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The world-first Resene PaintWise paint and paint packaging recovery
programme has gone New Zealandwide with over 40 Resene ColorShops
all over the country designated as PaintWise Collection Centres.
Residents and painters in all these areas can bring in unwanted
paint and paint packaging, any brand, to any of the Resene ColorShops
designated as PaintWise collection centres.
A PaintWise mobile truck service visits the stores, processing
the materials received before returning to its depot. Good quality
Resene paint is provided free to community groups; waterborne
paint is used for other applications such as covering graffiti,
solventborne paint goes through a solvent recovery cycle and even
the metal packaging is recycled.
To date well over 100,000 paint containers and litres of paint
has been returned through the Resene PaintWise service, with large
volumes of paint provided free to a wide range of community groups.
One regular recipient is the North Shore-based The unTAG Trust,
who have been using copious amounts of consolidated PaintWise
grey paint to obliterate graffiti around the city. Recent work
includes the repaint of a previously tag prone tunnel and a skate
bowl, which combined soaked up 150 litres of paint. Due to the
nature and repeat offending of taggers, touch ups were inevitable
on an almost daily basis, however with free paint available on
demand, covering any new tags just required a quick onceover with
the PaintWise grey paint.
Chairman of The unTag Trust, John Crews says like the rest of
the world, graffiti has become a real problem in New Zealand.
"With the assistance of the North Shore City Council graffiti
database and digital camera, North Shore Police and the Resene
PaintWise programme, The unTAG Trust is able to minimise the effects
of graffiti on the community by removing it as quickly as it appears."
Graffiti is not only a blight on the landscape but also on council
budgets, with Auckland councils alone reported to be spending
over three million dollars a year on combating graffiti.
The Resene PaintWise service is supported by the Ministry for
the Environment and a supportive network of councils all over
New Zealand. Many councils, such as the Auckland group of councils,
Dunedin City Council and Nelson City Council, are now actively
encouraging residents to return their unwanted paint and paint
packaging to Resene PaintWise to facilitate the recycling and
reuse of materials and divert it away from council run landfills
and Hazmobile services.
"I congratulate Resene Paints and 3R Group, the programme
managers, for their commitment and vision to put the scheme in
place," said the government's Environment Minister at the
launch of the nationwide service. "Businesses like Resene
go a long way towards maintaining, and growing our clean and green
image. Innovative companies in New Zealand have listened to their
customers and anticipated their needs. They are providing them
with the option of buying sustainably produced goods and the facilities
to recycle those goods." the minister said.
The PaintWise scheme has also been drawing attention from overseas
companies and governments, both for the successful collection
method and for the innovative uses PaintWise is developing for
the recycled paint.
"This is a great development for New Zealand. It means that
our environmental initiatives are improving the sustainability
not just of our country but potentially the rest of the world
and contributing to the knowledge base that will help develop
New Zealand as a world leader. This government plans to encourage
more such schemes which share the responsibility for the disposal
of a product throughout its life cycle - from the designers to
the end users," the Environment Minister said.
For more information on Resene PaintWise, see www.resene.co.nz/paintwise.htm
or pick up a brochure at your Resene
ColorShop
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