When you want to buy a five-gallon bucket or one can of paint you want to buy a bucket or a can of paint. You don’t want to get in the wrong line behind a trailer of rotting yard debris; you don’t want to maneuver around multi-ton garbage trucks. After producing and selling recycled latex paint from its Oregon City garbage transfer station for 13 years, MetroPaint has moved to its own Swan Island facility. Located in North Portland at 4825 North Basin, the new MetroPaint Store has plenty of parking. It also gives the program room to expand. The new 22,000 sq ft facility will nearly quadruple the old Oregon City location.
While the new facility serves processing, storage and retail needs, it is not set up to receive any household hazardous waste. Metro’s permanent household hazardous waste locations at 6161 NW 61st in Portland and 2001 Washington Street in Oregon City will continue to accept (at no charge) household hazardous waste including latex paint Monday-Saturday from 9:00am to 4:00pm.
Thousands of customers and hundreds of repeat customers have used MetroPaint for interior or exterior application on wood, masonry, concrete, vinyl and metal siding. Many customers such as the Oregon Food Bank, SCRAP, and Outside In choose MetroPaint because it costs less than half the price of new paint. They are amazed how thick and smooth the paint applies and how many colors Metro produces.
Colors: There are now over 15 low-sheen colors, including coordinating colors: light and dark gray, light and dark green, light and dark brown, and light and dark blue. There are also complementary colors: white, cream, beige, and khaki to go with mauve, pink, yellow, and barn red. When available, all colors are sold in one-gallon cans and a five-gallon bucket. Customers can create hundreds of custom colors by mixing these standard colors together. A guidebook is available at the MetroPaint Store that shows a sample of blends customers can easily produce.
Depending on application method, each gallon covers 300 to 400 sq ft. The paint is filtered to industry standards and can be brushed, rolled, or sprayed. It usually covers in one coat.
Recovery: Without compromising quality, Metro is able to recover 65% to 70% of the paint it collects. Since 1992 Metro has kept over one million gallons of good useable paint from the landfill.
Last fiscal year Metro received over 233,700 gallons of leftover latex paint and produced over 167,000 gallons of paint for re-sale. Selling the paint for $20 to $35 per five-gallon bucket and $6 to $12 per gallon helps to support the program.
How Paint Is Recycled: The sorting process involves opening over 500,000 containers of paint each year. Most containers are less than half full. Gloopy, moldy, and dried-out paint is safely disposed.
Useable latex paint is sorted by color category. For example, all the colors of light blue are poured into one 330-gallon vat, and all shades of dark blue go into another vat. The volume of paint in each each vat produces colors that are consistent between batches. Because each batch of paint carries a production number, customers who want a perfect match can buy from one batch.
While MetroPaint cannot reserve paint or guarantee color selection, customers can easily find which colors are in stock by calling Metro Recycling Information, Monday through Saturday, at 503-234-3000. Color brochures are available by mail. For general information, please visit www.metro-region.org/paint.
Paulette Rossi is a Certified Master Recycler and freelance writer living in Portland, OR.
