Community RePaint centre celebrates landmark with one million litres redistributed

16 October 2024

Our paint circularity initiative Community RePaint has hit yet another milestone after its Wirral RePaint centre redistributed its one millionth litre of paint.

Community RePaint Wirral – which is run by Recipro – receives paint from a number of Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in the area as well as collecting donated leftover paint from local businesses and decorators.

The site holds thousands of full and part-full tins of paint available purchase at an affordable cost by the general public, helping to ensure that useable paint is saved from being thrown away unnecessarily.

(L-R) Lily Graves, Community RePaint Network Officer and Beckie Close, Director of Recipro
Picture Credit: PinPep.

As well as finding a new lease of life for unused and partially used paint Community RePaint Wirral also remanufactures ReColour paint, which is made from leftover paint saved from waste. The ReColour range facilitates the use of reused paint for larger-scale projects such as building exteriors.

ReColour paint is made using an innovative technological process that filters, treats and blends leftover paint to create a range of high-quality and affordable new products.

Since it opened its doors in 2013, the one million litres of leftover paint the Community RePaint Wirral has redistributed has been used to brighten hundreds of homes and community spaces.

“Over 50 million litres of paint go to waste each year in the UK,” notes Lily Graves, Community RePaint network officer. “It’s a shocking statistic and, at Community RePaint, we’re determined to provide a solution.

“Community RePaint Wirral’s commitment to this is clear in their redistribution of over one million litres of paint; it is such a fantastic achievement and demonstrates how reuse initiatives can have a significant impact on our communities and planet.”

One beneficiary of Community RePaint Wirral’s service – the Wirral-based charity Hearts4Refugees – has seen the value in reusing paint as a tool for bringing people together, such as for an art therapy project where refugees supported by the charity banded together to design and paint of a collaborative mural. 

The Dulux dog recently visited the Heart4Refugee’s mural, painted by the charity’s beneficiaries
Picture Credit: PinPep.

“Art can do so much to reduce stress and emotional pain; this is something the refugees we support here know all too well,” explains Vicky Evans, Executive Director at Heart4Refugees. “It can offer stimulation, an outlet, and a reminder of the colourful goodness in the world!”

Beckie Close, Director of Recipro, adds: “Heart4Refugees is just one of many projects we’ve been lucky enough to support with our ReColour paint. It feels so rewarding to support projects like this; their work is so important and is another way of injecting a bit of colour into everyone’s lives.”

You can find out if there is a Community RePaint operating near you by searching with your postcode here; for larger projects needing more that 60 litres, then ReColour manufactured paint could be suitable – find out more here.