Back in July we at LARAC were treated to a presentation about new recycling used paint initiative from Trevor Fielding – the Regulatory Affairs Manager from the British Coatings Federation. It made for interesting listening and was a subject revisited on the LARAC stand at RWM by partaking industry representatives.
BCF is a Trading Association for all manufacturers of decorative and industrial coatings, printing inks, powder coatings and wall coverings. One of the first depressing (but not surprising) facts that Trevor furnished us with was that 50m litres of paint is discarded in UK of which 20m litres is usable. The predictable groans went round the table and became more audible as we learned that only 1% of that re-usable paint is being used at the moment – that via Community Repaint - and a further 1% is being reconditioned via the industry. The rest either finds its way into the domestic waste stream and then on to landfill, or it gets separated out and treated as hazardous waste – both at a considerable cost to local authorities. But there are moves afoot to improve upon this. There is a desire to increase re-use to 50% - which would obviously see the need for a national network to come into play. In March this year BCF produced a Resource Efficiency Action Plan (REAP) for leftover paint and the creation of PaintCare - an industry-led initiative, backed by local and national government, the waste industry, paint retailers, and other stakeholders to help solve the problem of leftover decorative paint. PaintCare’s approach is that all this leftover paint provides an opportunity to create a circular economy model via a national re-use scheme.
Obviously there are challenges: the collection network needs improving and the network of paint re-manufacturers needs stimulating along with the market for re-usable paint, regulator roadblocks in terms of REACH/definitions of waste need removing and there needs to be a raising of public awareness. But to match these challenges there are positives in that the technology is proven, as is the local collection model, there are no major legal or environmental obstacles to ‘turning on the tap’ – and this would be the first national scheme in Europe – a chance for us to lead in the field. 
So: what would success look like? There would be a national scheme working through all HWRC collections points; network of 10-15 remanufacturing hubs; no funding or financial constraints to running; a UK market for the product; 20m litres of paint no longer being landfilled saving over £2m.
At this point, the collective groan round the LARAC table had given way to a lively debate about how this laudable scheme could actually happen, and how we at LARAC could have a part in it. LARAC feels there is a role here for retail outlets to provide take-back schemes which would release LAs from the added burden of another collection. But perhaps your authority already has paint recycling in its sights, or it is something you'd like to explore – if so Trevor Fielding informed us that there are pilot schemes in the offing for local authorities to get involved with – would you like more information? If so, get in touch with the LARAC office and we’ll put you in touch with Trevor.
Update 12 October 2015
With nearly 50 million litres of paint leftover each year LARAC are supporting and have signed a voluntary commitment to help reduce the amount of paint wastes and help the paint industry remanufacture leftover paint collected through House Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs).
LARAC are working closely with PaintCare UK to find any possible way forward to divert the material from current costly processes and landfill. LARAC will be surveying its members to find out what Local Authorities currently do with the materials they collect through HWRCs and any schemes they currently support and the savings that could be made with a remanufacturing scheme.:
