Recycling Tips for Decorators
ProDec asked members of the Decorators Forum to give their best recycling tips for other decorators. This is a sample of what they came back with;
I’m committed to Crown trade. When all our tins of paint are empty we return them to Crown to be recycled. We probably go through 1000 litres of paint, sometimes more each month
Use old Pringle tubes to store wet roller sleeves.
Cut the base off a 10liter tub and use it to mix filler 😀
Buy better quality items that can be reused for a longer period, rather than going cheap adding to the disposable culture we live in now.
Use old paint tins for kettles, donate leftover paint. Wrap brushes and rollers up so they last longer and no need to waste water keep washing them out.
I give left over paint to my local college. Saves taking it to the recycling centre and gives back to the younger decorators. They have free paint to learn with, so the resources they save can be spent elsewhere.
Always take my waste to Dulux or crown. To cut down on paint I thin it a little bit more to save paint and money
Any leftover colours from a job I leave it with the customer, they might need it for touching up. Any other spare paint I try to pass on to community groups.
Re-use polythene dust sheets. Use shopping bags or excess polythene dust sheets for keeping rollers fresh. Lay a polythene dust sheets flat and fill the middle with rubbish from Job and use polythene sheets as bin bag
Reuse the tape and drape by folding in the tape on itself. Then you can just keep reusing it to cover units and furniture
Usually mop all tins out n clean them clean n use at work pots or recycle them at the recycling centre
Have recycling bins on the van for paper (wallpaper, tape, tissue) and then another one for any plastics I use, and a general one
Never throw away old paints. There is plenty of charity places that will gladly take them, for people on low incomes
Do the job correctly in the first place then you won’t have need to create waste, ie: extra paint, filler, sheeting & tape plus more dust in the environment. Also reuse worn sandpaper for flattening off between coats….
Amazing tips! I will surely be using them. Thanks you so much for the help.