History

Amazon Environmental was founded in 1992 in California and has since grown to include a branch in Fridley, MN, and a facility in Oklahoma. It is owned and managed by brother and sister John and Lorraine Segala.

Recycled paint

Amazon's recycled paint is made from leftover latex paint. Much of the paint is taken from hazardous waste programs, where people drop off leftover paints and other waste that cannot be put in the trash. Every paint can is opened and inspected. Usable paint is sorted by color and gloss. Non-usable paint is manufactured into a product used in cement manufacture.

Reusable paints of the same color are pumped into a tank where the material is mixed and tested. The paint is adjusted with additives and colorants as necessary to meet quality specifications. Finally, the paint is fine filtered and packaged for sale.

Amazon Paint

Amazon's paint is environmentally preferable because it is recycled, thus saving all the energy and new resources that would be put into creating virgin paint. It also is Earth-friendly because it prevents old paint from being dumped down drains or buried in landfills. Amazon Select paint is Green Seal certified. It has also passed standard quality tests by the Master Painter's Institute (MPI).

Amazon and Cement

Paint collected by Amazon that is non-usable is sent to a facility in Pryor, Oklahoma and manufactured into a material used by Buzzi Unicem

Buzzi Unicem

Buzzi Unicem S.p.A. is an Italian company, quoted on the Borsa Italiana, which produces cement, ready-mix concrete and construction aggregates. Its headquarters are in the town of Casale Monferrato which was once known as the Italian ‘cement capital’...

, a cement manufacturer, in the making of their cement. Calcium oxide is the primary raw material used for cement, and it is found in lime dust. Lime dust is usually not used in cement, because it is too dusty to handle. Therefore, Amazon mixes the dust with old paint, creating a product called Processed Latex Pigment, or PLP, which is much easier to handle, and therefore can easily be used to make cement. Amazon expects to process about 500,000 gallons of paint into PLP at the Pryor plant this year

External links

• http://www.amazonpaint.com/
• http://daughternumberthree.blogspot.com/2009/05/amazon-environmental-spins-waste-into.html
• http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/productDetail.cfm?ProductID=1671
• http://google.com/search?q=cache:7KGKrOSET2EJ:www.productstewardship.us/associations/6596/files/PPSISeattleForScottNoData-JohnSegala.ppt+Amazon+paint&cd=20&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us