Recycle Now™ is the national recycling campaign for England and Northern Ireland, which aims to motivate more people, to recycle more of the right things, more often.
Recycle Week is Recycle Now‘s flagship annual event, celebrating recycling across the nation. It’s the one week of the year where retailers, brands, waste management companies, trade associations, governments and the media come together to achieve one goal: to galvanise the public into recycling more of the right things.
This year’s theme is ‘Let’s Get Real’, and will challenge perceptions and myths around recycling, and target contamination to improve recycling behaviours.
Why it’s important to us?
Recycle week symbolises the importance of recycling through the delivery of crucial campaign moments and ongoing citizen interaction.
The organisation works to educate and inspire citizens to modify their behaviour in recycling, just like we do! It seems the perfect time to remind you all of the fantastic accomplishments Seagulls have reached through recycling:
Saved and reused over 4 million litres of paint, equaling 11 million kg or 11,000 tons of CO2e. This is the equivalent of planting 68 million trees.
Recovered 75,000 kg of scrap metal tins and 123,944 kg of liquid oil that has been recycled.
Provided a social value of £1.9 million to the city of Leeds in 2018
Created a unique and people-centred organisation; learning as we go along and responding to local needs, all through the art of recycling.
We can’t thank our loyal customers enough for working with our organisation to make the environment a better place. Now let’s double these stats!
Winners: Environmental Social Enterprise in Yorkshire & Humber ’22 goes to Seagulls
24th September 2022
What a brilliant week!
Social Enterprise Yorkshire & Humber hosted their 2022 awards. The event took place at The Shay Stadium, Halifax, and we were lucky enough to be shortlisted for the Environmental Social Enterprise award.
We sat in the final with our friends over at Zero Waste Leeds. They do amazing work helping make Leeds a zero-waste city by 2030.
Also, YORGreenCic, who supports communities to create and manage green space, and meet future demands through multi-functional land use. To be up against such inspiring organisations was truly amazing, and a huge well done to both for getting into the final.
The award ceremony was full of selfless organisations and people, which made us super proud to surrounded by them.
After our win, the Judges said: “They have made a huge impact on the environment and their commitment, tenacity, creativity and dedication is what has enabled the to succeed.”
The comments where truly humbling and the recognition is marvellous.
So, a huge thank you to Social Enterprise Yorkshire & Humber, and to Ali Ward for organising such a fantastic event.
Cheers to Seagulls being the Environmental Social Enterprise in Yorkshire & Humber 2022!
Seagulls Summer Market: What to expect
10th July 2022
It’s officially time! We have booked the weather, and are dusting off the bunting and sweeping the yard ready to welcome our stallholders and visitors for what looks to be our best market yet.
The response to our call for stallholders has been amazing. We have a lot of regular stallholders and also many new faces (which we are thrilled about!).
So, let’s talk to stallholders. Have a scroll and find out who and what to expect at the market, I’d say we have a bit of everything!
Both days
Goods In General
Goods in General is a Seagulls Market regular! They concentrate on vintage, industrial and salvaged. All items are practical, quality items saving them from landfills and ensuring they won’t be left to gather dust.
Biddy and Bear are a unisex children’s clothing company, inspired by the lack of good clothing for children on the high street. They source unique clothing ethically, of course!
Leeds-based jewellery you can’t say no to! Valmont Studio’spieces are mainly in enamel, silver and copper; heavily influenced by My work sculpture and the abstract form. The nature of the enamelling process makes each piece unique.
Elena Rubiu is a Sardinian ceramist based in Leeds. Look at these pieces! Elena also puts on a variety of ceramic workshops so you can learn her skill.
Pennyis an artist in Leeds. She has been studying and producing Art and Crafts for over 20 years, including oil painting, photography (film & digital), wood carving, fine art and of course pottery.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CbFWGVUMVd9/
Saturday
March Makes
March Makes is a small family-run business, that makes a variety of letterbox gifts and care packages. You may also find some unique jewellery pieces on their Etsy too!
Halfpenny Ink is run by Alice Halfpenny, an Artist and Graphic Designer.
