Addressing Environmental Issues Proactively

For years, the paint and coatings industry has aggressively looked for strategies to produce products in an environmentally conscious way, without compromising product performance.

Industry R&D, market-demand, recent regulatory developments, and the continuing market trends toward water-based coatings, powder coatings, ultraviolet cure coatings, and other lower-emitting coating products have contributed to reductions in both hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from production in recent years.

Here is a short list of our environmental successes:

  • In general, the energy usage � and as a result, greenhouse gas emissions � from the paint and coatings sector is very small as compared to other U.S. manufacturing sectors. In 2002, the paint and coatings sector purchased about 1.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity for heat and power, which represented well under 1% of the total quantity of electricity purchased for heat and power by U.S. manufacturers.
  • Emissions from hazardous air pollutants were reduced by 67% between 1993 and 2005.
  • Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) releases by the paint and coatings sector decreased by 65% between 1993 and 2005.
  • The paint and coatings sector's total air emission EPA Toxicity Score (a comparative tool that considers relative risks of toxic pollutants) declined by more than 87% from 1994 to 2005.
  • 82% of architectural coatings sales are environmentally preferable water-based paint.
  • Between 1996 and 2005, the paint and coatings sector�s water discharges of EPA�s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) chemicals declined by almost 50%.
  • The paint and coatings manufacturing sector accounted for less than 1% of the hazardous waste generated nationally in 2003 and the industry recycles and/or recovers (for energy use) 88% of wastes it generates.
  • 97% of all waste solvents from paint and coatings manufacturing facilities are reclaimed for future use.

In addition, the American Coatings Association (ACA) is involved, on behalf of the industry, in several efforts that promote environmentally conscious business practices.

EPA Sector Strategies Program

The U.S. paint and coatings industry has also partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through ACA, as a participant in EPA's Sector Strategies Program, to seek out cost-effective methods for minimizing industry's impact on the environment.

Paint Product Stewardship Initiative

Since December 2003, ACA and its members have actively participated in the Paint
Product Stewardship Initiative (PPSI), a collaborative multistakeholder effort to promote leftover paint management solutions that are both financially and environmentally sustainable.

Unused or leftover paint is a major focus of product stewardship efforts because of its high volume in the household hazardous waste stream, its high cost to manage, and the potential for increased reduction, recovery, reuse, and recycling.

Leading the charge, ACA has sought a new, nationally coordinated system for managing leftover paint with the goal of reducing paint waste; establishing mechanisms for efficient collection, reuse, recycling, or disposal of leftover paint; and putting in place a sustainable financing system to cover the costs of such a system. ACA and its industry spearheaded a vigorous effort to establish such a paradigm, and in July 2009, was successful in urging the state of Oregon to pass a law that will create an industry-run paint stewardship pilot program that will develop and implement a structure for collecting, transporting, processing, and properly disposing of post-consumer architectural paint, as well as consumer education and outreach on postconsumer paint issues.

Coatings Care®

In 1996, ACA established a series of resources under the name Coatings Care®, designed to provide members of the industry with a consistent set of practices and information for managing health, safety, and environmental responsibilities. Coatings Care® addresses issues affecting Manufacturing Management, Product Stewardship, Community Responsibility, Transportation and Distribution, and Security. Coatings Care® integrates environmental, health and safety practices that are consistent with other industry standards, such as those found in the ISO 14000 series. Recognized internationally, Coatings Care® has been adopted by the International Paint and Printing Ink Council, which represents the paint and printing ink industry in nine countries.

 

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2004, 2006, and 2008 Sector Strategies Performance Report.