Categories: News

Community paint reuse featured on the TV

• The local BBC news ran an article on Community RePaint Colchester, run by En-form Environment Centre, showing details of their operations and how they put waste paint to good use. To see the article go to www.bbc.co.uk/essex/cut_your_carbon/ click ‘video’ on the interactive map and find the clip entitled ‘Recycling paint’.

• Unique Social Enterprise, which runs Community RePaint Newark featured on ITV’s “The Lobby” in March. The programme showed volunteers sorting paint.

• In February Community RePaint Leeds run by Seagulls Re-use ltd, was featured on ITV’s Calendar news. A short film showed a local news presenter discovering the excellent work carried out by Seagulls and the environmental and community benefits of reusing paint. (Unfortunately the web link for this clip has now expired.)

Projects go potty over tester pots!

Law, Leisure, Learning who run Community RePaint Sandwell and Soho redistributed a full pallet of tester pots in the first week to St James School in Handsworth who used the paint for a mural on their playground wall.

There are still tester pots available for projects in the north (ie Birmingham and upwards!) if you are interested please contact vicky.wren@resourcefutures.co.uk

Community RePaint reaches the English Riviera

They’ve got off to a great start by collecting around 700 litres of paint from Brewers, Johnstone’s Leyland and Crown Paints. However most of this has already been used on two fantastic redecoration projects at Torbay Opportunities Group (a pre-school for disabled children) and STEPS Charity, who make electronic switches for disabled children’s toys. The work was carried out by an amazing 263 volunteers through Anode’s ‘SmileMaker’ which is a unique service that facilitates community makeovers.

Community RePaint diverts 450,000 litres of paint from going to waste

The paint was then offered for use by local charities, community groups and individuals in social need to brighten up and their living and work environments. Community RePaint Torbay enlisted 200 volunteers to completely redecorate the premises of a local charity that makes specialist toys for disabled children while 60 amateur cricket clubs across England and Wales used 5, 000 litres from Community RePaint to redecorate their club houses and grounds for the NatWest Cricket Force national initiative.

The volume collected by the network in 2007 of 450,000 litres is almost double that of the previous year (235,000 litres). Community RePaint project manager Mark Gregory said “This is a fantastic performance by the network and a number of individual projects have contributed significantly to the figures. The results also evidence the hard work from a specific Lottery-funded programme, aimed at increasing material donated by householders, which, among other aspects, involved creating a new project website” (www.communityrepaint.org.uk)

However, he went on to say, “Despite this success, more work needs to be done with national charities and the voluntary and community organisations to promote awareness of free and low-cost paint for the third sector. Of the volume of paint collected, 250,000 litres was redistributed to organisations and individuals in social need, leaving a large amount still in storage, awaiting use by local charitable projects. Resource Futures is working to develop more links with national third sector organisations to increase awareness of the project through their networks and anyone interested in this should get in touch.”

Operation of the Community RePaint network in 2007 saw 6 new part-time jobs and 45 new volunteer positions created while 55 training courses in subjects such as health and safety, risk assessments, manual handling, etc were rolled out by projects. Mark Gregory said “This gives disadvantaged people such as the long-term unemployed and people with learning disabilities a helping hand back into working life and regular employment and illustrates another aspect of how Community RePaint assists the less fortunate in society.

The UK Community RePaint network is managed by Resource Futures who provide technical assistance and support to individual projects while promoting the initiative to other sectors. Community RePaint has been sponsored by Dulux since its inception in 1993 as part of Dulux’s ongoing sustainability programme.

Transforming Enfield Scouts with reusable paint

Mark Dowsett, District Commissioner for Enfield Scouts said ‘as well as saving us a great sum of money, Scouts like the ‘green’ feel of using reusable paint that others have donated. The people at Community RePaint were extremely helpful in our very tight schedule.’

Dulux confirm their commitment as sponsors

As a result we are now working more closely with Dulux, and Community RePaint will be promoted at a national level through various initiatives which we hope will reuslt in local projects recieving more paint and increased redistribution. 2009 will see Community RePaint promoted in Dulux colour cards, on the back of all Dulux paint tins and in a variety of major DIY retailer stores. We will be talking to projects directly and keeping you informed of developments and initiatives throughout next year.

We’ve also got a new logo, which now includes the strapline ‘Dulux, proud sponsor since 1993’ and you’ll see this being used on our website, e-zine etc and any new promotional items. Dulux are also using the logo and featuring Community RePaint on the new environmental section on their website:

www.dulux.co.uk/environmental

WRAP’s halving waste to landfill agreement crosses the border as first Scottish council signs up

The reduction of construction waste is a key focus for the industry and WRAP’s Halving Waste to Landfill commitment is a voluntary framework devised to help achieve a 50% reduction in construction, demolition and excavation waste sent to landfill by 2012. This initiative, which has been supported by the Scottish Government, is viewed as environmentally and financially critical – due to increasing costs of waste disposal.

