Categories: Case Studies

Community RePaint Swindon is hosted by Swindon Children’s Scrapstore, an an Aladdin’s cave full of materials, from crafts and toys to office furniture and computing. The RePaint area has a large array of full and part-full cans of paint for any project, sold at a very affordable price. It is the perfect place for picking up paint for home improvement….and giant murals!

This month has seen the completion of a striking mural inside Scrappers gym. The mural was painted as part of moving the boxing gym to a new location and it’s hoped to inspire kids and adults alike to build on their boxing skills.

Boxing gym owner Olivia says: “We would like to thank everyone involved in creating this amazing boxing wall and art work in the new Scrappers Community Boxing Gym premises”

Scrappers Gym is a community organisation that welcomes people of all ages and abilities to learn and develop their boxing abilities. It is praised for its great community spirit and inclusive atmosphere. The painting for the boxing wall masterpiece was done by some of Swindon’s best community artists Nathan Jacka and Cello Assini using paint from Community RePaint Swindon and additional spray paints.

Olivia says, “We wanted to add some much-needed colour to the gym and create a large mural that would inspire children and adults when they enter the gym.”

Do you have a community organisation that would benefit from being brightened? Are you planning an eye-catching mural or does it just require a lick of paint? Find your nearest Community RePaint Scheme and get all the paint you need at an incredibly affordable price.

Hannah Jayne Lewin’s painted sculpture Morph featured in full London Guard attire including scarlet blazer, shiny boots and bearskin hat. He could be found in Hay’s Galleria, London. Community RePaint schemes provide an ideal solution for projects that need a large number of different colours. By purchasing the paint needed for the project from Community RePaint Bradford, Hannah was able to pick up the paint needed for the project at a fraction of the usual retail price as well as using paint that was once considered waste!

Hannah has reused paint across the UK. She has designed for the following Trails: Morph’s Epic Art Adventure London, Lincolnshire Heart Trail, Leeds Bear Hunt, Jersey Tortoise Takeover, The Big Hop Aberdeen, Herd in The City, The Big Dog Art Trail. Maybe you’ve spotted one of her designs?

When asked why she enjoys creating her illustrations, Hannah says “An image might make someone feel happy, thankful, curious or even brave. Illustrations can change a person’s feelings and in turn their lives and I believe this is so powerful. I love seeing people all over the world, of all ages and all backgrounds engaging with and enjoying my artwork.”

“It was so brilliant being able to get the paint from Community RePaint Bradford as there was great choice of colours and the team were really helpful with giving me advice about the paint.”

Community RePaint Bradford is one of the larger schemes within the Community RePaint network. Each year, the scheme collects around 50,000 litres of reusable, leftover paint from local retailers, businesses and traders. This paint is sorted, processed and quality checked before being made available for sale at £1.80 per litre. Read more about Community RePaint Bradford in their ‘Meet the Scheme’ interview here!

Community RePaint Bradford’s manager Karen says ” Community Repaint is what it is because of the hard work of the many volunteers we have had over the years and we owe them a huge thanks for everything they have done. Every hour of support helps us hugely and makes a difference.”

Our network has over 70 schemes across the country, providing affordable paint for community and home projects, from £1.50 a litre. If you need paint for your home, mural, community project, or sculpture like this one, find your nearest scheme here.

For further details about Hannah Art’s work, check out her website here!

In June, a group of eight students from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s Prescot Prince’s Trust Team 15, took on a community painting project at the Bryer Road Community Venue in Liverpool. The team worked to revive some vandalised outdoor tables and benches at the venue into a colourful outdoor area, using leftover paint from Community RePaint Liverpool.

The team at Prince’s Trust visited Community RePaint Liverpool’s main site, located in Kirby, to purchase an array of different pastel-coloured outdoor gloss paints, at affordable prices, to repaint the two garden tables and surrounding benches at the community venue. The team worked to encourage pride of place in the area and to reduce the likelihood of further vandalism at this community hub.

Caroline Murphy, Programme Support Officer at the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s Prince’s Trust let us know:

“The team at Community RePaint Liverpool were very helpful in finding the right paint for our project. Without the paint and the price it was, we would have struggled with affording to paint both the tables and the benches.”

Community RePaint Liverpool is run by local organisation, Big Help Project, that works to collect and redistributes reusable, leftover paint from a variety of sources across Liverpool, including local and national retailers, trade decorators and contractors. They also stock the network’s ReColour remanufactured paint. The paint is sold through their retail spaces across Liverpool to local members of the community, from individuals and families to charities and community groups, at affordable prices. Find out more about Community RePaint Liverpool here.

Community RePaint has over 65 schemes across the country, providing paint starting from £2 a litre. If you need paint for your home, community project, or a mural like this one, find your nearest scheme here. 

The mural was designed and painted onto an equipment container on the allotment patch using leftover paint purchased at affordable prices from Community RePaint Bradford.

Safrana Art let us know:

“As an artist, I really like the idea of brightening up community spaces and I approached Growing Works to help with exactly this. They wanted to brighten up the equipment container on their allotment with a natural-looking, organic design that blended with the surroundings while branding the container so that the community feel a sense of belonging when using the space.”

