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Northland College donates to Bay Area Paint Exchange

December 5, 2008

Northland College recently donated more than 200 gallons of latex paint to the Bay Area Paint Exchange. The paint, leftover from a variety of campus renovation and remodeling projects, is relatively new, usable product in one- or five-gallon containers. Mostly shades of dover white, the paint is divided into quantities that are too small to be useful for large projects at the College, but are easily enough for typical in-home use. The Exchange also has a wide variety of paint in other colors and quantities, all available to the public free of charge.

“When we paint here, we use a lot of paint all at once,” said Rick Waligora, director of facilities maintenance at Northland College. “Our leftover paint is usually enough for a normal-sized room, but not enough for a whole classroom or a whole building. By giving that good, leftover paint to the Exchange we can ensure that it doesn’t go to waste even though we don’t have a use for it.”

The Bay Area Paint Exchange is a community program intended to help local residents recycle paints and painting supplies. Started in 1993 by the Ashland-Bayfield County League of Women Voters, the goal is to prevent polluting substances from entering the landfill and local water supplies. The program benefits both those with excess usable paint and those with a need. There is a box for monetary donations to support the Paint Exchange and everything on the shelves is free to the public.

Over the last 15 years the Bay Area Paint Exchange has provided free re-use services for an average of 15,000 pounds of paint per year and 90% of that material is used. The Paint Exchange is located at the City of Ashland Public Works Building at 2020 6th Street East and is open from 7:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. All good, usable paints and supplies can be dropped off and picked up at this location. For more information about the Paint Exchange contact Bayuk at (715) 682-8438.