Paint360 is a social enterprise based in the West Midlands employing young people with barriers to employment as the core of their workforce mirroring Orbit Group values and the Orbit Earth initiative.

Tried and tested over the past eight years Paint360 successfully create brand new paint from material left in everyone’s garage or shed for the trade and domestic market. Each litre has a minimum of 50% recycled content and is designed to compete on quality and price with premium brands, delivering environmental impact through social enterprise.

The UK produces an estimated 55,000,000 litres of unwanted material year on year, which is traditionally sent to land fill or incinerated.

Unwanted paint from manufacturers, waste management companies, councils, and contractors are reworked offering end users embedded carbon savings which in turns supports Net Zero Carbon initiatives.  1 litre of repurposed paint saves enough embedded carbon to drive a transit van 5 miles carbon free! verified by The Carbon Footprint Company Limited and Bath University.

Plans for a second site on an Eco-Park in South Wales is underway with all neighbours making finished goods from discarded material self sustainably generating its own energy completely off grid. The Eco-Park will deliver true economic growth for the region through circular economy treating unwanted material as a resource!

Rhys is Orbit’s estates team and fleet manager, he has a passion for wildlife and improving the biodiversity of our schemes, which is only matched by his enthusiasm for supporting our customers to grow their own fruit and veg and to take up gardening in general.

Since joining the estates team in the Midlands, he has worked tirelessly to embed Orbit Earth into everything they do, whilst at the same time consulting with customers to find out their needs.

Rhys launched the Bee Happy campaign to purchase pollinator-friendly plants and shrubs and many of our independent living schemes in the Midlands now have raised beds to make it easier for customers to participate in gardening.  This has been incredibly well received and something to take customers’ minds off the past year.  He has also installed benches made from recycled plastic, so customers can sit and enjoy the communal space, something many of our clients wanted in their communities and have raised in the past . Rhys is a talented woodworker and, in his spare time, has made bird boxes and bug houses which have been installed in several Independent Living schemes across Orbit for the enjoyment of wildlife and customers alike.

Rhys is also leading a project in Tanyard Farm in Coventry to turn a disused play area into a wildlife-friendly pocket park.  All of his work really aligns with Orbit Earth, which was created with a vision to take achievable, but ambitious steps in reducing our carbon footprint.

The ‘Grow Back Greener’ project at Applegarth House, Bexley is an excellent example of collaborative working to benefit customers and the environment, made even more impressive due to its completion during Covid-19. The collaboration is a partnership between Orbit, The Exchange (based in Erith), Southern Land Services and North West Kent Countryside Partnership. The project secured funding for 1000 hedges and 20 trees to transform an urban estate which had an unloved and underused outdoor space into one that will not only help the environment by enhancing biodiversity, improving air quality and absorb carbon emissions, but is a more attractive and enjoyable space for customers and the local community to spend time and improve their wellbeing. As the trees grow, the benefits will only continue to grow with them.

Planning and funding the project was no mean feat, coordinating information from many other teams inside and outside of Orbit, neither was the organisation and implementation of planting especially during tight Covid-19 restrictions.  There are further plans to improve planting on the estate and involve customers when restrictions allow, there has already been positive feedback from customers about the transformation.   This project perfectly demonstrates what can be achieved by Orbit employees, contractors and partners when we work together.  It benefits the environment, it demonstrates Orbits’ values and last but not least provides a thriving community for our customers. It is what Orbit Earth is all about!

More planting for the space is planned later in 2021, we hope to spend more on getting more people engaged in nature. The Exchange will have a mobile unit, called The Grover, which is being used to engage with communities about nature.