Two friends from Leeds who came up with a pioneering idea to retrieve paint from landfills have grown to be successful business owners who rake in over 300 tonnes of discarded paint per year.
Cat Hyde, 43, and Kate Moree, 54, both from Leeds, have saved more than four million litres of paint from landfill by rescuing used tins, refilling and remixing it to give it a new lease of life. Driven to save the environment, the pair launched a business in 2004, which now employs 14 people.
And back in 2004, the pair say they wanted to try something unique and settled on collecting half-used tins from landfill and paint banks in their hometown of Leeds, Yorkshire. After collecting the paint, their team sorts the good and bad paint and re-blend what they can.
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Some of the paint is then mixed to create unique colours on customer request. The paint is then sold on the cheap.
Cat Hyde said at the beginning, they sold paint out of their car. She said: "We started by just collecting the paint in the back of my car. We convinced the council to let us collect the paint and now we recycle about 300 tonnes of it a year.”
Explaining how the idea of the business came about, Cat, co-founder of Seagulls, said: “We hadn’t heard of anyone re-cycling paint before, and we were passionate about looking after the environment. We’re able to work with the council to collect all the waste paint in Leeds and recycle as much of it as we can.
“It’s very labour intensive to scrap all the paint tins and re-blend colours but we love it. We have lots of volunteers and workers from all different backgrounds.
“In the last 18 years we have diverted over four million litres of paint which would have caused 11.4million tonnes of carbon. To offset all that we would have needed to plant 68 million trees.”
The Leeds pair say they were motivated by social justice and a desire to save the environment. Cat said: “We had the passion and drive to make a difference.
“We wanted to make money from reusing a waste material. A friend mentioned paint, so we thought why not?”
Seagulls pick up the waste paint and take it back to their base to begin repurposing it. Cat said: “We have to sort through all the good and bad paint - as some can be off. Then we open the tins and use a spatula to get all the paint out so it can then be re-blended.
“We reuse all the tins and sell the recycled paint for affordable prices. Prices start at £4.50 which is a lot cheaper than shop bought paint that usually starts at about £20. We want everyone to be able to decorate their homes.”
Seagulls also run decorating workshops and get stuck in with art in their community. They will also mix up colours for customers' needs.
Cat said: “People who work for Seagulls are from all different backgrounds. We’ve helped previous offenders, those who have struggled with their mental health and young people who have been isolated.
“Kate and I still get stuck in mixing paint on busy days. We’d love to take Seagulls further round the country to recycle paint.”
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