The chemical coatings and paint industry is an estimated
330 billion dollar market according to Forbes.com.
When you take a close look at your surroundings
almost everything you see or touch has a chemical
dye or pigment in it - clothing, cars, furniture,
toys, computers etc. It is amazing when you think
about the fact that many buildings and infrastructural
items like bridges and tunnels, ships are all protected
by one thing...PAINT.
Whether it's a specialized lining for the interior
ballast tanks of a Navy nuclear submarine or
a simple clear coat for a piece of furniture, they
are all doing the same thing at base level and that
is protecting the substrate. The only
difference is between the types of resins, catalysts
and film forming additives used.
To think of the paint and industrial coatings industry
as only being approximately 100 yrs old gives
us some idea as to where technology is headed....!
Someday, you will be buying your house
paint in a Tetrapak and possibly adding your
own colorants to it in pill form or powder form
from a kit. Once done with it, the pak will dissolve
and be biodegradable and no harm to the
environment. Paint manufacturers are
working on this technology as we speak.
Voc compliance is pushing technology
quickly in this direction, the only push
backwards so far has been the big
retailers who like the stackable can
format and packaging. Going to Tetrapaks
will greatly reduce the need for bauxite
and aluminum processing for paint cans
and help preserve our mineral capacity
for more important uses.
The only question remains, which
paint company is going to step up
and take the lead on this packaging
and complete reversal from reliance
on liquid colorant dispersion ?
