Canada-based Imaflex Inc. has filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a production process converting waste latex paint into plastic film.

The patent application titled “Methods of Recycling Waste Latex Paint” outlines Imaflex’s proprietary approach to reconditioning latex paint waste for the use in blown film extrusion.  Imaflex foresees that in the future, recycled latex paint could provide the company with a very low cost feedstock for many of its industrial bag products and further reduce the carbon footprint of its products.

Of all household hazardous wastes, leftover paint is considered the single most voluminous and expensive material that local governments have to manage. It is estimated, by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that annually between 35 to 103 million gallons post-consumer latex paint waste is generated in the U.S., and approximately 30 percent of recollected waste latex paint is non-reusable scrap, posing a major environmental threat.