In order to deliver on our environmental vision of "a future without harm," thousands of tonnes of plastic will now be diverted from landfill thanks to Dulux’s Project Earth sustainability initiative.
Project Earth - which helps construction companies to recycle used water-based paint drums, pails and tear strips - is on the verge of going national.

“Everyone wins with Project Earth,” says Mark Taylor, Business Development Manager at Dulux Envirosolutions. Construction companies and large contractors win because they no longer have to pay to dump paint pails and drums in skips, destined for landfill. These companies are also able to win more tenders, with their green credentials, because they are now helping to recycle plastic. Dulux, as a sustainable paint supplier, also wins. The biggest winner of all is the environment, which affects us all.

Dulux’s Project Earth is helping to save the planet, one paint pail at a time. Dulux reprocesses paint pails, drums and tear strips, which are made of quality polypropylene, into saleable paint sundry items such as roller trays.

If you think a 14-gram tear strip is an insignificant amount of plastic, bear in mind that 28 tonnes of plastic - from tear strips, were generated by Dulux Trade in one year alone. This figure is projected to increase to 54 tonnes.

Dulux’s Project Earth initiative, which kicked off about two years’ ago, commenced with a pilot study in Queensland. Dulux now has weatherproof shipping containers, for painters to store used paint pails and drums, on 12 construction sites in Brisbane.

These 12 pilot sites will potentially divert 42 tonnes of plastic from landfill and save builders over $247 000 in waste disposal costs.

Dulux became the first business ever to receive EPA Product Stewardship Endorsement in Queensland, proving again that Dulux is at the forefront of sustainability and innovation. This EPA endorsement enables Dulux to remove empty paint drums and pails from construction sites.

Mark Taylor says Dulux is on the verge of taking Project Earth national; they are just waiting for EPA compliance in Victoria and Western Australia. Dulux has 15 potential sites in Victoria and 17 potential sites in New South Wales lined up for the Project Earth initiative. Many more tonnes of plastic will be diverted from landfill in the months and years to come.