Resene Automotive and Light Industrial product returns are:

The Resene PaintWise programme

The Resene PaintWise programme is managed by the Resene Foundation, a trust underwritten by Resene. The ongoing service is funded by Resene, a PaintWise levy of 25c per litre on purchases on Resene paints and a levy on returns of non-Resene branded paint $5/pack (4L and under), $10/pack (over 4L).

The PaintWise service has already received back over six million paint containers and recycled over 500,000 kilograms of steel. Over 500,000 litres of solventborne paint has been sent to solvent recovery and over 250,000 litres of paint has been donated to cover graffiti and other community projects. Thousands of containers of unwanted paint and packaging are received every month and many litres of paint are donated to cover graffiti and other community projects.

Resene pails are collected through the Resene PaintWise process and made into 100% recycled pails. This recycled material gives the pail a unique look and colour variation, as much of the material being reused has been previously printed and coloured.

This is the first commercial paint pail launched in New Zealand that truly 'closes the loop' as it uses recycled plastic to form a new pail. The old plastic pails go through a custom made recycling process to clean and chip the plastic before melting and forming into new pails.

• View Resene PaintWise service questions and answers.
• View Resene PaintWise brochure. You will need Acrobat Reader.
• Find out more about how Resene PaintWise began.
• Find out more about PaintCrete and Glasscrete – combining waste paint and concrete.
• Find out more about steel can recycling.

Product stewardship scheme

The Resene Foundation's PaintWise product stewardship scheme was first accredited by the Ministry for the Environment under the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 in August 2011 and was reaccredited in 2021.  › view certificate

The Minister for the Environment Nick Smith announced the accreditation of Resene's PaintWise paint and packaging recycling programme in 2011, the first accreditation for a paint recycling programme and only the sixth product stewardship scheme he has accredited… more

Remember when you come in, also bring any unwanted old and foreign coins with you for the Heads Up for Kids campaign, which helps kiwi kids through Lions Clubs nationwide.

And bring in any unwanted mobile phones for the RE:MOBILE programme to help Sustainable Coastlines.