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Editor’s Note: This is the first in- With 1,400 manufacturing plants The paint manufacturing industry in
stallment of a two-part report on and an output of more than 1.1 the United States has done much to
waste management trends in the paint billion gallons per year, the U.S. change this image in recent years.
industry. while this part focuses on paint industry is a significant cus- Paint makers have reduced the toxic-
paint manufacturers, the second in- tomer group for waste service ven- ity and ignitability of many types of
stallment will focus on the major dors. In a recent study involving paint. In addition, the industry has
paint-using industries. three paint factories, non-wastewa- taken steps toward further reducing
ter generation rates ranged from the amount of manufacturingwaste it
by Alan J. Dug about 300 to 450 pounds per 1,OOO generates by recycling pre-consumer
gallons of paint. In recent years, materials that have traditionally been
however, paint makers have re- discarded.
T h e paint industry makes a variety duced the toxicity and ignitability This report introduces readers to the
of products that preserve, protect and of many types of paint by curtail- current state of paint manufacturing.
enhance the objects to which they are
applied. Although the post-consumer
residuals of these products are usually
ing the use of metallic pigments
and organic solvents, and a grow-
ing trend toward recycling paint
A brief overview of the industry is
followed by an examination of recent
changes that have been incorporated
0
labeled non-hazardous, they have wastes has meant volume reduc- into paint-making processes to make
often been termed “environmentally tions as well. them more environmentally friendly.
unfriendly” - as has the industry The final section reviews waste re-
responsible for creating them.
$12,000 8
1
.r(
$10,000
$8,000
0
$6,000 2
$4,000
s4
$2,000 22
Figure 1
duction activities currently being im- less, recent trends indicate that paint
- 1 plemented at paint plants. exports are increasing. In 1992 and Table 1 Primary Raw
Materials in Paint
1993, paint exports ran at around 4 to
The Paint-Making Industry 5 percent of domestic production lev-
els, while imports represented only Pigments
A total of 1,421 paint manufacturing about 1 percent of total U.S. sales, 0 Titanium dioxide
plants in the U.S.were tallied by the according to data compiled by the Iron oxides
Department of Commerce in 1992. U.S. Department of Commerce. Many others, depending on
The fact that these 1,421 plants are Most of the foreign trade involves color desired
owned by 1,133 companies suggests paints used in residential applications. Solvents
that the industry is dominated by Hydrocarbon compounds
small manufacturers; in fact, most Three Types of Paint
Ketone compounds
paint manufacturing plants have 0 Alcohol
fewer than 20 employees, and only Although there are thousands of dif- 0 Water
about one plant in 10 has a payroll of ferent paints on the market, they can
100 or more. generally be categorized into one of Resins
Both the number of plants and the three types: oil-based paints, water- Alkyd
number of companies that manufac- based paints and powder coatings. 0 Acrylic
ture paint have decreased nominally While some may argue that powder Vinyl
over the past 15 years, a trend that is coatings are not technically paints, Additives
generally attributed to consolidation they are essentially paint substitutes
of the industry. Many of the larger 0 Talc
and are therefore also addressed in
paint manufacturers have recently this report. 0 Clay
found near major cities across the paints are used primarily in industrial With powder coatings, the use of a
US., a few states host a dispropor- and special-purpose applications. solvent is completely eliminated -as
tionate number of paint manufactur- The solvents in oil-based paints con- are many of the environmental con-
ing facilities. California is home to tain a variety of naturally occurring cerns that typically accompany paint
nearly 15 percent of U.S.paint plants, organic petroleum distillates. Oil- residuals. The ingredients in powder
while the top-five paint-producing based paints generally have higher coatings include thermo-setting and
states (California, Illinois, New Jer- heat values and greater concentrations thermoplasticresins, pigment, curing
sey, Texas and Ohio) comprise 42 of volatile organic compounds agents, catalysts, reinforcing filler,
percent of the total. And two of every (VOCs) than do water-based paints. and flowcontrol agents. The coat-
three paint plants in the U.S. is lo- Paints in this group typically contain ings are applied to surfaces by a vari-
cated in one of the top-10 paint-mak- solids concentrationsof 60 percent or ety of techniques, including dry elec-
ing states, which also include Florida, greater. trostatic spraying, fluidized bed ap-
New York, Michigan, Missouri and 0 Water-Based Paints
plication, and flame spray applica-
Pennsylvania. Water-based, or latex, paints ac- tion.
