Paint powers street art festival

A recent street art festival in Chelmsford has shown how reusing paint can do more than cut waste - it can spark creativity and connect communities. 

The Concrete Canvas Street Art Festival used a large quantity of donated paint from the Community Repaint scheme at Maldon Recycling Centre as the base coat for 30 new murals across the city. 

“Your paint literally provided the foundation for our festival,” said the project manager. “But it also did something even more amazing - it connected us to a fantastic new artist.” 

While collecting paint, the team struck up a conversation with Martin, who works at the Maldon site. After hearing about the festival, he suggested his son-in-law, local artist Dan Edgely (@edgewrks), might be interested in getting involved. 

Following this, Dan secured his first ever festival spot. His mural, “Feel the fear and do it anyway,” is now on display at Meadows Shopping Centre on Meadow Walk. 

“Because of that chance encounter at the paint station, we were able to give Dan a platform and see his work come to life on a bigger stage.” the organiser said. 

The festival has transformed spaces across Chelmsford while demonstrating the value of reusing materials that would have once been thrown away.  

By working with Community Repaint to redistribute leftover paint, together we are reducing waste and supporting local projects. 

Find out more about free paint reuse at Essex recycling centres.