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About the Member:

Tri-Art Mfg. is a local, family run company that started producing artists' acrylic paint as an off-shoot to an art supply store and gallery in Kingston called Art Noise. They began production on a small scale in the back of the store, producing one line of professional, acrylic colours. It was at this time, in 1994, that Tri-Art Mfg. Incorporated was formed.

Tri-Art's original goal was to produce the best product possible for artists. To this day, making quality products for every level of expression has remained their objective. Their family of products has grown to include acrylic, oil, ink, airbrush, watercolour and tempera paint lines for the professional to the beginner painters.

Starting with 3 founding members and a single paint line, in a 100 square foot area, Tri-Art has grown to employ over 60 local staff, produce 20 different paint lines and make all the packaging for their products in a production area of over 29,000 square feet. Tri-Art Mfg. now sells products locally, nationally and internationally.

Check out their eco initiatives here: https://www.tri-art.ca/eco-initiatives.html

Highlighted Sustainability Projects:

Current:

• Reduced 1% of GHGs and 9% of natural gas usage

2019:

• Water Filtration System: The production of acrylic paint requires a significant quantity of water and also produces a large amount of wastewater (grey water) with the clean up. Recognizing the possible equation of this intake and output, they have developed a process to reuse and recycle their grey water for the cleaning of equipment. This initiative both conserves the amount of water consumed and the amount of "dirty" water put back into the public filtration system.

• Sludge: Tri-Art has continued to experiment over the years to develop a product that can be created from the waste bi-products of acrylic paint production. They have developed a process to get the filtered waste solids into a state that can be used in the production of our product, which they call "Sludge". Sludge is made with 100% recycled pigment harvested from clean-up production. The production of Sludge is an expensive and extremely extensive process, but it is a much better alternative to what are the established practices of paint manufacturing.

• New Product Packaging: They have designed and are now producing their own packaging on site. This change affects every single tube, bottle, jar and cap, in all sizes, for all lines. Their new packaging uses less materials and is far more efficient on every level possible. Previously, the large majority of their packaging was imported from out of the country, and in some cases from extremely long distances.

• PETE Plastic - 100% Recyclable: They chose PETE plastic for all packaging, including their tubes. It is fully recyclable, does not leach, and requires less energy to produce. The fact that Tri-Art is producing its own packaging, allows them to reduce their carbon footprint, support local manufacturing and have control over the production practices, quality and look of their packaging.

• Re-Cycled Plastic in Packaging: Their packaging is comprised of up to 30% re-grinded plastic.

• Raw Materials: Tri-Art makes its raw materials purchases in North America as much as possible. In some cases this is a more expensive decision, but one that they feel is necessary.

2017:

• Reduced 3% of GHGs

• Reduced 10% of electricity and 5% of natural gas usage

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: