Dulux won the Circular Economy Award in the first-ever Chemistry Australia Industry Awards held on 5 April from a group of finalists which also included Pact Group Holdings and Qenos.
Held at the Pavilion, Melbourne Arts Centre, the 2023 Industry Awards acknowledge the achievements of the sector’s best and brightest from the diverse range of businesses across Chemistry Australia’s membership.
With the theme of “future industry”, the Awards recognised achievements to significantly reduce emissions, support an Australian circular economy, and protect the health and safety of workers, communities and the environment. Young leaders in the industry were also celebrated for their contribution to their businesses and the community.
The Circular Economy Award was presented to Dulux Paints and Coatings for its Dulux Project Earth Circular Plastic Recycling Program.
The recycling program sees Dulux collect used plastic pails and tear strips pails, which are made of polypropylene, and then having them granulated and manufactured into new plastic products such as roller trays, stirrers and painter pots for resale into the paint industry.
The program has already collected and recycled over 25 tonnes of paint pails from over 25 construction sites, manufactured over 15,000 individual products out of recycled plastic and Dulux has begun retailing these products to painters. Dulux says that construction companies and large contractors will no longer have to pay to dump paint pails and drums in skips, destined for landfill.
Dulux Paints and Coatings has established a national product stewardship scheme for the collection and recycling of used plastic paint packaging from large commercial building sites.
Chemistry Australia CEO Samantha Read said “It’s our first ever awards, and I’m pleased to say our judges had a very impressive field of nominees to choose from.”
“The breadth of talent and ideas in the Award nominations we received demonstrates there is considerable innovation currently taking place in our sector, particularly in the areas of climate neutrality and the circular economy.”
