Paint is a recyclable item. Latex paint is collected at collection facilities in many countries and shipped to paint-recycling facilities.
There are many ways that paint can be recycled. 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 of paint could save 13 gallons of water, 1 quart of oil, and 250,000 gallons of water pollution, 13.74 pounds of CO2, save enough energy to power the average home for 3 hours.[ citation needed ]
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The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with North America and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(December 2010) |
In Ontario, Stewardship Ontario oversees the collection of waste paint from consumers and diversion from landfill to meet targets approved by the Ministry of the Environment through a program called the Orange Drop Program. The Orange Drop program is an extensive and growing network of collection sites—drop-off locations for paint leftovers and other special materials that can't go in the Blue Box or the garbage.
As an Orange Drop-approved transporter and processor, Loop Recycled Products Inc. takes leftover paint, collected through Stewardship Ontario, and turns it into environmentally friendly recycled paint. Raw material costs and energy consumption are lower than when making paint from scratch. [1]
In February 2015, Waste Diversion Ontario approved Product Care as the new Ontario waste paint stewardship operator effectively replacing Stewardship Ontario.
In March 2017, Colortech ECO Paints introduced its line of recycled wall and floor paints to specific retail markets consisting of a large network of liquidation and discount stores across Canada and the United States, as well as exporting large quantities to West Africa and South America.
Alberta's paint recycling program started accepting leftover, unwanted paint on April 1, 2008. It is estimated that about 30 million liters of paint is sold in Alberta each year.[ citation needed ] On average, 5 to 10 percent of this ends up as waste, which can pose environmental and health risks if disposed of improperly. Paint contains many components that have great potential for reuse, recycling and recovery. The Paint Recycling Alberta program enables these products to be handled and recycled in an environmentally safe manner, reducing their impact on the environment. The program is funded through environmental fees charged on the sale of new paint in Alberta. The fees are put into a dedicated fund that can only be used to manage the paint recycling program.
The paint is sorted into different streams and sent to registered processors to be recycled into new paint, used in other products or in energy recovery, or sent for proper disposal if necessary. Any processor that receives paint must be registered with the Paint Recycling Program and meet all applicable environmental, transportation, health & safety, and local requirements.
Calibre Environmental LTD. located in Calgary, Alberta, became a key part in 2008 of the new Alberta Paint Stewardship program which significantly increased the recycling of unused latex paint from across the province of Alberta. Calibre Environmental Ltd. currently processes about 1.6 million kilograms of latex paint annually, which equates to the successful recycling of one million litres of quality latex paint per year.
In the UK reusable leftover paint can be donated to Community RePaint, a national network of paint reuse schemes. The network comprises 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 (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 [2] and by DEFRA in Guidance on Applying the Waste Hierarchy. [3]
Concerns about the life cycle of paint have led to the creation of PaintCare, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established to represent paint manufacturers (paint producers) to plan and operate paint stewardship programs in the United States in those states that pass paint stewardship laws. [4]
Paint stewardship law aims to enable the paint industry to implement a collection program that allows consumers to take their leftover, unwanted paint to a collection site to be collected and recycled. Legislation mandating the creation of the PaintCare program has been enacted in eight states since 2009: Oregon, California, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Minnesota, Maine, and Colorado. Legislation has also been passed for the District of Columbia; PaintCare anticipates beginning the District's paint stewardship program in September 2016. PaintCare is responsible for promoting the reuse of post-consumer architectural paint (leftover paint) and providing for the collection, transport, and processing of this paint using the hierarchy of "reduce, reuse, recycle," and proper disposal. [5] Most PaintCare locations are at paint retailers who volunteer to take back paint. These retailers take back paint during regular business hours, making paint recycling and disposal much more convenient for the public. [4]
Paint is shipped to companies such as GDB International, American Paint Recyclers (Ohio), 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. In the northeast The Paint Exchange, LLC recycles latex paint. In the Mid-Atlantic RepaintUSA also recycles paint.
Product stewardship is an approach to managing the environmental impacts of different products and materials and at different stages in their production, use and disposal. It acknowledges that those involved in producing, selling, using and disposing of products have a shared responsibility to ensure that those products or materials are managed in a way that reduces their impact, throughout their lifecycle, on the environment and on human health and safety. This approach focusses on the product itself, and everyone involved in the lifespan of the product is called upon to take up responsibility to reduce its environmental, health, and safety impacts.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a strategy to add all of the estimated environmental costs associated with a product throughout the product life cycle to the market price of that product, contemporarily mainly applied in the field of waste management. Such societal costs are typically externalities to market mechanisms, with a common example being the impact of cars.
Electronic waste recycling, electronics recycling, or e-waste recycling is the disassembly and separation of components and raw materials of waste electronics; when referring to specific types of e-waste, the terms like computer recycling or mobile phone recycling may be used. Like other waste streams, reuse, donation, and repair are common sustainable ways to dispose of IT waste.
Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, as in a garbage disposal; the two are sometimes collected separately. In the European Union, the semantic definition is 'mixed municipal waste,' given waste code 20 03 01 in the European Waste Catalog. Although the waste may originate from a number of sources that has nothing to do with a municipality, the traditional role of municipalities in collecting and managing these kinds of waste have produced the particular etymology 'municipal.'
Waste minimisation is a set of processes and practices intended to reduce the amount of waste produced. By reducing or eliminating the generation of harmful and persistent wastes, waste minimisation supports efforts to promote a more sustainable society. Waste minimisation involves redesigning products and processes and/or changing societal patterns of consumption and production.
