By Rachel.

Last week, a few of the Ecopainting staff had the opportunity to paint a group support home, run by Montage Support Services. This was a wonderful opportunity for our Toronto Painters to practice our different skills, but more importantly, we provided the residents of the home with a freshly painted interior at no cost to them or to Montage. 

Montage Support Services is a non-profit organization that provides a home setting for those with multiple disabilities. On our visit to one particular group home in north Toronto, we observed how they provide a beautiful atmosphere and caring staff members to adults with a range of disabilities. We were only too happy to be able to donate our time and skills, and provide a service that was greatly appreciated.  To find more information on Montage Support Services, here is their website: 
http://www.montagesupport.ca/

We also took this opportunity to test out a brand of recycled paint that we had not previously used. Boomerang is a Canadian company (based out of Quebec) offering a recycled paint made from unused and reclaimed paints, low in both VOCs and in price. While the paint is not zero VOC,  (Boomerang paint has 90 grams of VOC/litre) it is still well below standards, and the benefit of recycling paint that would otherwise be hanging out in a landfill is definitely not to be overlooked. As far as actually using the paint, it did not emit much odor, in fact what smell it did have was a little like slightly old milk. We found that after one coat, it had some tendency to be shiny in some patches while not in others. In short, this sounds promising in theory, but will need more experimentation with actual application.