Green Coatings a Trend That is Becoming the Rule Rather Than the Exception

By Ravi Joshi, Theodore Provder, Konnie Kustron

In recent years, many leading paint and coatings manufacturers have been trying to meet the growing consumer demand for safer and healthier products enabled by strict environmental regulations and government legislations. As a result, there is a growing need in the coatings industry for what is referred to as “green coatings.” Several independent certifying agencies1·7 have evolved over the last 10 years to support this task. These organizations have established their own environmental performance standards and evaluation criteria.

Based upon those, these organizations certify a consumer product as eco-friendly or “green.” In further support of this movement, in November 2006, the Green Chemistry Research and Development Act of 2005 (H.R. 1215) was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. s-n The bill has been referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and must be now approved by the U.S. Senate.8·11 This bill will certainly foster an increasing recognition of green chem­istry practices when passed into law. All of the above indicate that the trend to­wards developing “green” coatings will soon become the rule rather than the ex­ception. This significant need for innovation is mainly driven by continuing regulatory requirements and increasing consumer eco-consciousness.

The goal of this article is to review the impact of government regulations as innovative drivers for a paradigm shift in the paint and coatings market. This analysis is divided into six parts. Subsequent to the introduction, in order to put green coatings in appropriate perspective, a sequential historical overview of the development of coatings technology with respect to environmental regu­lations is provided. The next section describes how paint and coatings compa­nies responded to the implemented government regulations. This is followed by a section which provides an overview of independent organizations that cer­tify a coating as “green.” The following section summarizes current initiatives by the government for a green revolution and discusses the international sce­nario and sustainability issues of green coatings. Lastly, the final section fo­cuses on the future of green technology.