EPR by Product

by Jim Asali, President and CEO of the Pack Green Coalition, www.packgreen.org

In an era dominated by ominous news of the impacts of climate change—most recently evidenced by devastating fires in Maui—and a legitimate plastic pollution crisis that appears to have no end, Pack Green is here to offer a bit of encouragement. Sustainable packaging innovation is on the rise and offers smart alternatives to single-use plastics that far too often clog our landfills and pervade our lands and waterways.  In 2023, we have happily taken note of environmentally-friendly packaging advancement across three major sectors: consumer packaged goods, produce, and beverages. Here, we highlight promising developments in each of these spaces:

CPG

American toy manufacturer Mattel—the creator of Barbie—has publicly pledged to (1) achieve 100% recycled, recyclable, or bio-based plastic materials in its products and packaging by 2030, (2) maintain 95% recycled or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified content in the paper and wood fiber used in its products and packaging, and (3) reduce plastic packaging by 25% per product by 2030. In addition to its packaging and materials pledges, the company has also started the Mattel Playback scheme, which seeks to keep the toys and materials in circulation longer through recycling. The program currently accepts Barbie, Fisher-Price, Matchbox and MEGA toys for recycling, and is available in the US, Canada, France, Germany and the UK.

LEGO—the world’s leading toy manufacturer—announced in its annual results that it has begun to transition to paper-based bags in LEGO boxes, putting it on track to make all of its packaging from more sustainable sources by the end of 2025. In its factories, it has continued to invest in reducing waste, operating more energy efficiently, and expanding production and use of solar energy.

As part of its commitment to sustainability, consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble has pledged by 2030 to reduce its use of virgin petroleum plastic in its packaging by 50%. As part of this process P&G has invested in technology to improve the efficacy of post-consumer recycled content to more closely match that of virgin materials.

Produce

Paper companies have long embraced the inherent advantages of fiber-based packaging over plastic, even as the latter has sought to make inroads into grocery and produce protection. Two of these makers of sustainable paper packaging solutions are Georgia-based WestRock and Graphic Packaging International. WestRock creates packaging for several industries, including food, beverage, healthcare, retail, beauty, and more. Its EverGrow® Collection includes punnets, tills, totes, and trays produced specifically for growers, distributors, and retail produce brands. EverGrow® is made from renewable paperboard and allows for curbside recyclability when emptied and flattened, offering an alternative for hard-to-recycle plastics.

The same goes for the ProducePack™ line of fresh produce packaging from Graphic Packaging International. ProducePack™ is a line of paper-based fruit packaging that offers a variety of sustainable, shelf-ready solutions for fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition, the ProducePack™ Punnet includes a wide range of applications to deliver an effective alternative to traditional plastic/acetate produce packaging for retailers and producers.

Beverage Containers

Holland, Michigan-based Boxed Water™ is emerging as a leader in the transition away from plastic beverage bottles. Currently, there are roughly 38 billion single-use plastic bottles landing in U.S. landfills and waterways each year, a figure that takes into account the current recycling rate of single use plastic water bottles of around 25%. Boxed Water has sought to address this using simple formula: the least amount of plastic and the most renewable materials, the better the package. Its box is FSC-certified and 92% plant-based, made from paperboard and paper waste. The FSC- and ISCC-certified water box cap is made of pine tree waste, harvested responsibly from Nordic forests. The result is a low carbon-impact product that is also 100% reusable and recyclable.

In the 2010s a consortium of packaging, bottling and beverage manufacturers—including the Carlsberg Group—worked together to create an innovative paper bottle. The result was PABOCO (Paper Bottling Company), which has developed bio-based bottle prototypes in Europe and has invited additional partners to join in its efforts, including Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, Pernod Ricard, The Absolut Company, and Procter & Gamble.

In yet another encouraging development, American food and beverage company PepsiCo has unveiled its plans to replace plastic rings on beverage multipacks across the US and Canada with recyclable paper-based designs. In 2022, Coors Light announced that it will globally shift away from plastic rings to cardboard-wrap, a move the company said will save 1.7 million pounds of plastic waste annually by 2025.

Conclusion

While the problem of plastic pollution is multi-faceted and may seem overwhelming, we know that the solution will come down to the basics of reducing virgin output, improving a fractured and anemic recycling system, and increasing re-use as we move away from our throwaway culture. Only through a concerted effort to combine the foregoing dynamics will we be able to achieve circularity and ameliorate the adverse impacts environmental, health, and aesthetic impacts of our drastic overuse of plastic packaging. The advent of the products and innovations described in this post gives us reason to believe we are beginning to make progress.

by Scott Cassel, CEO and Founder 

PSI is excited to announce our partnership with GreenDot, a full-circle EPR management and recycling solutions provider in Europe and North America. GreenDot was founded in Germany in 1990 under the name Der Grüne Punkt (The Green Dot). There, it created the world’s first nationwide EPR program for household packaging, including hard-to-recycle plastics like flexible films. Der Grüne Punkt continues to design and operate every aspect of EPR management—including collection, sortation, and recycling—and now services more than 80 million people. The German EPR packaging model is considered the forerunner of the European Union’s current regulatory structure. It has inspired more than 30 packaging recovery organizations in Europe over the last 30 years. 

In August of 2022, Der Grüne Punkt was purchased by Circular Resources and rebranded as Green Dot Global, which oversees a growing list of international affiliates that includes operations in North America and Europe. The company plans to expand operations into additional countries around the world with the aim of providing multinational consumer product brands solutions to meet their global recycling and recycled content targets.  

GreenDot currently serves over 100,000 customers with a suite of EPR management services—including guidance on EPR compliance obligations; transparent tracking of collection, sorting, and recycling volumes; documentation of CO2 equivalent reduction through recycling; and certification of recycled content in plastic packaging. Their solutions aim to accelerate plastics circularity, even for challenging materials like flexible films. Annually, GreenDot recovers more than one million tons of household packaging waste and processes over 70,000 tons of post-consumer plastic packaging and LDPE. GreenDot’s recycling operations save over 600,000 tons of CO2 equivalents annually. GreenDot’s comprehensive approach—built on a passion for measurable change and problem-solving—helped drive Germany’s plastic packaging recycling rate from 3% in 1991 to over 60% today.  

Now, they are bringing their decades of hands-on, real-life expertise to improve recycling in the United States, where the plastics recycling rate lingers under 10%. GreenDot will leverage its experience and technologies to develop effective, community-tailored collection and recycling solutions that benefit brand companies and make a lasting impact on underserved markets in the U.S. 

*** 

GreenDot is a Platinum Sponsor of the 2023 U.S. Product Stewardship Forum. We hope you’ll join them in Portland, Oregon September 11-14, where you can meet some of their leadership team members in person: Leslie Hushka, Managing Director of Green Dot North America, and Chief Sustainability Officer of Green Dot Global Group; Geoffrey Inch, Vice President, Sustainability & Policy; J.J. Rawlinson, Sustainability Director. 

Contact info@green-dot.us to connect with Green Dot North America leadership. 

by Hanz Atia, Associate, Policy & Programs

The COVID-19 pandemic expedited the growth of at-home care for all types of patients and that number is expected to continue to grow. While at-home care has several challenges, one that is least talked about is how to properly dispose of medical and pharmaceutical waste outside of a healthcare facility.

Stericycle, a PSI partner, recently released its second annual Healthcare Workplace Safety Trend Report, revealing key perspectives and insights for improving patient and provider safety, including the challenges of managing medical and pharmaceutical waste in at-home care settings. 

The report found that most healthcare providers (90%) and administrators (83%) expect the rate of at-home care to increase over the next five years. Only half (53%) of providers surveyed said they know how to dispose of medical waste in a safe manner in at-home care settings. That concern is increasing; in 2021, 65% of providers agreed their knowledge of disposal in at-home settings was sufficient. Providers are also concerned about the resources available, with less than half (41%) believing they have the adequate tools and resources available to properly dispose of regulated medical and pharmaceutical waste in at-home care settings.

On the heels of immense change brought on by modernization, new technology, changing expectations – and of course, the COVID-19 pandemic – the report delivers actionable steps for healthcare organizations to help create a healthier and safer environment for their patients and staff. Stericycle’s recent blog also shares critical information.

Medical “sharps” – disposable needles, syringes, and lancets – also allow people to self-inject medications at home and in public spaces. Americans discard more than three billion of these materials each year, often dumping them down drains or in the trash, but medical sharps can pollute the environment and injure sanitation workers. For more on solutions for medical sharps management, visit our product page. 

by Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Marketing & Communications Director

Next week, world leaders will gather for the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution. Although PSI was invited to attend and contributed to discussions leading up to the event, we were unable to make the trip.

INC-2 will take place from May 29 to June 2 at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris. This meeting will be followed by INC-3 in Kenya in November and INC-4 in Canada in April 2024. At each meeting, EPR will be front and center.

Recently, the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network shared analysis of proposals submitted by UN member states, which showed that 60% referenced EPR. OPLN indicated that the number was probably higher because those that referenced “product stewardship” rather than “EPR” were not included in the evaluation.

Critical to the conversation is the Peak Plastics report published by Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation earlier this year as part of their Back to Blue initiative. This report showed that on their own, many of the policies being considered — including Single Use Plastic Product (SUPP) bans, EPR for packaging, and an aggressive carbon tax on virgin plastic — are insufficient to affect the projected doubling of plastic consumption by 2050. However, when implemented together they could significantly reduce consumption: “EPR is…vital, as it will improve waste collection and increase recycling rates, which will curtail plastic leakage into the environment.” This is in keeping with PSI’s perspective on EPR for packaging, which is most effective when implemented alongside additional measures such as reuse strategies. 

The genesis of these discussions began at the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) in 2022, when UNEA Resolution 5/14 was adopted. Its goal is to develop an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution by 2024. Without significant intervention, the UN projects a tripling of the amount of plastic waste entering the marine environment — from as much as 14 million tons per year in 2016 to as much as 37 million tons in 2040.

by Hanz Atia, Associate, Policy & Programs

When dumped in the trash or flushed down the drain, pharmaceuticals can contaminate our environment – and, when left in medicine cabinets, drugs can cause accidental overdoses. But Oregon just passed an amendment to its 2019 EPR law, which expands the type of facilities at which covered drugs under drug takeback programs may be disposed. SB 411 will now go to Governor Tina Kotek for signature. 

In 2010, PSI led a national coalition to pass the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act and change related regulations that made it possible for retail pharmacies to host drug take-back programs for unwanted medicines, including controlled substances. That year, we developed model pharmaceuticals EPR legislation with our national coalition; by 2012, PSI Member Alameda County had used our model to establish the first pharmaceuticals EPR ordinance in the country, which was upheld by the courts despite industry appeals. Learn more on our pharmaceuticals product page. 

We testified in support of SB 411, which added federally regulated medical waste incineration facilities to Oregon’s drug disposal program. These facilities provide incineration service options in other state drug take-back programs, providing additional competition that can potentially lower drug disposal costs.  

Editor’s note: This legislation was signed into law on May 23, 2023.

by Suna Bayrakal, Director, Policy & Programs

Many household products – including cleaning fluids, varnish, paint removers, fuel additives, and gas cylinders – contain toxic and/or flammable ingredients. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets stringent requirements for hazardous waste generated by businesses, it does not regulate household products that contain the same hazardous materials. Known as Household Hazardous Waste (or “HHW”), these products should require special handling once consumers are finished using them. Many local governments run HHW collection events to help residents safely dispose of these products, but these events are infrequent and often underfunded; others build and operate permanent facilities that collect HHW year-round, but at a major and growing expense to taxpayers and government. In many communities, where there is a lack of collection facilities or events, or inconsistent HHW collection services due to the limited resources of local governments, significant quantities of these materials are disposed of in the trash or down the drain – it is estimated that 855 tons or more per year of HHW are being disposed of in landfills in Vermont. These unsafe disposal practices contaminate the environment and threaten the safety of drinking water; when stored at home, HHW puts children and pets at risk for poisoning and can cause fires or release dangerous pollutants during flooding. This is the problem that Vermont set out to solve with first-in-the-nation HHW Extended Producer Responsibility – known as “EPR” – legislation, which is now on Governor Phil Scott’s desk.  

H.67 creates a statewide HHW EPR program, which will be managed and sustainably funded by the manufacturers of these products. Local governments will have the opportunity to participate in the program and be reimbursed by manufacturers for their costs of collection; they will also save money as transportation and processing costs are assumed by manufacturers H.67 is consistent with current EPR best practices and contains key elements necessary for implementation of an effective HHW EPR law, including:  

• Performance goals to measure progress; 
• Annual reporting to provide transparency and monitor program implementation;  
• Education and outreach to raise public awareness about how to safely manage HHW and reduce leftover products, including targeted to Vermont’s diverse ethnic and environmental justice populations; and 
• Opportunities to improve the plan as the program is implemented and matures. 

HHW EPR programs have operated successfully in Canada since the 1990s and, in the past few years, expanded to new provinces based on that success. In Manitoba, collection volumes increased four-fold in the first five years of program implementation; in British Columbia, more than 131,000 gallons of HHW were collected in 2017. Over the past decade, PSI analyzed the operational feasibility of EPR for HHW in the U.S., as well as best practices and lessons learned from existing programs across Canada.  

“H.67 is the first law in the United States that brings producers of the most toxic and consequently difficult and costly to manage portion of the waste stream to the table to develop a plan that creates cleaner land and water for all Vermonters,” said Jen Holliday, Director of Public Policy and Communications for the Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD) and a PSI Board member, who has been working on this legislation since 2017. “In addition, producers will now be incentivized to develop less-toxic household products. We are hopeful Governor Scott will sign this bill.” 

PSI worked with Vermont’s state and local government officials, including those in the Vermont Product Stewardship Council, to develop and refine the legislation in Vermont, which builds on prior PSI work in Oregon led by Metro, a regional government in Greater Portland. Our research on Canadian programs contributed to the development of the Vermont bill. Learn more on our HHW product page.

PSI has also worked with Vermont stakeholders to develop the state’s additional EPR laws on paint, electronics, pharmaceuticals, mercury lamps, mercury thermostats, and batteries. As a result of these laws, Vermont has the highest per-capita collection and recycling rates in the US for many of these products and H.67 is expected to produce similar results. 

We look forward to the positive impact of H.67 in Vermont and beyond! 

by Scott Cassel, CEO and Founder

Although we haven’t seen a new packaging EPR law enacted yet, eight states introduced legislation in 2023 – and Maryland just became the fifth state to move on it. On May 10, Governor Wes Moore signed legislation to establish a government funded needs assessment to be developed by a consultant that will determine the need for new recycling collection and processing infrastructure, along with the costs. The law also requires the establishment of a producer responsibility organization to coordinate producers and a separate advisory council, established by the Maryland Department of Environment that is tasked with reporting its findings and recommendations to the Governor by December 1, 2024 for consideration in 2025. 

There have been four laws passed over the past two years – in Maine, Oregon, Colorado, and California – and Maryland’s new law sets the state up to join them in 2024. Previously this year, Maryland’s state legislature considered a packaging EPR bill, SB 0222, which had more elements of a solid EPR bill. It would have required producers to reimburse local governments up to 50% for collection, transportation, and processing of packaging materials – including plastic, paper, glass, and metals. Originally introduced in 2021 as HB36 and reintroduced in 2022, the goal of the legislation was to reduce material and product waste by 25% or more by 2035. This bill did not pass, but SB 222, the EPR packaging study bill, did. 

EPR is snowballing, partially in part due to a growing awareness of the circular economy, which has the potential to help turn around environmental crises like climate change and pollution: Today, the global manufacture and use of consumer products generate 20% of greenhouse gas emissions annually but the circular economy is projected to reduce 45% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, EPR is the “only proven and likely way to provide funding that is dedicated, ongoing, and sufficient” to develop a circular economy.

In keeping with circular economy principles, packaging EPR legislation, which will now be studied in Maryland, aims to reduce waste and increase reuse, recycling, and composting. In British Columbia, where packaging EPR has been in place since 2014, 90% of packaging is recycled. These programs are funded by producers and typically managed through a producer responsibility organization (PRO), with multi-stakeholder advisory council input and government oversight.  

In Maine, the first state to enact such a law, multinational companies like Amazon and Walmart, which ship packaged goods into the state, will soon be required to reimburse municipalities for the cost of collecting, reusing, and recycling boxes and containers (small businesses are exempt from the fee). We will keep tracking the evolution of packaging EPR in Maryland. 

by Suna Bayrakal, Director, Policy & Programs

After Governor Jay Inslee signed Washington State’s new legislation on May 11th, it became the 10th state – plus Washington D.C. – to enact a battery EPR law. This law shows the strong and steady trend towards state battery EPR laws that include a broad scope of both single and rechargeable batteries, with best practices that are standards in all effective EPR laws – such as performance goals and convenience standards. Each passage of an EPR for batteries law has increased the types that are included: Washington is the first state to include e-mobility devices and to study the opportunities and challenges of managing large-format batteries and batteries that are embedded in products, such as electronics.

Vermont enacted the nation’s first single-use household battery EPR law in 2014, which PSI helped pass: In its first year of implementation, that state increased collection by more than 180 percent. More recently, PSI provided technical support to incorporate best practices from our model battery EPR legislation into the Washington DC law enacted in 2021, which is the first single-use and rechargeables battery EPR law in the nation that also addresses battery-containing products. PSI is currently working in New York State to amend the 2010 Rechargeable Battery Law so that it includes e-Mobility devices, in order to decrease the potential for fires that have been rampant in New York City because of lithium-ion batteries in e-bicycles. 

Last year, representatives from 10 states joined our battery stakeholder group to develop PSI’s next-generation battery EPR legislative model, elements of which were included in the California law enacted in 2022 that was championed by the California Product Stewardship Council and Californians Against Waste, which also covered single use and rechargeable batteries. 

Washington’s new law was spearheaded by Heather Trim at Zero Waste Washington and PSI’s state and local members including Megan Warfield at the Washington State Department of Ecology and McKenna Morrigan at Seattle Public Utilities. The law includes best practice elements of battery EPR legislation, which are also included in PSI’s model. This law will create a statewide battery stewardship program for Washington that is managed and sustainably funded by producers, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing toxic substances from the waste stream. It is consistent with EPR best practices as it includes: 

• Performance goals to drive program effectiveness. 
• Convenience standards to ensure that the program is accessible state-wide. 
• Education and outreach, including resources targeted at overburdened and vulnerable communities to raise public awareness about how to recycle batteries. 
• Annual reporting to monitor program implementation. 

The law also contains other elements of successful programs, including material fees that incentivize environmental performance, a stewardship plan, and opportunities to improve the plan as the program is implemented and matures. Local governments will have the opportunity to participate in the program and be reimbursed by producers for their costs of collection; they will also save money as transportation and processing costs are assumed by producers.  

By October 2027, the Department of Ecology must complete an assessment and submit findings to the legislature on the opportunities and challenges associated with the end-of-life management of batteries not covered by the legislation, including large-format batteries and those in battery-containing products that are embedded and/or not designed to be easily removed. The assessment must consider which criteria of the legislation should apply to these batteries and battery-containing products. By April 2024, the Department of Ecology must also submit a report to the legislature on policy recommendations for the collection and management of electric vehicle batteries.   

Large format batteries that weigh more than 25 pounds, such as those used in electric vehicles, solar power systems, and data centers, are expected to experience significant market growth in the coming years. If these batteries are not collected and recycled, they will increase in the waste stream. Similarly, battery-embedded products either end up in the waste stream or are sent to battery/electronics recycling centers, where they are expensive to dispose of. Leading EPR battery programs in British Columbia and the European Union have already taken a step toward including a broader product scope that covers larger batteries and battery-embedded products. Some battery producers have global markets and sell into these jurisdictions and will have to meet these requirements there.  

Washington already has significant experience passing and implementing EPR programs for electronics and mercury-containing lamps and has more recently enacted stewardship programs for solar panels, pharmaceuticals, and paint, all of which are based on the fundamental principles of EPR. These laws improve collection convenience, build better supply chains, protect the environment and human health, and create jobs – all while significantly reducing the financial and management burden on local governments. We look forward to similarly positive outcomes from this new battery law! 

by the team at PaintCare, a PSI Partner

PaintCare, the nonprofit organization that plans and operates paint stewardship programs in states that pass the paint stewardship law, is proud to celebrate one year in New York. The New York PaintCare program launched on May 1, 2022, and has been providing more convenient paint recycling in the state over the past year. To date, PaintCare has collected 727,000 gallons of paint for recycling in the state.

PaintCare operates programs in 10 additional states and jurisdictions including CA, CO, CT, DC, ME, MN, OR, RI, VT, and WA. In these states, paint recycling is made more convenient for households, businesses, contractors, and others with unwanted, leftover paint. In New York, there are 285 drop-off sites open year-round for paint recycling, and 2,450 drop-off sites across all program states. This resource benefits all community members and is available across the state, including in New York City.

To find a drop-off site near you, use PaintCare’s drop-off site locator to find the most convenient options to recycle your unwanted paint. PaintCare also offers a large volume pick-up service (LVP) for anyone with 100 gallons or more of paint, measured by container size, not liquid volume. These resources are available to anyone in all PaintCare states who wish to responsibly recycle leftover paint.

PaintCare keeps paint out of the waste stream by offering convenient ways to manage it by offering tips on using up leftover paint and providing drop-off sites and events in which communities and businesses can drop off unwanted paint. To date, PaintCare has collected over 64 million gallons of paint for recycling across the country.

For more information about paint recycling and to contact your local representative, visit PaintCare online at www.paintcare.org or call them at (855) PAINT-09.

Follow PaintCare on social media @WeRecyclePaint on Facebook and Instagram!

by the team at GDB International, a PSI Partner

“The Earth is not a gift from our parents, it’s a loan from our children.” – Mahatma Gandhi.

Last year, Earth Overshoot Day fell on July 28. Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has used all the biological resources that Earth regenerates during the entire year. We know paint and coatings manufacturing is resource-intensive, so over 25 years ago, GDB Paint & Coatings set out to design several solutions to promote a net-zero paint industry.

Put simply, GDB gives new life to leftover and discarded paint. These solutions include taking a variety of materials that would otherwise be discarded as waste and reusing them in a sustainable manner.

Why is recycling important?

• Recycling a gallon of paint can save the energy equivalent of a gallon of gasoline. Recycling paint needs much less energy than extracting and processing raw materials, as well as manufacturing new paint (PaintCare).
• Paint recycling saves the use of natural resources, such as minerals and petroleum. Recycling one gallon of paint can conserve up to 8 pounds of virgin raw materials (US Environmental Protection Agency).

Where does the leftover paint come from?

• The process begins by considering painters and DIY customers, who typically have leftover paint from domestic and industrial projects. This leftover paint makes up approximately 10% of the total paint used in the US annually.
• Some of this leftover paint comes to PaintCare, a non-profit product stewardship organization created by the American Coatings Association. PaintCare works across US states that pass paint stewardship laws. The program has been established in California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont and, most recently, Washington and New York. GDB is a PaintCare partner and receives some of the collected paint, where it is sorted, processed and remanufactured.
• Paint retailers and hardware stores often need to dispose of damaged products and mistints, which would also be considered waste.
• Paint manufacturers also contribute to this waste with their leftover materials. These materials include paint that isn’t quite the right tint or quality and leftover materials from the paint production process. The production process generates “wash water” used to clean mixing tanks and pipes, which contains residual pigments, resins and solvents.
• Lastly, raw material manufacturers may have stock that is too old to use or is not the right specification.

What does GDB do?

• GDB has a long track record of reusing pre-consumer, post-consumer and post-industrial materials, which includes those aforementioned materials. The company cleans out any impurities and carefully analyses and blends the materials together to create new high-quality, affordable and eco-friendly paint.

What’s the impact?

• In 2022, GDB reused paint and other materials leftover from consumers, retailers and paint manufacturers to make 3 million gallons of recycled paint – enough to paint all the homes in Salt Lake City. This achievement has significant environmental implications, as it not only reduces the amount of waste going to landfills but also saves resources by reusing the materials that would otherwise be wasted.
• In addition to the environmental benefits, this process also has economic benefits. By reusing leftover materials, GDB can reduce the costs of production, which translates to lower prices for the consumers. Furthermore, it creates a sustainable business model, providing a competitive edge in the market by positioning the company as an environmentally responsible and innovative player in the paint industry.

GDB reprocesses dozens of truckloads of leftover and discarded paint every day. It has been a success story, not only for the company but also for the environment. The company’s dedication to sustainable practices has proven that eco-friendliness and economic prosperity can go hand in hand. It sets an example for other companies in the industry to follow and encourages consumers to make conscious choices in selecting products that have a positive impact on the environment.

Get in touch!

• Come see us at the 2023 Florida Chapter NAHMMA Workshop in Daytona Beach, Florida on Monday May 15 thru Thursday May 18.
• Write to us at hello@gdbinternational.com
• Connect with us on LinkedIn