Dulux wants your leftover paint – its paint redistribution service is the easiest way to donate unfinished tins to a good cause

I don’t know about you, but I definitely have a couple of tins of unfinished paint knocking about at home which I’m saving for that ‘just in case’ scenario (one that will likely never happen) – and I’d be willing to bet that you do, too. But the Community RePaint service sponsored by Dulux has the answer – a paint redistribution scheme that donates your unfinished paint tins to community centres, families and individuals all across the country.

Who doesn’t love an easy DIY project?! And paint is the perfect DIY tool to give your home an update and a refresh, even if you’re a beginner. But most painting jobs result in some leftover paint as Dulux’s research has revealed that 50 million litres of paint go to waste every year in the UK and 23% of Brits admitting they don’t do anything with leftover paint.

‘Against the backdrop of 50 million litres of paint going to waste each year in the UK, it’s now more important than ever to consider how we carry out our renovations and upcycles in the most sustainable way – that’s where Community RePaint comes in,' says Becky Orton, partnerships marketing manager at Dulux. 'Community RePaint is the paint redistribution service that Dulux has been proud to sponsor for over 30 years.’

So if you're looking for what to do with leftover paint and you've run out of projects, or you're just not sure how to dispose of paint safely, then this could be the best way for you to get rid of those old tins at home.

How does it work?

Just last year alone, Community RePaint redistributed over 366,000 litres of paint to 44,500 individuals and families and 2500 community groups, stopping it from going to landfill or being incinerated. Instead, all this paint was used to realise countless beautiful and creative paint ideas.

To take advantage of this handy service and be part of a great cause at the same time, all you need to do is find the nearest of the 100 involved donation points via the Community RePaint website by simply entering your postcode.

‘We now have over 100 members in the UK, which basically act as donation points across the country where DIYers can drop off their leftover paint for it to be redistributed to individuals and community groups, ready to add a little colour to homes as well as those all-important community centres and resources. And we know there’s plenty of leftover paint to go around – recent research by Dulux found that the average DIYing household in the UK has four cans of paint from old projects collecting dust!

'These can be dropped off with local Community RePaint members, where they are sorted and stored on site and later redistributed at an affordable cost,’ Becky at Dulux explains.

That is a lot of unused paint unnecessarily going to waste! It’s also important to note that the best way to store paint to extend its lifespan is to properly seal it first, ideally using a rubber mallet like this one from Amazon and a plastic wrap like the StorePAK stretch wrap from B&Q.

That goes for whether you're looking to keep it or donate it.