As an experienced DIY’er, I am much aware of the waste my sudden impulses of “let’s paint that wall bright pink” lead to. Most of the times half or at least a substantial part of the paint is left over when the wall is painted. What to do? Usually I save the paint for some time, until it has dried up and I end up throwing it away.
Keith Harrison was faced with the same problem, only he’s a chemist and started experiementing with what to do with the waste paint. He has now developed a process that turns waste emulsion paints back into commercial paints – I think that’s great news! His company Newlife Paints was established in 2008. From the company website:
“Recent estimates have concluded that some 14% (or over 50 million litres) of paint sold last year is unused or stored in our garages, sheds and cupboards. A very substantial amount of this unused paint ends up either in landfill or incinerated.”
Source photo: http://newlifepaints.com/
The interesting part of working with leftover paint is that you’re also stuck with the colours people have chosen in the first place. According to the Newlife Paint website, their current assortment consists of 23 colours, “ which reflects the range of colours discarded as waste in the UK”. Curious which these colours are? Have a look here: http://newlifepaints.com/colours.html
Tove Antonissen
