Earth Day! 10 Ways Our Painting Company Helps the Environment!

“. . . on April 22, 1970, Earth Day was held, one of the most
remarkable happenings in the history of democracy. . . ”
-American Heritage Magazine, October 1993

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maN9MjfRadM&hl=en&fs=1]

I feel so blessed to be a part of a time that is taking into account our beautiful world.  This place has and never will stop amazing me.  Our environment is a precious and beautiful place filled with mystery and inspiration.  My partners and I are trying every single day to make Patina Designs and Lulu Painting full”green” painting companies.  Here are a few of things we have been doing to help our environment and the environment at our clients homes.

1. USE THE INTERNET:We no longer print out paper recipe cards for classes and demo’s that we are instructing.  We put the recipes on-line for folks to look up at their discretion.
2. VOC FREE PAINTS:We use low VOC or NO VOC paints.  These are paints that do not contain toxic amounts of cancer causing  volatile organic compounds.
3. WASH WHAT YOU HAVE:We wash out all our brushes, rollers, naps, trays, and paint cans, so as to not over use products that end up in landfills.  Some of us have paint brushes that are 3 years old and still work like new.  It can be a pain at times but its worth it in the long haul and also helps with costs!
4. RE-USABLE JARS: We use old glass pickle jars and plastic yogurt containers to mix our color samples or glazes in.
5. RECYCLE:We recycle our clients paint cans for them.  How many of you have old paint just sitting in your basement unused and collecting dust.  By bringing these unusable paints to a recycling center folks who are thrifty can pick them up for next to nothing to be used.
6. RE-NEW:We re-paint cabinetry.  This is our hottest selling service right now.  Folks seem to be using what they have and making it how they want rather than wasting money on NEW, and putting the old in a landfill.  We can take any dated, ugly kitchen, and make it gorgeous!
7. RECYCLE WORK SITE TRASH:We recycle our old paint cans and water bottles from work sites.  We have a lot of trash that builds up on a work site but a lot of it can be recycles if you just take the time.
   
8. WASH:We run our rags through the wash instead of throwing them away.
9. SUPPORT “GREEN” BUSINESS, (or at least ones that are striving to be that ways)We support Sherwin Williams by purchasing their recycled brushes, trays, and rollers instead of purchasing ones that are not made from recycled materials.
10. GET CREATIVE:We cut up our rags from old sheets and towels instead of purchasing a bag of them at the paint supply store.  All of us have old towels or cloths that could be used as rags.  Why on earth would you buy rags when it takes two seconds to make your own?

What are some ways that you help to make your business or life a little better for the environment?  Do you have any other suggestions for us?  We like to think that we are very crafty but there is always room for more!  What other ways do you think we could help make our painting company even “greener”?

To view one of my many green DIY projects please read: http://lulupainting.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/painting-and-stenciling-a-bench-for-steph/

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Holidays, green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.