Iain Gulland, WRAP’s Director for Scotland, added: “WRAP’s Halving Waste to Landfill commitment is gaining phenomenal success, with over 60 organisations across England and Scotland already signed up. We are delighted to see Fife Council sign up to the commitment and they have demonstrated a proactive position on reducing their waste with both financial and environmental benefits. We look forward to seeing many more Scottish councils and organisations sign up in the future.”

Fife Council is the third largest local authority in Scotland and has set itself strict waste reduction targets with the aim of becoming the leading green council in Scotland. As part of this it has committed to the Halving Waste to Landfill commitment and set a target of achieving and exceeding zero waste to landfill by 2012.

Councillor Tony Martin who is Chair of Fife Council’s Environment, Enterprise & Transportation Committee said “I was delighted to sign the WRAP Construction Commitments on behalf of Fife Council. We have set ourselves the goal of becoming the leading green council in Scotland and signing up to the Commitments is another demonstration of our drive to achieving this ambitious target. The Council is one of the biggest building and construction organisations in Fife and we have a duty to make our operations as sustainable as possible, and also lead by example. We are already making progress in the way we work, for example buying more (recycled and) recyclable materials for construction work, and segregating waste for recycling, and this means we are confident of meeting and indeed exceeding the commitment to halving the waste we send to landfill by 2012.”

Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment said “I am delighted that Fife Council is strengthening its commitment to zero waste and leading the way for other Scottish local authorities in signing up to this commitment. As a major player behind large construction projects in Fife, the Council’s involvement has great potential for making a difference, both through its own activities and influencing those of its contractors. Everyone must play their part in reducing waste, and only by all working together in this way will we be able to achieve a Zero Waste Scotland.”

Since the commitment was launched in October 2008, over 60 organisations have now signed up to WRAP’s voluntary agreement – including leading clients, developers and contractors such as Land Securities, Defence Estates, retail company ASDA and Bovis Lend Lease.

For more information on the Halving Waste To Landfill agreement – including how to sign up call the WRAP helpline on 0808 100 2040.

WRAP welcomes move to create single organisation for resource efficiency

WRAP believes that by joining forces the organisations delivering resource efficiency programmes will provide better and more efficient services to consumers, local authorities and businesses. Over the next year, WRAP will work with Defra policy teams to decide what needs to be done and how this should be delivered using the mix of skills and resources from all the organisations.

From April 2010, WRAP will be responsible for delivering these services.

WRAP CEO Liz Goodwin said: “We welcome this opportunity to lead a single organisation for resource efficiency. This decision is a vote of confidence in WRAP and will make it less confusing for business to access the wide range of resource efficiency programmes on offer.

“We believe it will help bring clarity for those seeking advice and support on resource efficiency – many of whom have already said they would prefer to deal with one organisation.

“It also provides an opportunity for economies of scale as we will now share services and support over a wider range of activities than WRAP or any other organisation has been able to achieve to date.”

SEPA supports reuse of waste paints in new regulatory position

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published an interim position statement on the storage and reuse of waste paint which clarifies how these activities should be regulated.

Storage and beneficial use of non-hazardous waste paint is normally an exempt activity under the Waste Management Licensing Regulations. Community groups who store waste paint for reuse are required to register their exemption with SEPA in a simple, one-off registration which can be done online and free of charge.

The mixing of waste paints for reuse is not currently exempt from waste management licence requirements. However SEPA supports the reuse and wider benefits provided by these community activities and will not require not-for-profit organisations to hold a waste management licence for the mixing of non-hazardous waste paint. (The storage and mixing of waste paint that is labelled as hazardous, and is therefore special waste, is still a licensable activity.)

Maureen Menzies of RePaint Scotland said “This is welcome news indeed! It is not only a tremendous cost saving for RePaint Scotland but means we can go ahead and bulk up our recycled paint, as can those other organisations who want to top up half full tins, knowing that we are all compliant with SEPA regulations.”

Community groups who are unsure of whether their activities are affected by waste management licensing regulations should contact their local SEPA office for guidance.

A full review of waste management licence regulations and exemptions is being carried out by the Scottish Government and SEPA under the Better Waste Regulation Action Programme.

Big Issue Invest launches £10m social enterprise fund

A new £10m fund that will invest in social enterprise is being launched by Big Issue Invest, the investment arm of the Big Issue.

The fund, which will take money from charities, institutional investors and high net-worth individuals, is aiming to invest in social enterprises in the health and social care, environment, and employment and skills sectors.

It will invest between £100,000 and £500,000 in each business.

Nigel Kershaw, chief executive of Big Issue Invest, said that that fund was unusual in both the range of investors it hoped to attract and the products it would provide.

“We’ve attracted investment from charity, and we’re negotiating with both a bank and a wealthy individual,” he said. “We’re looking to take in investment from a broad range of sources.”

He said the new fund could provide cash for a variety of purposes, and would aim to provide the type of finance that would be most appropriate to the borrower.

“If we speak to a social enterprise, we can promise that we will find the best possible way of investing in it,” he said.

He said the fund was intended to finance the growth of existing social enterprises, but would target early stage businesses if the business model was strong enough.