Paint cans that have been collecting dust in garages and sheds around Nelson can now find a home at the Nelson Leafs Recycling Centre.
The centre began a paint recycling program at the end of April to deal with a growing demand for the service.
“When the Paint Depot shut down, Product Care who was doing the paint recycling for them asked us if we’d be interested seeing as we were already doing our small appliance recycling through them,” said Grant Wilson, manager of the recycling centre.
Collected paint is shipped to the Battery Doctors in Kelowna who are the pickup centre for the entire region as far as Cranbrook.
If people are interested in having their paint recycled, cans must have their labels and be sealed.
The recycling centre will not recycle industrial paint.
“The response has been good,” said Wilson. “People that know about it know that they can come and look through any paint cans that are a half to three-quarters full we try to keep it around and see if we can get it reused.”
A certain amount per can is collected as a profit for the centre.
Wilson asks that anyone wanting to recycle unwanted paints drops it off during operating hours, which are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday.