If home projects or cleaning are part of your fall plans, you won’t have to go far to ensure old paint doesn’t end up in the trash.
Product Care Recycling is reminding British Columbians that residential paint can be recycled at more than 200 locations across the province, including several locations, including Lowes’s Home Improvement in Queensborough.
“Recycling paint is easy and helps protect the environment. Bringing leftover paint – including spray paint – to a recycling location near you keeps it out of our landfills and waterways,” says Brent Van Beusekom, Product Care’s operations manager.
Product Care Recycling encourages British Columbians who are clearing out their basements and garages this fall to recycle any old cans of paint and unwanted coating products. Items that can be recycled for free include indoor and outdoor paint, primer, wood-finishing oils, varnish and more.
A full list of products that can be accepted and recycling locations can be found at productcare.org.
According to Product Care Recycling, more than 82 million litres of paint has been diverted from Canadian landfills since 1994, which is enough paint to flow over Niagara Falls for 26 seconds. It notes that British Columbians recycled nearly three million litres of paint last year.
“Recycling leftover paint products gives them a second life instead of adding to landfill waste,” states a press release from Product Care Recycling. “After paint is dropped off at a recycling location, it’s transported to Product Care’s paint plant in Delta, B.C. for processing. Paint is then sorted by quality and type (e.g. water-based, oil-based, or aerosol) and then used for producing new paint with recycled content, concrete manufacturing, and energy recovery.”
