In keeping with current trends toward greater sustainability in all aspects of commercial chemistry and manufacturing, the coatings industry has embraced this challenge and has begun to push its suppliers in this direction. Specialty feedstocks for resins, solvents, additives and even some containers have already made significant progress in their ability to offer alternative options with a “greener” footprint. Many of these have taken a new pathway with agricultural or biorenewable starting points, and continue to bring “old” and new products to the industry,
1
which are produced more in line with the principles of green chemistry.
2
Our work within this new mindset has continued forward, and major advances are already in place in the coatings industry. The global plastics waste problem has heightened awareness of the responsibility of current generations to actively address the 300 million tons of plastic waste produced every year.
3
In the United States, the EPA estimated that in 2017 only 8% of plastic material (2.9 million tons) in the solid waste stream was being recycled, with the rest going to landfills (26.8 million tons) and incinerators (5.6 million tons).
4
In 2017, global plastic waste was calculated at 9.1 billion tons.
5
In addition, 8.8 million tons of plastic waste is flowing into our oceans each year.
6
We present here the encouraging results from a designed study looking at the combination of recycled and renewable feedstocks, as well as the use of non-metallic corrosion inhibition, resulting in a new product for superb metal substrate protection.