Inspired by nature and all that surrounds us, Alice creates art that celebrates its beauty and diversity. All work is created using a pointillism technique with fine liner pens. Brilliant!
Natalie Knight is an Illustrator, Lino printer and Crafter based in West Yorkshire. Look at these earrings! What a great addition to our Summer Market.
Soft and Squiffy is run by Leah, who upcycles her children’s old clothing, or old clothes of her own, and gives them a new lease of life. The filling of her cushions, like the one shown below, is used from recycled plastic bottles.
Ink and Bear are run by Sophie Greenwood, who makes colourful, simple screen prints inspired by nature and travel. She also delivers creative workshops in and around Leeds.
Nat is Chief Clay Lady at Upsydaisy Craft! In Nat’s words ‘Getting a fresh bag of clay and turning it into some colourful jewellery through the magic of the kiln is always amazing, opening the kiln after a day of it heating my house is a lot of nervous excitement!’
Rebecca is the creator behind the genius Black Violet. Her pieces specialise in Concrete, Moss, Crystal Jewellery & Homeware, what an impressive variety!
Sarah is an avid traveller, photographer and blogger. Inspired by our diverse, natural and cultural world she offers colourful prints, canvasses and jewellery. Wow!
Roisin Smith
Roisin Smith makes her own jewellery, and they are brilliant. Perfect for your summer holidays!
Food
The Slice Is Right
Why not treat yourself to a slice of pizza for lunch! The Slice Is Right is a Leeds-based mobile pizza caterer. They specialise in traditional Neopolitan pizzas, with plenty of options (including vegan!)
Finished your pizza, it’s time for something sweet! Melts are rocky roads, redesigned. Think of your favourite chocolate bar stacked with its best friends (and they are all vegetarian). We can’t wait to try!
Jita’s Green Sauce sells authentic Indian chutney, and it sounds delicious, made with fresh mint, coriander, green chillies, ginger, garlic and a little lemon juice for tanginess.
Gary will be serving hot drinks and ice cream all weekend. What more could you ask for!
We look forward to seeing you all there! the weather is looking good, and we cant wait to see some familiar faces.
Seagulls x
Our biggest paint order…EVER!!
7th July 2022
Some exciting news from us over at Seagulls… We received our biggest paint order to date!
What was the order?
It was from a lovely lady called Nicole-Rose from Surrey. Her order was for 25 x 10L bespoke paint colours. She also got some brand new white matt, silk, gloss, undercoat and floor paint.
Nicole’s budget was set at £800 although the order came to £842.50! But for an order of this size, we obviously let her off the £42.50. This was still the biggest paint order we have ever received and the team were eager to get working on it!
We knew that Nicole’s order was a bargain, so we broke it down to compare with leading brands. We just knew this would make a brilliant price comparison.
Price Comparison
Through online research, we found that 10 litres of a bespoke colour from Dulux would cost approximately £150.
So, if our calculations are correct this means 25 x 10L is worth approximately £3750. This is already a saving of £2950! Add some new stock on top of that and we’re talking approximately £4000+ for the entire order!!!
It took our team less than one week to mix the ENTIRE order and we loved the challenge.
We deliver within the Leeds area for a £10 fee, for larger orders, we could potentially deliver for free. Don’t let geography put you off a large order, we might still make financial sense, even to pick up as Nicole did! It’s always worth getting in touch.
Over to Nicole-Rose for some lovely feedback:
“Thank you all so much first of all for such an incredible service. Andy particularly was brilliant at keeping me updated on the progress of the order. I heard about you from an art shop in Leeds City Centre (Fred Aldous) when I was looking for a local paint supplier. I was presented with an opportunity to redesign a theatre in Central London and when I visited the space I knew I’d need a lot of paint.
Nicole with her £800 order
“I looked you up on Google and found your website really easy to follow, so I placed an order. I’m a huge believer in supporting local businesses and I love your philosophy of re-using paint that would have otherwise been sent to landfills because I hate the idea of waste.
“Thank you for the brilliant service and a warm welcome and a really quick turnaround in getting the paint ready in line with my deadline. You have a customer for life as far as I’m concerned.“
Want to learn how to decorate?
