Important links to the full report on the health and environmental impacts of a ubiquitous material - paint. Thank you for this work, Martha!
Curious about the relative environmental impact of different types of paint? Henning Larsen has authored the climate evaluation part of the paint study released by the Danish Consumer Council Forbrugerr?det T?nk. Thirty different paint indoor paint products have been evaluated on both health and environmental criteria. The take-aways from the life cycle calculations are: ·????????Mineral based paints have markedly less global warming potential than acrylic (latex) paints ·????????The amount of paint used is a critical factor: paints with high area coverage per liter or with good coverage with one layer have a lower climate impact ·????????To improve the data quality - more paint manufacturers need to publish environmental product declarations and a generic dataset for plant-based paint would sure be nice-to-have Food for thought, the quip “the most sustainable building is the one that’s not built” applies to climate impacts of paint as well. In other words, do consider whether the surface actually needs to be painted. If you must apply indoor paint, consider whether mineral-based paint could suit the application. The Climate Impact of Indoor Paint report is available here: https://hnglr.sn/4dwKpBD The Danish Consumer Council’s online ranking (chemical content and off-gassing) is here, scroll to end for all project reports: https://lnkd.in/gpgkiYzN -?????????The technical report Problematic chemicals in paint by the Danish Technological Institute -?????????Release of microplastics M?linger p? malings slidstyrke og frigivet mikroplast ved mekanisk slitage by Aalborg University -?????????A short summary of the entire project in Danish by the Consumer Council Forbrugerr?det T?nk Thanks to all for a solid collaboration and heartfelt thanks to Realdania and Grundejernes Investeringsfond for funding the project.