Boomerang is a very apt name for a brand of paint that has come full circle and is available at local Rona Cashway Building Centres.
The stores have been doing major recycling of paint products, mainly in Quebec, and now the recycling part of that business is in Ontario, too.
“We’ve been doing it for about six months,” said Wayne Fillsinger, of the Rona store on Dawson Road, in Guelph.
The process works like this. People can bring unused house paints to Rona, which ships them off to Montreal, for recycling. The product comes back as Boomerang paint, which is sold at a very good price.
“Isn’t that a fitting name?” asked Fillsinger with a laugh, and noting that the environment is the big winner in the process because “it’s not going into a dump somewhere.”
He said Rona stores have been selling Boomerang paints for several years, but the recycling part of that equation focused mainly on Quebec operations. Now it is moving into Ontario in a big way.
“The only limitation is colours,” Fillsinger said, although he was quick to point out, while Boomerang does not offer a huge variety of colours like some other brands, it has all the basics and all the most fashionable colours wanted these days.
Rona has been busy getting the recycling operation up and running.
Fillsinger said there are only certain types of paints that can be recycled into Boomerang paints.
The company noted only leftover architectural paints used in houses can be recycled. That means it cannot accept industrial paints, glues, solvents, rood coating products, automotive paints, or epoxy and sealants.
But aerosol or spray paints are acceptable, although the containers have to be placed in the recycling bin is a special way.
Company literature shows that industrial paints have a broken line frame around information on the can, around a WHMIS label. The reason they cannot be used is they have a strong odour and are incompatible with house paints. Automotive paints have a short drying period and are also incompatible.
The literature also notes that solvents cannot be used in the recycling operation, but wood preservation products can be used, but wood restorer products cannot be used.
Acceptable products include:
– paints and paint related products (latex, enamel, or other);
– metal and anti-rust paints;
– aluminum paint;
– stain;
– varnish and urethane;
– product for the treatment of wood (preservatives) or masonry;
– road marking paint (sold by retailers); and
– aerosol (spray paints).
Those can be recycled in these formats:
– containers of 100ml and more (sold by retailers); and
– containers of less than 170 litres, used for architectural purposes only (paints sold on a wholesale basis).
“Anybody can drop it off,” Fillsinger said, adding that store employees take a quick look at the old paints and then ship it to Montreal.
He noted that some builders who want to score environmental points on their new homes are using Boomerang paints because they are environmentally friendly.
All Rona stores in Ontario, including the one in Elora, are involved in the program, he said.
