Award-winning Knowsley charity the Big Help Project welcomed Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram to their newest retail outlet ‘Painting Green’ recently, when he visited the project on 28th August and declared the new site officially open.
The outlet in Elm Street, Huyton, operates as part of Community Repaint, which collects surplus paint otherwise destined for landfill, remanufactures it and sells it alongside new, discounted ranges from suppliers including Farrow and Ball. Since starting the Knowsley franchise in 2016, the Big Help Project’s Community RePaint scheme has distributed 45,000 litres of paint to individuals and housing associations each year and has raised over £250,000 to support the wider work of the Big help Project in alleviating poverty across Knowsley and the wider city region.
Upon opening Painting Green, Steve said: “This environmentally-friendly scheme is a great example of the Big Help Project supporting the local community in a small way, which fits nicely alongside the fantastic wider work they do to tackle the scourge of poverty in Knowsley and beyond. Offering affordable recycled paint not only makes financial sense, but it is good for our environment to. I’m sure we’d all rather see the paint go on walls and ceilings in people’s homes and community centres, rather than it be dumped in the ground with all the ecological damage that causes”.
Simon Cowie, Community RePaint Manager, said: “It was an honour to welcome Steve to open our new premises today, and to share this exciting new venture with him. Painting Green is already thriving as a Community Resource, and we are confident that we will make a huge difference to the lives of our customers looking to brighten up their homes, and of course the environment that we all share, through repurposing paint that would otherwise go to landfill.”
Community RePaint is part of the Big Help Project, a registered charity which supports people across the Knowsley and the wider city region with issues including finding work, improving I.T. skills and managing debt. More information is available by contacting the office on 0151 482 6089 or by visiting the website https://bighelpproject.com