Scorch was waiting patiently for Verum to talk to her. Verum was staring at the dorm room’s walls for a long time. Scorch couldn’t hold it in anymore. She asked, “Why are you staring at the walls, Verum?”
“Don’t you think our room’s walls need new paint?” Verum said.
Orak looked up from his book and said, “Yes! We should paint it blue and pink and yellow and all beautiful colors.”
“While we decide the colors, let me tell you about two friends who saved more than 1.05 million gallons of paint from landfills,” Scorch said, “They picked up half-used cans from the landfills. Then they refilled and remixed the colors. Now the paint can be used again!”
“What?” Felix was surprised. He had never heard of people recycling paint before. Recycling is a way to process materials in order to use them again.
“Who are these friends?” Verum said, “They are making a huge difference by reusing waste material.”
“They are Cat Hyde and Kate Moree. They are also making money out of it!” Scorch said.
“How?” said Orak.
Scorch answered, “Hyde and Moree first collected half-used paint tins in the back of their cars. But in 2004, they co-founded the company Seagulls to sell refilled and remixed paint. Now Seagulls has 14 employees and 10 volunteers in Leeds, England.
Since 2004, the company has collected around 300 tons of paint each year from the landfill!”
“What process do they use to collect paint?” Orak said.
“After collecting half-used paint tins, they sort the good and bad paint. Next, they re-blend the paint with new colors as per customers’ request. Then they sell the paint at a very low price. They sell it at a price 75% cheaper than in the other paint stores,” Scorch said.
“That’s very cheap,” Verum said.
“In the last 18 years, they have reused over four million liters of paint. This amount of paint would have caused 11.4 million tons of carbon. It would have been harmful to the environment,” Scorch said.
Scorch added, “The company Seagulls also helps people from different backgrounds.”
“Isn’t it exciting to see business and environment go hand in hand?” Felix said and celebrated with a jiggle.