Dulux Decorator Centre has received a staggering one million paint cans under its can recycling scheme. Thanks to the initiative, Dulux Decorator Centre is improving the environmental efficiency of the industry one can at a time by reducing the amount of construction waste that ends up in landfill.
In line with the Government’s ambition to reach net zero targets by 2050, architects and specifiers need to consider how all building materials can aid greener practices – including paints and coatings. As well as ensuring a sustainable specification, it is also important to consider how product packaging can be disposed of responsibly at the end of a project.
Dulux Decorator Centre’s free of charge can recycling scheme, in partnership with Veolia the UK’s leading resource management company, is ideal for driving up the overall resource efficiency of a project. Also, it makes it easy for specifiers to identify decorating contractors that have adopted a best practice approach to sustainability as the Dulux Decorator Centre team monitor customers’ recycling and send them a certificate each year to certify how many cans they have recycled as a percentage of their total use.
Duncan Lochhead, Commercial Sustainability Manager at Dulux Decorator Centre said: “As a champion of sustainable building practices, Dulux Decorator Centre is incredibly proud to have received one million paint cans under its recycling scheme. According to the Construction Leadership Council, the construction of our built environment produces the largest waste stream by tonnage, and though we recognise that we have a long way to go, recycling paint cans is a step in the right direction and an easy way to reduce the environmental impact of a project. We encourage architects, specifiers, and designers to include a clause in their painting specifications requiring all empty paint cans to be recycled using the Dulux Decorator Centre can recycling scheme.”
Donald Macphail, Chief Operating Officer – Treatment at Veolia UK said “This is a great example of an industry coming together to make a real difference to improve recycling. To reach our net zero goals we must take every opportunity to cut climate-changing carbon emissions. By recycling high-density Polyethylene (HDPE) paint pots up to 88% of the carbon emissions are saved compared with using virgin materials, and using recycled steel and tin saves around 60% of the emissions against extracting new resources. This is just the beginning of the journey and I encourage all in the industry to utilise this service as together we can make a huge difference to deliver ecological transformation.”
Dulux Decorator Centre accepts a wide range of dry or empty metal or plastic paint cans including Dulux, Armstead, Dulux Woodcare, Cuprinol, Sikkens, and Hammerite. Cans that have contained emulsions, gloss paints, undercoats and primers, floor paints, exterior paints, and masonry paints – and those that have contained water-based or solvent-based products – can all be recycled under the scheme. Plastic cans are shredded, washed, and sent back into the plastics market, and metal is remelted into new steel and returned to the general market.
For any paint cans that are still partially full, Dulux Decorator Centre will facilitate their donation to Community RePaint – a UK wide paint reuse network, sponsored by Dulux, that aims to collect leftover paint and redistribute it at an affordable cost – so nothing goes to waste.