A school in Izmir was left sporting a fresh, new look with the added benefit of being kind to the environment, thanks to a brainwave by a Wood Coatings lab specialist.
The Research & Development employee found a way to convert left-over paint samples into wall paints – resulting in Akzo Nobel Kemipol supplying schools all around Turkey in need of redecorating.
It all started in 2005 when the idea originated to recycle the sample raw materials or semi-products that were left over for disposal in the labs of Industrial Finishes in Izmir. A few colleagues worked together and prepared a formula to convert these left over samples to wall paints. As of that day, Akzo Nobel Kemipol had been sending wall paints to schools all around Turkey that are in need of painting. They mostly tried to supply schools in the cities that are in the underdeveloped East and South East region of Turkey such as Elazig, Erzurum, Van.
With the inititation of the Community Program and the request of paint by a nearby school, our colleagues from Kemipol decided to change this donation project to a Community Project where more staff, from all Coatings BU’s at the site, could participate. The request was made by a QC technician for his elementary school in his home town Menemen, some 50 km away from the city center.
This school has about 600 students and was in very bad condition: the wooden covered floor was rotten and broken, the desks were ruined and the walls were cracked. When our colleague informed the CP Coordinators that the school definitely needed urgent attention, they suggested him to go and paint it all together.
After all the coordination was done and after all the recycled paints were prepared by the lab team, the painting team got to work. With serious support from other areas of the business, like sub contractors, the job resulted in an amazing transformation – the wooden floor was replaced with ceramic tiles, windows were changed and many other repairs were made.
Before the new education year started, all repair was done and the children started with almost brand new classrooms. One of the volunteers said: ‘This project was a good example of hands-on employee involvement and also of how we respect the environment. We’ll continue sending recycled paints to schools – each year, one eastern city of Turkey will be selected. Also, every year, one school closer to Izmir will be selected and with the hands-on involvement of even more employees, that school will be renovated.’