Paintback

Paintback, the national scheme for disposal of paint.

For one it is about time that we have a system of paint disposal.  Hooray for common sense.  This could stop 1000’s of liters of paint been thrown down drains,  dumped at the side of the road or left to go off in peoples garages and sheds.  I am sure we are all for responsible, effective disposal of unused paint.

What we should all be unhappy with is how did they come up with .15c + GST  (last time I looked you had to quote prices with gst added) or .16c per litre levy on every litre of paint sold!

Sure it does not sound like much to pay so that we can dispose of unused or unwanted paint, but what if you are a champion estimator and have just a couple of litres at the end of every year sitting around.  In effect you are paying 16c per litre for everyone else bad management.

Today that could easily equate to $1200-$1500 per year for a guy using just 10 drums per week in disposal fees!  What if that guy has nothing to dispose of………is he just contributing to a scheme that he does not get any value from?

Suppose in two years time the ACCC find that paintback.com.au is loosing money and they need to double that little $.16c charge, now we are at $3k per year because of others mismanagement.

Would it not be fairer to charged on a user pays system, not everyone who buys paint should be lumbered with the cost of disposal!  If your estimation is spot on you might have nothing left over, if you are way out you could be dumping 1000’s of litres per year into this system.