John Holden, HRC Site Attendant and Mayor Gerardine Mulvenna.
Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has joined the ‘Community RePaint’ network and secured vital funding for three new sheds and signage - to help support the innovative UK-wide scheme.
The scheme offers residents the opportunity to drop off and collect new and leftover paint at Council’s three main recycling centres - located at Waveney Road, Ballymena, Redlands in Larne and Sullatober, Carrickfergus.
The paint can then be re-used by residents, local schools and for community-based projects. The scheme stocks full and part-full containers of paint, which promotes reuse over recycling and offers a perfect paint option for those in the area looking to redecorate without breaking the bank – and also preventing leftover paint from going to waste!
An estimated 50 million litres of the 320 million litres of paint sold in the UK each year goes to waste. This leftover paint is either thrown away or stored in homes or garages despite over 50% of it still being usable.
Sponsored by Dulux, Community RePaint aims to collect leftover paint and redistribute it to benefit individuals, families, communities and charities in need at an affordable cost.
Paint through this scheme has helped local groups and charities refresh shared spaces and create colourful murals for the community, enabled people on low income to redecorate their homes at low cost and provided employment, training and volunteer opportunities - building valuable skills and experience.
Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Alderman Gerardine Mulvenna said:
“We’re delighted to have joined this UK-wide network supporting the reuse of leftover paint. Council has previously recycled paint tins coming through our Household Recycling Centre gates, but this scheme supports our residents by offering paint to complete those small jobs, spruce up our school playgrounds and enable our communities to brighten up their local area. This is an excellent scheme and adds to our ever-growing list of circular economy projects.”
To pick up paint for your DIY, school or community-based project or to donate any leftover paint you have, simply visit the scheme at its premises located at Council’s three main recycling centres listed above, during normal opening hours.
Stock at the Community RePaint scheme does vary throughout the year depending on what paint has recently been passed on for reuse by local businesses, traders and residents in the area, so if you are looking for specific paint types or colours, we recommend contacting the scheme directly ahead of visiting, to find out if they have the paint you’re looking for in stock. You can do this by contacting Council’s waste help desk on 0300 124 5000 (Option 0).