Enduring success recognised for Resene PaintWise
Resene PaintWise has received praise from the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) for ongoing achievements in diverting leftover paint and packaging from landfill.
In its eleventh year of operation, the Resene stewardship programme collected over 706,000 kilograms of paint and packaging from 61 Resene ColorShops and 29 trade-partner locations nationwide. This was 23% higher than the previous year, with the increase being credited to a buoyant building and renovating sector and increased awareness of the service.
Resene PaintWise was one of the first programmes to receive Product Stewardship accreditation by MfE, meeting a stringent range of performance and reporting criteria.
Responding to this year’s accreditation report, MfE Director of Operations Mike Mendonça has congratulated Resene and programme managers 3R Group for their “strong progress against objectives and targets”.
“Diverting more than 706,000 kilograms of paint and its packaging from landfill in a year is a significant achievement.”
Resene was credited for their policy of assisting customers to purchase wisely and minimise wastage and leftover paint in the first instance, with collection and recycling being the last step in the PaintWise process rather than the primary focus.
3R Group have also made significant efforts to reduce the environmental effects of their overall collection and recycling activity. Carbon emissions are measured via the CEMARS programme, and were reduced by 32% over the last 12 months due to a number of efficiency gains.
Materials collected by PaintWise are diverted to multiple end-uses. Plastic pails are recycled to make new pails, all steel packaging is recycled, and solvent is extracted from solvent-borne paint for re-use.
Water-borne paint is mixed and batched into five colours of ‘Echo Paint’ which is made available free of charge to councils and community groups for graffiti abatement and other painting projects. Applications for Echo Paint can be made via www.resene.co.nz.
In further recognition of Resene and 3R Group’s environmental efforts, both organisations have been selected as finalists in the 2015 NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards in the Mega Efficiency Impact category. Winners are announced at an awards dinner on the 24th of November.