If all U.S. paint makers were to count for about 41 percent of domes- Although powdercoating technol-
consolidate into one corporation, the tic production, and that portion is ogy has been around since the 1950s,
conglomeratewould rank 36th among growing. Water-based paints feature it wasn’t commercialized until the
Fortune 500 companies. And the in- an aqueous solvent base augmented early 1980s. During that decade,
dustry is still growing; since 1986, by an organic co-solvent in concen- powder coatings enjoyed tremendous
production levels have grown by trations of 5 to 40 percent. Water- success; annual production grew by
about 2 percent per year, on average borne coatings include aqueous emul- as much as 15 percent in some years.
(see Figure 1). sions (latex paint), colloidal disper- While early growth in the powder-
The domestic paint market accounts sions, and water-reducible coatings. coating market was achieved by dis-
for the vast majority of sales by U.S. Latex paint is used primarily for ar- placing oil- and water-based paints in
producers; over the past decade, only chitectural purposes. As residuals, established applications, about half
2 to 3 percent of domestically-made these paints are less likely to be haz- the current growth in powder-coating
paint has been exported. Neverthe- markets consists of newly emerging
Water-BasedPaints: Water,
1
Ammonia, Dispersant,
Pigments, Extenders
Organic Solvent-Based Paints:
Resins, Pigments, Extenders,
I Grinding
I11111, Baghouse Pigment Dust,
Solvents, Plasticizers
Filter Cartridges
-+El- Filtering
Equipment Cleaning Waste
1
Containers 0 VOCs, Spills,
Equipment Cleaning
Waste, Off-Spec Paint
1
I Find Product
Inventory
Figure 3
I- 0 Returned Paints,
Obsolete Paints
Product Mix Oil-based paints (2/3 of Oil-based paints (2/3 of Architectural paints;
total output); water- total output); water- metal surface coatings
based paints; lacquers based paints; stains;
varnishes
@ Table 3 Waste Generation Rates and Disposal Costs for Plants in UCSC Study*
Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, University City Science Center (I 994)
Paint Manufacturing Waste: 1960,most of the implementationhas compare the plants in a strict “apples-
A Three-Facility Case Study been limited to the largest of facilities. to-apples” sense. Nevertheless, the
However, as disposal costs have risen major manufacturing steps used at
Making paint is a relatively simple over the past decade, smaller manu- each plant - the grinding, mixing
operation; pigments and additives are facturers have signed on to more pro- and filtering processes - are rela-
dispersed into a solution of resin and gressive waste prevention measures. tively universal.
solvent and then mixed. Most manu- The EPA has contracted with the Production levels at the three plants,
facturers use the same set of equip- University City Science Center, a re- which make a wide variety of paints
ment to produce many different types search group based in Philadelphia, to and coatings, ranged from 1.5 million
and colors of paint, including both help small and mid-sized paint manu- to 6.O million gallons during the year
organic solvent-borne and water- facturers minimize their generation of of the study (see Table 2).
borne paints. Each type and color of hazardous waste. Four paint manu- The paint-waste generation rates of
paint is manufactured in a separate facturing plants were selected to take the three plants ranged from about
batch, and manufacturing equipment part in a pilot assessment program. 300 to 450 pounds per 1,000 gallons
is thoroughly cleaned between While one of the case studies was too of paint (see Table 3). Although great
batches to prevent contamination. limited in scope to be included here, variance exists among paint makers in
Caustic or alkaline cleaning solutions the studies conducted at the other terms of waste generation, these fig-
are generally used to remove dried three plants provide useful insights ures provide a good picture of the
paint from equipment. into the waste management concerns industry’s typical plant, according to
A historical review of paint manu- of the industry as a whole. several paint manufacturers.
