|
AkzoNobel has become the first coatings company to achieve so-called SMaRT certification for the life-cycle sustainability of one of its coating lines.
The company has achieved Sustainable Platinum—the highest level—Sustainable Materials Rating Technology certification for its Interpon line of powder coatings.
 |
| SMaRT certification is offered by the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS), founded in 2002. |
AkzoNobel, the world’s largest coatings company, is also the world’s largest supplier of powder coatings.
Interpon, Resicoat
AkzoNobel manufactures powder coatings under the Interpon and Resicoat brands. Interpon serves a vast array of markets, from agricultural machinery to steel building components to architectural metal finishes. Resicoat is designed to provide high-performance anti-corrosion protection for pipelines, rebar, electrical insulation, and valves and fittings.
 |
|
AkzoNobel |
| The Interpon line includes corrosion protection coatings for general industrial applications. |
AkzoNobel says its powder coatings are manufactured without toxic heavy metals and calls itself “the world leader in TGIC-free technology.” Triglycidyl Isocyanurate is a cross linker used as a curing agent in powder coatings since the 1970s.
The company says its powder coatings are made without organic solvents, and overspray can be reclaimed and recycled or reprocessed.
Getting SMaRT
SMaRT certification was developed by the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS), an organization of major global manufacturers, environmental groups and government officials. The group’s goal is to “transform manufacturing and retail practices worldwide” to bring sustainable products to 90 percent of the global marketplace by 2015.
MTS was established in 2002 and has become a recognized standard for product sustainability. The organization evaluates sustainability performance over a product’s life cycle and supply chain, using criteria related to health and safety, the environment, social equity and reclamation. The group says its process “is transparent and verifiable.”
To achieve certification, AkzoNobel says, its powder coating line was subjected to internal and external audits, numerous third-party standards, a Life Cycle Assessment and an Environmental Product Declaration. Points were awarded for each section, and AkzoNobel’s total put the product in the highest of four SMaRT certification levels, the company says.
“This certification is part of our continued focus to integrate sustainability into everything we do,” AkzoNobel said in a release.
What Green Means
AkzoNobel cites several sustainability benchmarks for its powder coatings. For example, it reports:
• “An exemplary rate of reclamation” through a customized spray booth system “that results in an overall 96% rate of efficiency”;
• A patented process that results in an average 50% conservation of materials;
• ISO 9001 certification, “which illustrates exemplary measures have been taken to ensure a quality product is supplied to the market”;
• Product review by “several testing authorities,” to ensure that the product meets “meet durability criteria to maximize their lifespan”;
• Drawing 28% of the energy for its Powder Coatings in 2009 from renewable sources;
• Decreasing energy consumption by 3% per ton of product in the last five years; and
• Reducing CO2 emissions by 14% in the same period.
Sustainability Mission
The world’s largest paint and coatings company has long touted sustainability as a cornerstone of its corporate mission. For six years, it has been held a place on Dow Jones’ Sustainability World Index, the largest global analysis of corporate sustainability leadership.
The company said it had pursued SMaRT certification because “we wanted third-party authorization to recognize the work we are continuously investing in to make each and every step, and each and every product as sustainable as possible.”
|
Follow us on Twitter
Join us on Facebook
