Film about project to turn pollution into paint wins Telly Award

The film “Toxic Art,” which tells the story of how Athens County locals turned pollution into paint, was recognized at this year’s Telly Awards.

The Telly Awards annually showcase the best work created within television and across video, for all screens.

“Toxic Art,” a film created by Rivers are Life — an organization that inspires action to protect, conserve, and explore the world’s rivers through storytelling — won Bronze in the Environmental, Social, and Governance category.

About “Toxic Art”

Two Ohio University professors, John Sabraw (an artist and environmentalist) and Guy Riefler (an environmental engineer), saw an opportunity to clean the polluted Sunday Creek and make something beautiful. Through many trials and errors, the two teamed up with local nonprofit Rural Action to turn this rust-colored pollution into paint. With the help of many students and volunteers, the group collects buckets of the pollutant from local streams which are then neutralized in a chemical process and ground into various earth toned pigments.

The group established True Pigments which sells these paints and uses the profits to reinvest into treating the water — specifically the seven miles of stream in Sunday Creek which has decimated all aquatic life.

True Pigments will be located on a 47-acre plot of land owned by Rural Action, off of Truetown Road, near Millfield.

It will contain ponds, holding tanks and wetlands, all to filter out the acid mine iron oxide from the water. The facility will look like a smaller version of the wastewater treatment facility in Athens.

There will be an area where the orange iron oxide can be dried and turned into a sellable commodity — iron oxide pigments that can be used in the paint and dye industries, for cosmetics, and even animal feed.

They plan to open the facility in 2025.

The Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) Program and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law partially funded the project.

The site was developed with the help of $1 million from the AMLER program. Those funds assisted in preparing the site for the acid mine drainage and treatment facility. The project will improve water quality for a seven-mile stretch of Sunday Creek, where wildlife once thrived.

The funds for the design and construction of the treatment facility will be available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Additional public investments are expected as the project continues to develop.