American Paint Recyclers

Filtering Profit from Pollutants

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Author

David K

David K

School

Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management

Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management

Professor

Chris Laszlo

Chris Laszlo

Global Goals

8. Decent Work and Economic Growth 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities 12. Responsible Consumption and Production 17. Partnerships for the Goals

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Summary

American Paint Recyclers, a family run operation, took the innovative idea of recycling unwanted paint and built a profitable business that is beneficial to communities and the environment.

Innovation

American Paint Recyclers, a business founded by brothers Josh and Jeremy Brinkman, provides an alternative for communities and government to responsibly dispose of latex paint that might otherwise be illegally dumped or buried in landfills.

Most municipalities, at great expense, offer a waste recycling program for responsibly disposing of hazardous materials. By working with American Paint Recyclers, county solid waste districts found that they could save money on disposal costs and keep unwanted latex paint out of landfills. For example, Hancock County in Ohio, one of the first municipalities to begin shipping their collections to the company, saved about $15,000 the first year.

American Paint Recyclers shares knowledge gained from working with county waste disposal collection departments with other districts that do not yet have a recycling program. Josh Brinkman says, “Our arms are open and we are happy to be the outlet for their education.”

Filtering Profit from Pollutants

Inspiration

Over the last decade, Josh and Jeremy have transitioned from flipping houses to owning rental properties to starting a pizza business and a car wash. Their entrepreneurial spirit has led them to become leaders in an emerging industry. The inspiration for recycling paint came from the brothers' idea to mix partial cans of paint to save money on restoring their properties. With the original business idea, they thought that their market would be limited to landlords like themselves; however, EcoTone paint has appealed to a much greater market. Their trial venture and subsequent business, undertaken with no loans or backing, has become self-sustaining and is flourishing due to the brothers' personal investment of time and energy.

Overall impact

American Paint Recyclers keeps in mind the environmental and social impact of their product. This is reflected in their production facility in a small multi-use barn, where they limit waste during production by utilizing reusable mixing vats and filters.

With a philosophy of giving back to their community, Josh and Jeremy employ American veterans and donate paint to charitable organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Project and Habitat for Humanity. Their partnership with Habitat for Humanity is an ideal symbiotic relationship. Habitat "ReStores" purchase EcoTone paint wholesale and sell it to the public at a profit, which helps fund the building of new affordable homes for needy families.

Not only does Habitat have a higher profit margin than American Paint Recyclers on the retail end, but they are also able to collect paint from their local communities and, at no charge, send it onward to Josh and Jeremy for recycling. Moreover, American Paint Recyclers encourages the Habitat ReStores to market directly to the consumer with word-of-mouth and website endorsement, saving the company the cost of advertising while entrusting their retailers to build a demand for the product.

The distribution network for EcoTone recycled paint is currently in five states and continuing to expand. According to Josh, “We can barely keep paint on our shelves. The orders come in and we are almost packaging to order because it’s hard to get ahead of the game. We’ll get a big order and it will wipe out the supply we have. I mean it’s good, but at the same time it is concerning when there is little to no back stock.” Their need is greater than ever to solicit unwanted latex paint from the public, and by doing so, they continue to help save the environment one gallon at a time. A burgeoning demand for their product has driven the growth of American Paint Recyclers beyond all expectations of Josh and Jeremy.

Four years after inception, American Paint Recyclers has grown to an operation with eight employees and generated a new full-time career for Josh. Even though employees sort, label, and drive the paint to consumers, Josh is still hands-on when it comes to filling containers and Jeremy is continually expanding their product reach. They are well on their way to securing their legacy in the ever-expanding environmentally responsible business market.

Business benefit

American Paint Recyclers profit strategy is three tiered. First, the company collects a conservative processing fee for the intake of unfiltered product. Charging fees for their collection services allows the company to generate revenue while simultaneously gathering raw materials for their production. Second, they offset unusable-material disposal fees by recycling the empty metal paint cans. Third, the company profits from the sales of its ecologically responsible product, which they created from an unwanted man-made potential pollutant.

Social and environmental benefit

American Paint Recyclers is currently redirecting up to 600,000 pounds of waste paint a year from irresponsible ecological disposal and is converting it into approximately 50,000 gallons of quality “green” product. In addition to Habitat ReStores, the company also procures waste paints from municipal collections and even hosts its own recycling events, charging a nominal fee for individuals to dispose of their unwanted latex paint that would otherwise accumulate in basements and garages. According to the brothers, people are so happy to get rid of the paint they often say, “I am tired of looking at these old cans” and are glad to be doing something good with the old paint. In a powerful statement Josh Brinkman said, “Together with our community, we can put even more paint back on shelves for use in our homes.”

Unfortunately, not all paint that is donated or collected can be re-purposed for resale. As much as 20% of the donated paint cannot meet quality standards for reuse and must be set aside for proper disposal. Nevertheless, American Paint Recyclers recycles every incoming metal container. Similarly, any filtered waste from the production process is re-batched to further extract its usefulness.

In the future, the company plans to further reduce carbon footprint and differentiate their paint from competitors' with state-of-the-art microfiltration and quality control. When asked why they are messing with success, Josh said, “Right now we have no complaints with our product, but there is always room for improvement.” Working with the Ohio Department of Small Business and Entrepreneurship through the Ohio Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Ohio MEP), they are designing a cleaner and more efficient production system that eliminates the need for second and third filtration steps. The new system will save time and energy, minimize the amount of paint discarded in the manufacturing process, and help produce a superior product for consumers and the environment.

Interview

Josh Brinkman, Owner

Photo of interviewee

Business information

American Paint Recyclers

American Paint Recyclers

Middle Point, OH, US
Year Founded: 2012
Number of Employees: 2 to 10
American Paint Recyclers, founded in 2012 by brothers Josh and Jeremy Brinkman, salvages thousands of gallons of unwanted latex paint from individuals and county solid waste districts each year. This innovative business repurposes the waste latex through a proprietary manufacturing process that minimizes pollutants entering the environment and landfills. The environmentally friendly product is then branded as EcoTone paint, and sold at Habitat for Humanity ReStores as a smart and bargain-priced alternative to commercially produced paints.