PORTLAND, Ore. — MetroPaint has been recycling colorful, affordable and Earth-friendly paints in the Pacific Northwest for the past three decades. They're launching a new color palette and will hold a paint and plastic drop-off event this Friday.
“We nicknamed it the Willy Wonka of paint,” said MetroPaint Program Coordinator Oliver Dickston.
The Willie Wonka-like production starts with cans of leftover paint that people turn in to be recycled.
“It enters into our processing room where they crack open the cans,” Dickston said. “They stir them up to make sure it’s just latex paint. Then, they pour them into color-coded sinks and that’s when the fun process begins of all the filtration.”
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MetroPaint started recycling paint in 1992. Their first latex paint recycling facility opened in Oregon City in 1999 and they moved operations to their current Swan Island facility in 2005.
“We re-blend it, screen it, color-control it and it basically becomes a brand-new product that has a 20-year warranty that’s similar to the rest of the paint industry.”
You can take cans of unwanted, leftover paint to any PaintCare drop-off site. There are more than 180 of them in Oregon alone, including select Miller Paint locations.
Miller Paint is also involved in the final step of this old-paint-becomes-new-again process by selling one-gallon cans and five-gallon buckets of MetroPaint at their stores.
“Part of the service that MetroPaint offers the community is an affordable price point for this paint,” said Puji Sherer, the vice president of Miller Paint's Color, Marketing & Brand. “It’s $15 a gallon, and it’s suitable for both interior and exterior use.”
A couple of things are happening this Friday, April 22, in honor of Earth Day.
First, MetroPaint is launching a new color palette featuring 12 new colors. More information is available on their website.
Secondly, Miller Paint is hosting a paint and plastic drop-off event on Friday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. It will be across the street from their Southeast Portland store at 317 Southeast Grand Avenue. People can drop off used cans of latex paint, bubble wrap, and clear plastic clamshell containers.