The Green Project is a not-for-profit environmental organization established in 1994 in St. Roch, New Orleans, Louisiana. The Green Project began as a salvage operation to recover unwanted paint then expanded to used building materials in 1996. In the past, the project participated in the deconstruction of New Orleans's homes and buildings but has since focused only on donations. The project operates a retail outlet, and community workshops. Materials accepted include:
This article outlines the position and trends of recycling in Canada. Since the 1980s, most mid to large municipalities in most provinces have recycling programs, relying on curbside collection with either bins, boxes, or bags. These systems are not standardized, and the specific process differs for each province. Certain provinces have container-deposit systems in place for bottles, cans, and other beverage containers.
Household hazardous waste (HHW) was a term coined by Dave Galvin from Seattle, Washington in 1982 as part of the fulfillment of a US EPA grant. This new term was reflective of the recent passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 in the US. This act and subsequent regulations strengthened the environmental protection requirements for landfills, in Subpart D, and created a "cradle to grave" management system for hazardous wastes, in Subpart C. From RCRA 1976 the US EPA promulgated rules in 1980 which explicitly excluded any wastes from household origins from regulation as a hazardous waste at the federal level. Most US states adopted parallel regulations to RCRA 1976 but were allowed to be more stringent. California took advantage of this allowance and chose to not exempt household origin wastes from their state hazardous waste laws. HHW products exhibit many of the same dangerous characteristics as fully regulated hazardous waste which are their potential for reactivity, ignitability, corrosivity, toxicity, or persistence. Examples include drain cleaners, oil paint, motor oil, antifreeze, fuel, poisons, pesticides, herbicides and rodenticides, fluorescent lamps, lamp ballasts containing PCBs, some smoke detectors, and in some states, consumer electronics. Except for California, most states exclude HHW from their hazardous waste regulations and regulate the management of HHW largely under their solid waste regulatory schemes.
Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste product may become a by-product, joint product or resource through an invention that raises a waste product's value above zero.
The environmental effects of paint can vary depending on the type of paint used and mitigation measures. Traditional painting materials and processes can have harmful effects on the environment, including those from the use of lead and other additives. Measures can be taken to reduce its environmental effects, including accurately estimating paint quantities so waste is minimized, and use of environmentally preferred paints, coating, painting accessories, and techniques.
Electronic waste is a significant part of today's global, post-consumer waste stream. Efforts are being made to recycle and reduce this waste.
MetroPaint is a recycled-content latex paint (RCLP) that has been produced in Portland, Oregon, United States by Metro since 1992.
Electronic waste in Japan is a major environmental issue. Although Japan was one of the first countries to implement an electronic waste recycling program, it is still having serious issues. In this day and age, e-waste disposal has become of major importance due to the increasing demand for electronics on a worldwide scale. In 2013, the Japanese government reported that roughly 550 thousand tonnes of e-waste was collected and treated in Japan, which only equates to about 24-30% of total e-waste. Not only does e-waste harm the environment if untreated, it also becomes a fiscal loss due to the material lost that could have been salvaged.
Electronic waste in New Zealand is an environmental issue being addressed by community and government initiatives.
Solid waste policy in the United States is aimed at developing and implementing proper mechanisms to effectively manage solid waste. For solid waste policy to be effective, inputs should come from stakeholders, including citizens, businesses, community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, universities, and other research organizations. These inputs form the basis of policy frameworks that influence solid waste management decisions. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates household, industrial, manufacturing, and commercial solid and hazardous wastes under the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Effective solid waste management is a cooperative effort involving federal, state, regional, and local entities. Thus, the RCRA's Solid Waste program section D encourages the environmental departments of each state to develop comprehensive plans to manage nonhazardous industrial and municipal solid waste.
Austin ReBlend is a paint recycling program administered by the City of Austin in Austin, Texas. In 2012, Austin ReBlend produced 12,767 US gal (48,330 L) of wholly recycled paint.
Appliance recycling is the process of dismantling scrapped home appliances to recover their parts or materials for reuse. Recycling appliances for their original or other purposes, involves disassembly, removal of hazardous components and destruction of the equipment to recover materials, generally by shredding, sorting and grading. The rate at which appliances are discarded has increased due in part to obsolescence due to technological advancement, and in part to not being designed to be repairable. The main types of appliances that are recycled are televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, and computers. When appliances are recycled, they can be looked upon as a valuable resources; if disposed of improperly, they can be environmentally harmful and poison ecosystems.
Sustainable Materials Management is a systemic approach to using and reusing materials more productively over their entire lifecycles. It represents a change in how a society thinks about the use of natural resources and environmental protection. By looking at a product's entire lifecycle new opportunities can be found to reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources, and reduce costs.
Drug disposal is the discarding of drugs. Individuals commonly dispose of unused drugs that remain after the end of medical treatment. Health care organizations dispose of drugs on a larger scale for a range of reasons, including having leftover drugs after treating patients and discarding of expired drugs. Failure to properly dispose of drugs creates opportunities for others to take them inappropriately. Inappropriate disposal of drugs can also cause drug pollution.
Recycling in Australia is a widespread, and comprehensive part of waste management in Australia, with 60% of all waste collected being recycled. Recycling is collected from households, commercial businesses, industries and construction. Despite its prominence, household recycling makes up only a small part (13%) of Australia's total recycling. It generally occurs through kerbside recycling collections such as the commingled recycling bin and food/garden organics recycling bin, drop-off and take-back programs, and various other schemes. Collection and management of household recycling typically falls to local councils, with private contractors collecting commercial, industrial and construction recycling. In addition to local council regulations, legislation and overarching policies are implemented and managed by the state and federal governments.
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