A circular solution to paint recycling

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Over 300 million litres of paint is sold in the UK every year, with approximately 55 million litres remaining unused. Only 1% of this waste is reused or remanufactured; the rest goes into the domestic waste stream, going into landfill or disposed of as hazardous waste at substantial cost to local authorities. There is currently no technology available for recycling waste paint. As well as the huge volume of paint that is disposed of annually in the UK, there is an estimated 100 million litres stored in sheds and garages. This represents a significant environmental and economic problem.Currently, only a third of household waste recycling centres (HWRC) accept waste paint as a segregated waste; the immediate cost of providing facilities to collect and sort the paint outweighs the estimated 40% saving presented by recycling versus incineration and landfilling. Unless new technological routes for reusing and recycling these wastes are found, they will continue to be disposed to landfills, incineration, stockpiles or illegally dumped.Through this 18-month industrial research project, we will develop a process to treat the 80% of unused paint that is water-based, including the waste that is otherwise unsuitable for reuse or remanufacturing, providing an alternative source of raw materials for use as pigments and as functional fillers for thermal insulation manufacture. The valorisation of waste paint will allow it to be relabelled as a valuable raw material, providing an economic incentive to provide waste collection facilities and making a significant contribution to the circular economy.