Cycle II

The Cycle II™ line from the Major Paint Company (the manufacturing arm of Standard Brands Paint Co.) contains at least 12% recycled paint collected from consumers and 38% in-house waste from washing machinery. The remaining 50% is virgin material. Cycle II is available in flat, semi-gloss, and primer formulations in about a dozen colors ranging from beige to dark brown, with a few greyish blues and greens. A new antique white color is made with 50% collected paint, leaving out the factory waste.

Company Vice President Hubert Kim, who runs the recycled paint program, explains that before 1984, Major Paint sent 1500 tons of hazardous solid waste annually to a landfill. Now that waste goes into 500,000 gallons of recycled latex paint. Although the choice of colors is limited, the quality of Cycle II is well proven. Gina Purin, head of hazardous waste management for Marin County, gave away thousands of gallons of the paint to agencies, businesses, and individuals to find out how well it works. Response from the users was almost uniformly positive. Several large institutions, most notably the U.S. Naval Air Station at Point Mugu, were so impressed that they are now committed to buying only recycled latex paint.