By Chris Meechan, MD of Cali Decor
The move towards sustainability in business is not only driven by altruism on the part of business owners but by the fact that, in the long-term, it makes sound commercial sense.
That is why, in setting up a new kind of painting and decorating business in the Central Belt of Scotland last year, I took a decision that one of the primary aims of our company would be to relentlessly target a reduction of our carbon footprint.
My aim to find means of production and implementation that do not cause even more harm to the planet is becoming increasingly commonplace in every other sector of industry and the push for change will only become stronger.
The scale of waste in the decorating sector is staggering. According to the British Coatings Federation, 55 million litres of decorative paint are left over each year. That’s 71,500 tonnes, or 10% of all sales.
98% of left over paint goes to landfill, is incinerated or is flushed down the drain, causing untold environmental damage. The estimated cost to local authorities for landfill and incineration is £21 million.
My intention was to become the most environmentally friendly decorating business in the area – not because the demand was immediately apparent, but because I believe improved green credentials will be a serious business advantage in the future, and I want to be ahead of the game.
However, while we are seeing some sensible environmental initiatives within the painting and decorating sector at the moment, led by manufacturers and suppliers of paints, many companies are still doing things in the same wasteful ways that they always have.
So, how can smaller firms make a meaningful impact on sustainability, reduce waste and increase recycling rates?
Going for the low-hanging fruit first, the phasing out of oil-based paints is an immediate hit. They contain solvents to aid application and drying, but emit harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chemicals that evaporate into the air and form greenhouse gases.
VOCs create that distinctive new-paint smell and prolonged exposure to high levels can cause irritation, headaches, nausea and allergic reactions. Nowadays, water-based paints are just as good and just as durable as oil-based and go a long way to improving indoor air quality.
We now source all our water-based products from suppliers such as Johnstones, Crown and Dulux, all international companies which have been in the forefront of change by instituting their own effective environmental policies.
As part of their commitment to a greener industry, they offer paint tin return schemes, of which smaller companies such as ours can take advantage. There is a time element involved in washing out tins for recycling, but this can be reduced by ensuring we are not over ordering paint.
Paint, itself, can also be recycled. Changing times create new opportunities and companies are now springing up which will take old paint away and turn it into new product. These are initiatives to which we will definitely sign up when they become locally available.
At the moment, only some 2% of paint is re-used in this way. The trade associations have a target of 75% by 2030. That is ambitious, but there is nothing wrong with having good intentions so long as you continue to work towards them.
Sundries can play their part, too. That includes the tools of the decorator’s trade – paint brushes, rollers, trays and so on. I believe that buying cheap means buying often and, when we take on new members of staff, we supply them with several sets of good quality tools that are designed to last.
These tools are a pleasure to work with and our people tend to look after them carefully and treat them as their own, rather than as disposables, as tends to be the case with cheaper brushes and rollers.
We currently have one electric vehicle in the company fleet, and we would very much like to change all of our vans over to EVs, but that is not possible at the moment because charging points are not readily available to suit everyone’s home/personal circumstances.
As a next step, we have installed a charger at our base in Hamilton, but lack of recharging facilities is also a bigger issue and there is a lot of work to be done by Government and local authority to aid in the installation of charging points to help make them more readily available for every home type.
Professional decorators are increasingly being asked to use sustainable paint options, so considering environmental impact is not only doing the right thing, but also likely to have a beneficial effect on customer numbers and satisfaction.
And that’s something we can’t just gloss over.
