SAN CARLOS, CA – Kelly-Moore Paint Co. Inc., San Carlos, CA, has received the Green Large Business of the Year award. The company outperformed 100,000 California companies to win the award. Kelly-Moore was selected for its series of recycling programs that diverted 60 percent of its waste and for its ability to motivate employees to commit to recycling efforts. Kelly-Moore was also recognized for its carbon offset program, which resulted in its San Carlos plant being carbon neutral.
In 1995, the company developed a safer, more environmentally responsible technique to dispose of leftover paint and became the first paint company in the industry to collect and remanufacture a recycled paint, eCoat. Previously, when half-used paint cans were returned, the paint and cans were considered unrecyclable waste. Now, Kelly-Moore uses a system that removes the labels and residue from the cans, making them recyclable. The returned paint is sorted by color and type and remanufactured into eCoat.
In April 2009, Kelly-Moore started a program to recycle Super Sack storage bags, cut-up plastic totes and other previously unrecyclable containers. The program resulted in a 10-15 percent reduction in landfill waste. Additionally, Kelly-Moore’s factory management developed a collection system for rainwater to offset water usage and built a berm around the manufacturing plant to prevent any possible paint spillage from getting into the local creek.
Kelly-Moore has continued to green its manufacturing facility. It has replaced old HVAC units with energy-efficient ones, installed a new dust collector that reduced plant noise levels and energy consumption by approximately 50 percent, enrolled in a program to buy carbon offsets, and captured waste heat generated from the plant’s large compressor and now uses it to heat an adjacent building.
