Seagulls splashes the colour celebrating 20 years of collecting unwanted paint in Leeds

Local pioneering paint re-use social enterprise, Seagulls, are celebrating 20 years helping people to access recycled low-cost paint to redecorate their homes and upcycle their furniture.

About Seagulls

The social enterprise started as an idea thought up between two friends around a kitchen table, about how to support the environment and make a positive difference to the local community. Fast forward 20 years and the social enterprise has helped provide countless people with work-based training and volunteering opportunities alongside transforming several community spaces in to bright, positive and welcoming places: our current home on Water Lane, The Rainbow of Hope at Leeds City Market and 1000’s of homes across the city.

Creating impact in Leeds

Working in partnership with Leeds City Council from the very beginning, the first paint collection container went on to Pudsey household waste and recycling centre in 2005. Since then, Seagulls has:

• Recycled over 2,085,889 litres of paint, enough to fill 6 swimming pools or the weight of 750 elephants!
• Provided 4325 volunteer hours in 2024
• Provided over £1million of social impact to Leeds residents in 2024 through volunteering, environmental benefits and cheap paint
• Cat Hyde (Seagulls Founder) won the 2023 Social Entrepreneur  of the year Award, Enterprise Yorkshire & Humber (SEYH) Awards
• Won pwc (National) Social Impact Award 2024

To help reduce the millions of litres of paint that are wasted in the UK each year, Leeds residents can drop off their unused paint in the bright pink Seagulls containers at any of the eight recycling centres around Leeds. The paint is recycled and can be purchased at a low-price from Seagulls Paint Store at 129 Water Lane LS11.

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, Leeds City Council’s executive member for climate, energy, environment and green space, said: “I’m incredibly proud to celebrate this milestone with Seagulls where they’re transforming waste paint into a community resource. Seagulls provides a unique service for local people, not only helping to prevent paint being wasted, but also providing important social benefits like training, upcycling workshops and volunteering opportunities.”

Cat Hyde, co-founder at Seagulls said: “The last 20 years has been a rollercoaster of a ride, navigating boxing day floods, covid, cost of living crisis but we are still here and thriving which is an amazing achievement for Seagulls and worth every moment of celebration. I feel extremely proud that we run Seagulls with people and planet at our heart and continue to grow and thrive.’’

Donate to your local reuse charity

As the cost of living continues to rise, reuse charities need your donations now more than ever to help support low income households. If you have good quality  items to get rid of, including paint, contact your local reuse charity and arrange a collection.