Paint recycling
Encyclopedia
Paint
Paint
Paint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...

is a recyclable
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...

item. Latex paint is collected at collection facilities in many counties and shipped to paint-recycling facilities.

How paint is recycled

There are many ways that paint
Paint
Paint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...

 can be recycled
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...

. Most often, the highest quality of latex paint is sorted out and turned back into recycled paint that can be used. Recycled paint is environmentally preferable to new paint, while still maintaining comparable quality. In many cases, 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. Finally, the paint is fine filtered and packaged for sale.

Paint that cannot be reused has other environmentally-friendly uses. Non-reusable paint can be made into a product used in cement manufacturing, thereby recycling virtually 100% of the original paint.

Recycling one Gallon
Gallon
The gallon is a measure of volume. Historically it has had many different definitions, but there are three definitions in current use: the imperial gallon which is used in the United Kingdom and semi-officially within Canada, the United States liquid gallon and the lesser used United States dry...

 of Paint could save 13 gallons of water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...



Paint recycling by country

United Kingdom

In the UK reusable leftover paint can be donated to Community RePaint, a national network of paint reuse schemes. The network comprises of local schemes run by not-for-profit organisations, local authorities or waste management companies, in the Community RePaint network. The schemes collect surplus paint from trade sources i.e. painters, decorators, retailers, manufacturers, and/or leftover paint donated by householders at council household waste and recycling centres (also known as tips). The paint is then sorted by staff and volunteers before being redistributed to local charities, community groups, families and individuals in need. The Community RePaint network, is sponsored by Dulux
Dulux
Dulux is an internationally available brand of paint. It is produced by AkzoNobel . The brand name Dulux has been used by both ICI and DuPont since 1931 and was one of the first alkyd-based paints.-History:...

 (part of AkzoNobel), managed by an environmental consultancy, Resource Futures and has been cited as an example of best practice for the management of surplus paint in a report by the European Commission and by DEFRA in Guidance on Applying the Waste Hierarchy
Waste hierarchy
The waste hierarchy refers to the 3 Rs of reduce, reuse, recycle, or and [ which classify waste management strategies according to their desirability. The Rs are meant to be a hierarchy, in order of importance...

.

There are also a handful of companies recycling paint in the UK, including Newlife Paints which was formed in 2008 after Keith Harrison, an industrial chemist, developed a process that converted waste emulsion paint back into full quality, commercial grade paint.

United States

Paint is shipped to companies such as Amazon Environmental
Amazon Environmental
-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:...

, Metro Paint (Oregon), UCI Environmental (Nevada) and Kelly Moore, Visions Paint Recycling, Inc (California)& Williams Paint Recycling Company. In the Southern California area, Acrylatex Coatings & Recycling, Inc. accepts unused/unwanted latex paints for reprocessing into a viable resource of recycled paints in 20-standard colors. In the southeastern United States Atlanta Paint Disposal has a paint recycling program with drop off locations in Atlanta, Georgia. This is part of a growing network of paint recyclers at National Paint Disposal which is targeted specifically at providing proper paint end-of-life without the need for additional state legislation such as Paint Care.

External links

  • http://www.greenlivingtips.com/blogs/74/Recycling-paint.html
  • http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/home-garden/resource-center/easy-ways-to-properly-dispose-of-leftover-paint-8-07/overview/0708_ways_to_dispose_of_leftover_paint.htm
  • http://www.wheaton.il.us/news/announcements/detail.aspx?id=4890
  • http://www.greenyour.com/home/home-improvement/paint/tips/choose-recycled-paint#comment-16953
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK