The British Coatings Federation (BCF) and the Painting and Decorating Association (PDA) have collaborated to produce a new video which will help consumers save time, money and resources when painting.

Many DIYers are wasting paint, water and time by unnecessarily cleaning brushes and rollers before the end of a project. As well as tips on how to store paint brushes and rollers overnight, the video explains how to recover paint from painting tools before washing them.

The new video was filmed with PDA member Bagnalls, a leading UK painting and decorating contractor, and produced in-house by BCF. The decorating tools used in the video were donated by Purdy.

By following the guidance, the key savings identified in the video are:
• Recovering up to 75% of paint lost by cleaning paint brushes and rollers correctly after use
• Spending four times less time cleaning painting tools
• Using 10 liters less water

As trade bodies for the UK Decorative Paint industry, both BCF and PDA are committed to actively supporting sustainability initiatives being undertaken by the sector. Both BCF and PDA have committed to schemes – leading projects are Paint Green from PDA and PaintCare from BCF.

“Sustainability is core to BCF’s work,” said Tom Bowtell, CEO of the BCF. “This new video is a great example of how small changes can make a big difference. If every household followed these guidelines, we could collectively save approximately 2.5 million liters of decorative paint per year, the equivalent of 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools.”

“This new video fits perfectly with our Paint Green campaign aim to help PDA members create systemic change to protect the environment,” added PDA chief executive Neil Ogilvie. “We are initially focusing on waste and taking up existing schemes for paint and container recycling – however, we are already getting feedback from members on further steps towards sustainable working practices that we can introduce in the future.”