By purchasing the paint needed for the project from Community RePaint Bradford, Growing Works were able to pick up all the paint needed for the project at a fraction of the usual retail price.

Community RePaint Bradford is one of the larger schemes within the Community RePaint network. Each year, the scheme collects over 49,000 litres of reusable, leftover paint from local retailers, businesses and traders.

This paint is sorted, processed and quality checked before being made available for sale at £1.80 per litre. Read more about Community RePaint Bradford in their Meet the Scheme interview.  

When asked about their experience picking up the paint needed for the project, Safrana Art let us know:

“I was able to work closely with the Growing Works team who happily collected the paints from Community RePaint Bradford. With the helpful advice of the staff at the scheme, we were able to choose the perfect paints needed for the project, that would work on the exterior surface of the container.

“The possibility of mixing colours was great for us too. I usually prefer to use acrylic water based paint as it is easier to clean, and for this kind of price, it’s also easier for other people to handle too.”

The allotment space is used to teach and encourage local members of the community to grow their own food and eat healthier, with gardening skills and knowledge taught through different workshops at the allotment hub.

Throughout the project, Safrana Art also encouraged the individuals who use the space to become involved with painting the mural too.

Safrana Art said:

“The users of Growing Works allotment were so responsive to the mural, and the project was completed in two sessions in early May. I love using the spring and summer months to create community pieces as the weather is usually so lovely!”

Safrana Art has been involved with creating other projects in north-west England, using leftover paint from Community RePaint network. Find out more about her past projects here:

• Butterfly House gets a makeover using leftover paint
• Leftover paint in Manchester used for community Church mural
• Muslim Youth Foundation given a repaint by Safrana 

For further details about Safrana Art’s work, check out her Instagram page here! To find out more about Growing Works, click here. 

Community RePaint has over 65 schemes across the country, providing affordable paint for community and home projects, from £2 a litre. If you need paint for your home, community project, or a mural like this one, find your nearest scheme here.

When talking about climate change and our impact on the environment, although much pressure does need to be applied at an industrial level, there are steps individuals can also take to save on carbon and limit our impact on the environment. This logic can be applied to painting and decorating, and Community RePaint is here to help, offering an environmentally friendly painting solution!

By opting to purchase surplus paint from the Community RePaint network, individuals are preventing leftover paint from going to waste. Instead, this manufactured product is being reused, lengthening the product’s lifespan and increasing its circularity.

Community RePaint’s circular approach to extend the life of leftover paint

In the UK alone, it is estimated that over 50 million litres of the 480 million litres of paint sold each year is disposed of as waste, despite over 50% of this paint still being in reusable condition!

Next time you’re planning a decorating project, don’t ‘guesstimate’ how much paint you’re going to need. Instead, use our paint estimator tool to work out the volume required for your project. This will prevent the amount of excess paint you’re leftover with. You can then visit your nearby Community RePaint scheme to pick up the paint you need. Click here to search for your local scheme.

Community RePaint schemes stock a wide range of high-quality leftover paint in full and part-full tins, passed on for reuse by businesses, traders and waste contractors. All paint passed on to our network of schemes is sorted, processed and quality checked to strict standards by the scheme’s team of employees and volunteers, ensuring you don’t purchase any paint in unusable condition.

Using our paint estimator tool will help you reduce the likelihood of buying more paint than you need, and by visiting your nearby scheme, you’ll also be saving some money. Paint is then sold from £2 per litre – better for your bank account and the environment!

If this is your first painting and decorating rodeo, and you’re unsure exactly what paint you need for your next project, we’re here to help. Read our informative blog post, full of helpful insights to broaden your knowledge of the different paint types our schemes stock, and how each type can be used.

Different types of pint also have differing impacts on the environment. We recommend using water-based products rather than oil-based ones. Water-based paints comprise less solvents than their oil-based counterparts, which means they release less volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. Therefore, water-based paints are considered better for both the environment and people’s health. Not only this, but oil-based paints are more carbon and energy intensive to produce in comparison with water-based products. Find out more here. 

Water-based paints are also much easier to wash off clothes, skin and paint brushes. This means mishaps can be dealt with easily, and paint brushes, plus other decorating tools, can be used repeatedly and will last longer, as the paint can be easily cleaned off using warm water and soap.

We always recommend wearing protective clothing when painting. Another win for water-based painting products is that they can be easily washed out of protective clothing. This means it’s more sustainable and economically beneficial to wear reusable overalls, as opposed to single-use alternatives, when decorating, as reusable overalls can be easily washed and worn for years to come.

You may also be able to borrow supplies for your decorating project from your nearby Library of Things. These are organisations that loans out item, from DIY tools and garden machinery to kitchen appliances and other useful household items, to members of its local community. By borrowing rather than buying new, you will save on cost and free up space in your home while preventing overconsumption and reducing waste and carbon emissions. Find out more here. 

At the end of your painting extravaganza, if you do have any paint leftover, pass it on for reuse through the Community RePaint network to help to keep it in circulation for longer, while benefiting individuals and groups within your local community. Click here to search for your nearby drop off point.