Ecoezee cardboard paint tray

Filed in Blog, Product reviews by on February 16, 2010 4 Comments
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Little Miss Green clutches her cardboard paint tray

Little Miss Green clutches her cardboard paint tray

A few months ago we decorated Little miss green’s bedroom.

She choose an ‘ocean’ theme and we set to work getting off 8 years of scribbling and artistry to make way for blue walls.

Natalie from EcoEzee offered me one of her recycled cardboard paint trays to use. I have to admit I was intrigued, and couldn’t wait to try it out.

Packaging

Natalie surpassed herself by sending me the tray wrapped in old newspaper! Apart from her letter, printed on paper there was nothing else in the package except the cardboard tray. I was delighted with this as I always dread some of the terrible packaging we receive through the door!

Ecoezee

Ecoezee is a family owned-and-run business. They design and manufacture a range of products that are ecologically sustainable and environmentally friendly, with an emphasis on reducing waste.

All the products are made from waste material and bi-products from other manufacturing processes that could otherwise end up in landfill. Most of their items are made from waste paper pulp and all are recyclable and reusable.

Their mission is to provide alternative solutions to plastic and metal goods by creating products from waste material.

Product range

The product range includes:

  • Paint trays
  • biodegradable plant pots
  • fruit trays
  • compostable food plates and cups
  • kidney trays!

Paint tray

I thought the cardboard paint tray would simply absorb all the paint or get wet and floppy and would be useless. I am delighted to say I was completely wrong!

It was easy to use and sturdy. The painting took us a week and what’s great about this tray is it saves you water too – you don’t have to clean the tray out, you can just leave it to dry!

So then I thought adding a different colour paint would mean I had a mixed colour. No worries there either. True to its word you can leave old paint in the tray and once dry, use the same tray for a different colour.

Once the paint dries into the tray it doesn’t flake or peel like unwashed paint on a plastic tray.

What we like

  • The cost! These trays are cheap to buy and easy to find as Travis Perkins are now stocking them.
  • ease of use: the tray does not flop or get soggy and as it absorbs a bit of paint it gets stronger
  • Saves water: No need to wash the tray after use; just tip out any remaining paint and leave the rest to dry
  • Materials: made from potential waste materials, these trays certainly turn trash to treasure
  • Design: there is a handy ‘ledge’ on one end of the tray which is great to rest a paintbrush in
  • End of use: cardboard is recyclable, can be composted or will biodegrade

What we didn’t like

  • There was nothing we didn’t like about the product, but we do have one concern which we’ve put down as a possible improvement.

What could be improved

The crucial piece of missing information is about the paint you use.

I’ve been scratching my head to think how this can be technically classed as a product that can be composted, recycled or will biodegrade once it is covered in paint!

If you’re green minded, you’ll probably be aware of ‘eco paints’ – instead of using petroleum or toxic ingredients they use natural products such as milk along with natural pigment dyes.

I would not want to put a conventional paint-covered tray into my compost heap and neither will my recycling centre accept it in the cardboard recycling.

So at the end of its useful life, most of these trays would end up in landfill.

My suggestion would be to provide information to the buyer about eco paints and explain that if a natural paint was used it could indeed be composted or recycled.

Verdict

We’ve given this 4 out of 5. There are no faults with the tray itself; infact it is a particularly good design. We do however, feel it is misleading to state it is compostable or able to be recycled without providing information about eco friendly paints.

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About the Author ()

I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (4)

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  1. Poppy says:

    I missed this earlier in the week, but as people who are (supposedly) mid-decorating (ask me again in 6 months!), I was interested to see how you got on. The main issue for us, is that we already have a large plastic tray, so ditching it now in favour of a cardboard one, wouldn’t be terribly sensible, but if we’re ever in need of a replacement it’s definetly something I would consider 🙂

  2. polythenepam says:

    You can get steel trays which do last for ever and can be recycled – with paint on them an all- as can paint cans – at least according to my recycle guy. Sounds strange to me – but true. However my steel paint tray is lasting and lasting and I do wash it out when I have finished.

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