facturing waste shows that, while a Due to variations among the three At each of the plants studied, con-
fair amount of innovative reuse tech- studies - they were performed by taminated solvents made up about 50
niques have been implemented since different universities using different percent of the total waste stream.
waste categories - it is difficult to Due to in-house minimization efforts
Comment: Only practical for producers of large quantities of specific paints. This also greatly
reduces the amount of bags and pigment dust generated.
Paint Waste Coat let-down tanks prior to cleaning I 20-25% 1 18-24 months
* Comments provided by Mark Levine, manufacturing committee chair for the National Paints & Coating Association.
Sources: US. Environmental Protection Agency, University City Science Center (1 994)
- (reclaiming solvents and using no dustry have not been specifically tar- many plants segregate nonhazardous
@ I
caustic cleaners), plants B and C gen-
erated 100 pounds less paint sludge
geted by the EPA for reduction ef-
forts. Because of this, the industry
waste streams for disposal in Subtitle
D landfills. Smaller plants are much
per 1,OOO gallons of paint than Plant has traditionally been more concerned more likely to use incinerators and
A. with producing paints that meet exact- fuel blenders, while larger facilities
Total costs for waste treatment and ing customer specifications than tend to rely more on landfills and
disposal ranged from $105 to $157 paints that have minimal impacts on solvent recyclers.
per 1,OOO gallons of paint manufac- the environment.
tured. Plant A had the highest per- “Paint manufacturers are generally Conclusion
unit disposal costs, possibly because complacent with existing waste-han-
the larger plants were better able to dling options,” says Phil Farina, mar- Over the past decade, the paint
negotiate favorable prices. Note that keting director for EnvironmentalPu- manufacturing industry has become
Table 3 does not include wastewater rification Industries (EPI), a paint- responsive to environmental issues
or wash-water disposal costs, which waste recycling company based in and consumer demands. Paints in
may add $25 to $100 for every 1,OOO Toledo, Ohio. The environmental general have become less toxic, and
gallons of paint produced, depending staff person at most paint plants has ignitability concerns have been ad-
on a plant’s product mix and local several other duties in addition to dressed. Many paint manufacturers
wastewater regulations. waste management, Farina explains; have implemented significant in-
Table 4 shows a summary of the because of this, waste treatment and house waste reduction measures,
waste reduction methods imple- disposal options are seldom given reusing and recycling many materials
mented or considered by at least one comprehensive consideration. that were previously discarded. It
of the three plants. Note that, when During El’s discussions with paint also appears that the paint-making
applied to other plants, waste reduc- manufacturers, three main criteria for industry is meeting most consumer
tion amounts and payback periods can choosing waste-management options demands -in particular, the demand
vary greatly. Prior to assessing a emerged: cost (with long-term liabil- for more water-based paints.
paint manufacturing waste stream, a ity factored in), convenience (Le., Although paint manufacturers gen-
review of these minimization efforts options that don’t require extensive erate significant quantities of waste,
is prudent as most plants will eventu- pretreatment), and transportation re- substantially greater waste streams
@ ally incorporate many of these activi-
ties due to the relatively short payback
quirements.
As for disposal options, the indus-
are generated by end users. The sec-
ond installment of this report will
periods. try’s stated preference is clearly,with focus on the major paint users -
solvent recovery and fuel blending; including building contractors,equip-
Current Options Limited however, landfill disposal is still the ment manufacturers, building con-
most common choice for many paint tractors and specialty paint users -
While many regulations impinge on waste streams because of cost and and their associated paint waste
the production of paint, wastes gener- convenience. Most paint producers streams. A
ated by the paint manufacturing in- use hazardous waste landfills for
some portion of their waste, although