Can contact shelving paper be painted?

As long as there are no tears sticking up, you can paint right over Contact paper. Ideally, you would strip and sand the shelves, but if they are already smooth, no real problems. Clean, prime, paint, and seal the shelves. Or clean, and paint with chalk paint. Best wishes ☺️

Everything can be painted.... the question is whether the paint will stick...

The paint won't last...I've done it. I suggest you use Krylon Fusion for plastic, I think there is a Rustoleum one too. Maybe that will last longer than regular paint.

Painting over any glued-on coating, whether it is contact paper or wallpaper, is not my first preference. Be sure to clean the contact paper before painting especially if you think there might be any oil or grease on it.

Sorry are you talking about laminate? I must have misread your post. Your title and description appear to be 2 different things. I thought you were talking about vinyl /plastic contact paper that you added to a shelf.

Yes you can paint a laminate shelving unit.

https://www.hometalk.com/search/posts?filter=painting%20laminate%20%20cabinets