Protecting Our Planet By Reducing Waste in the Decorating Industry

At Mylands, we are always assessing out environmental impact and the ways we can improve it. We are proud to have partnered with InUse ReUse and Community RePaint to help reduce the amount of paint going to waste. 

Why is this an issue?

The decorating industry creates a lot of waste. We are committed to trying to change that by finding new ways to work. Paint waste remains a persistent issue within the construction and home improvement sector. High-quality paint can become surplus due to:

• Cancelled or amended customer orders
• Mis-tints or over-produced batches 
• Leftover ingredients from manufacturing processes

Although this paint is perfectly useable it faces disposal because there historically hasn't been anywhere that will take it. 

What is the solution?

After using as much of our surplus paint as we can to make our Upcycled range, we now donate what is left to InUse ReUse. InUse ReUse is a a DIY store in Brixton that works with Community Repaint to distribute paint and sundries that would have otherwise gone to waste. 

They collect the paint, repackage it and redistribute it through their platform in Brixton. This prevents high quality paint from going to waste, makes sustainable, premium paint accessible at a lower price and extend the life of the existing materials. 

As InUse ReUse are based in Brixton, the paint is only moving with Lambeth, meaning we aren't creating unnecessary carbon emissions and we are supporting our local area. Mylands has operated out of Lambeth since 1884 and supporting the local area and economy has always been a high priority for us. 

Benefits and Aims:

There are several benefits to this scheme, such as:

• Waste reduction: the surplus paint is kept in circulation 
• We weigh the paint that is collected so we can create impact reports
• Customers gain access to premium, sustainably produced paint at a lower price
• Creates a scalable model for reuse beyond traditional donation systems 
• Reduces the need for new materials and production

We want to encourage the sector to innovate and replicate the model. We hope that by leading the way we will encourage other companies to monitor their waste and emissions and try to find better solutions. We want to continue working to find new wats to challenge the decorating industry and improve how we are working. 

Read about our Planet Mark certification - showing our commitment to sustainability and innovation.