25th May 2022
We sell paint (of course) but do you know how to use it when you get home
We host 3 different decorating courses here at Seagulls, all held by Ruksar.
Ruksar is a professionally trained decorator, with years of experience under his belt. He is an engaging facilitator and the courses are very much hands-on and full of practical tips.
If you have met him, you’ll know he loves to talk and share his knowledge, so expect to come away brimming with painty solutions to your decorating woes!
You will be learning in our ‘Painting Pods’. These pods have been built to emulate a real room setting, to give you the best experience possible for learning decorating techniques
Here is what you can choose from:
A Beginners Guide to Painting & Decorating
This crash course in decorating will equip you with all the basic techniques and skills needed to tackle a room from preparation to finish.
Learn the basics
Here is what to expect:
1. Preparation; learning how to get rid of pesky stains, and the best types of fillers for different jobs.
2. Ceilings
3. Cutting in- perhaps the most important aspect of decorating to get that all-important professional finish. We will spend a reasonable amount of concentrating on this technique as it’s so easy once you know how and have had some practice and you’ll never need to use masking tape again!
Learn the art of brush control. A cutting in Masterclass, it’s simple when you know-how!
Brush control, it’s easy!
Fed up with wonky lines? The wrong colour paint on the ceiling and fiddling about with masking tape? Then this is the masterclass for you.
We think ‘Cutting in’ is the most important decorating technique to get right when painting a room. Perfect this technique and you can have a decorated room to be proud of.
In this short and sweet workshop, you will learn:
1. Different types of brushes & Brush control
3. How to perfect your line between wall and ceiling, wall and skirting board and fiddly light fittings and sockets.
4. Practice in our rooms before unleashing the brush on your own walls.
It’s not rocket science but there is skill involved, once you know how you will never look back, it’s a skill for life!
This advanced course will equip you with all the tips, tricks and techniques needed to give you the perfect finish when painting walls and ceilings.
Get your ceilings and walls looking professionally done
This Masterclass focuses on:
1. Preparation- learning how to get rid of pesky stains, the best types of fillers for different jobs, and how to tackle a room.
2. Brush and roller techniques- the difference between the finishes depends on the tools you use with a focus on brush and roller control and how much pressure to apply.
It’s easy once you know how and have had some practice (on somebody else’s walls).
Do you know about our bespoke colour-matching service?
If you are a Seagulls regular, you may know about our bespoke paint mixing service. This service bespoke service means we can match whatever colour your heart desires, just for a few pounds extra than off-the-shelf paint. Off the shelf, paint starts at £5.50 for 2.5L, whilst 2.5L of bespoke colour-matched paint starts from just £11.
Shopping at other businesses, such as Farrow & Ball could set you back £52!
Dulux and Farrow & Ball are two colour charts that we work best off, and there is plenty of them in-store, or you can find them online too. A lot of you request colour matches of specific items, which we love to do.
We thought this would be the perfect place to show you guys some examples of our colour matching skills, and what our paint mixing experts can whip up.
F&B RangwaliF&B India YellowThe perfct Navy Blue matchAn identical Dark GreenF&B Sulking Room mixed by AndyF&B Arsenic mixed by AshA selection of our favourite colour matches
Match It Monday – Bespoke Paint Mixing In Action
If you follow us on social media, you may have seen our weekly ‘Match It Monday’ TikTok videos. Every Monday, we pick something random from Seagulls and put our paint mixing experts to the test. They never fail! Take a look for yourself;
Remember folks that our colour match for paint service is done by eye, no fancy colour machines around our place.
9/10 we’re bang on, the odd occasion may need a reblend but this is rare. If you have a certain colour in mind it’s always best to pre-order through our website (it gives us time to play with colour).
Bespoke paint mixing by eye also means we can never guarantee the same colour twice. Please make sure you order enough paint for your project to avoid any disappointment.
One last thing, our mixing magic does not extend to specific colour matches for Woodwork Paint. The pigments we use are only suitable for water-based emulsion, meaning we are unable to mix the same colours in gloss that we can in the emulsion.
