Sustainable swell for the Brookvale Colormaker

Brookvale’s Colormaker Industries may have celebrated 65 years in business this April, but Managing Director David Stuart and the team haven’t rested a moment, continuing to evolve the operations towards their Net Zero 2025 target, and thoroughly deserving to win Northern Beaches Business Sustainability Award 2023.

David, commenting on the win, said, “Colormaker is delighted to have been recognised with the Northern Beaches Sustainability Award. What we have achieved has been the culmination of work by many people contributing countless hours over more than 20 years to make this happen. I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to each and every of them for the support given to us on our journey.”

This award recognises local businesses that are actively pursuing sustainable practices, embedding them into their business planning, operations and marketing. With that in mind, here are some impressive numbers to ponder from both a business and sustainability standpoint.

In July 2023, Colormaker received their latest electricity bill, the twelfth since installing a battery in July 2022 – which was to augment the 100 kW of Solar that they’ve been running since September 2019 – so the overall cost of electricity to run the business for the year was negative. To put this in context, in the 12 months prior to switching on the Colormaker solar array, their electricity costs were $24,300.

That’s the economics of their endeavour. Here’s the carbon news. Prior to switching on the solar array, Colormaker’s greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint was 77 t from electricity alone. In the past 12 months, the Colormaker GHG footprint from electricity was minus 85 t. On top of that, they’ve driven their three electric vehicles over 27,000 km and have an electric forklift on site, all powered off the roof. Adding together abated GHGs and dollars saved from the EVs, Colormaker has transitioned from putting 77 t of GHGs into the atmosphere, to displacing 91 t from coal fired electricity and saving over $30,000.

Calculators away, it’s time to remember why Colormaker operates in the first place, to manufacture quality paints for all interior and exterior applications, and a range of innovative inks and coating products. To put these goods to vivid use, Colormaker sponsors many artists and community groups, locally, nationally, and abroad.

One such artist is Jeremy Sheehan, who is teaming up with John Vanderkolk and Mark George to create a public artwork at the upcoming SWELL Sculpture Festival. Taking place for its 21st year on the picturesque shores of the Gold Coast’s Currumbin Beach from 8 to 17 September, Jeremy, John and Mark are bringing to life a monumental “Canary in the Coal Mine”. Yes, you read that correctly, the gents are using a repurposed plane – yes, a plane! – and timber from pallets to create their Canary.

“We’re raising the question of us as a global community not quite paying full attention to the canary in the coal mine and the signs of what is going on around us,” says Jeremy. “And we ran into a dilemma about the (artwork’s) materials possibly contributing to the issues we’re hoping to question – taking a sustainable responsibility for our own actions. We wanted the surface finish to be in sync with everything else. That’s where Colormaker Industries came in with water-based paints and David’s unwavering commitment to Net Zero and fostering a sense of community – the alignment of values was immediately obvious.”