A friend brought a news article to my attention and it was such pleasant surprise. It really fits perfectly with the Use 10 Percent Less concept. A group of people in Leeds, UK, collect old paint tins that are on their way to landfill and recycle and repurpose the leftover paint, and they’ve made a business out of it. It’s such an inspiring story but there’s a lot more to it than just rescuing old paint.
The news article that was referred to me was posted on Good News Network (nice to see someone concentrating on good news instead of feeding on everyones fears) and you can find the specific article here – https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/seagulls-paint-recycling-in-leeds/
It works out that they started their business, Seagulls Paint, in 2004 and they’ve made a real business out it that is still going today. What a great achievement! This video is a good introduction.
Going back to the original news article, they quote a few interesting statistics. In the 18 years up to the publication of the article in 2022, they had saved over 4 million litres of paint from going to landfill, which is equivalent to saving 11.4 million tons of carbon emissions, or equivalent to planting 68 million trees. Once again, well done!
But it’s not just about rescuing old paint. At the same time as helping the environment by saving waste and giving it new life, they give opportunities to previous offenders, people struggling with mental health, and isolated young people. They give new life to the community as well as to the paint. It’s a real community project that has benefits in all directions.
They are not just rescuing old paint, they’re also rescuing the community.
How many other community projects could pop-up that do a similar thing? Helping to reduce the human burden on the world and reinforcing good within our communities. It would be nice to see more and more projects like this.
Now, talking about rescuing old paint, I’m off to the garage to see how many old paint tins I have there. Hmm, what interesting things could be done with them?
Related Links – Rescuing old paint
- Seagulls Paint – https://seagullsreuse.org.uk
- Good News Network – https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org
- Friends Saved Over a Million Gallons of Paint From Landfill by Rescuing and Remixing it to Give it New Color – from Good News Network
Leave a Reply