A system for recovering paint and cleaning in a painting machine having a conveying band for conveying panels to be painted includes a paint recovery unit for paint recovery having a reverse roller in contact with the conveying band, recovering paint sprayed on the conveying band, and a doctor blade scraping the reverse roller to recover paint for successive channelling to a tank; a cleaning unit having a cleaning roller, a drying blade, and an idle roller; a paint recovery unit provided as an independent unit; and a cleaning unit for the conveying band provided as an independent unit.