ANALYSIS
How Much Does the Paint and Coatings Industry Contribute to Ocean Pollution? Barbara Pennati ipcm
®
from an article by Declan McAdams and Tore Angelskår* Pinovo, Bergen – Norway *
info@pinovo.com
www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/how-to-reduce-microplastics-from-paint/
(12 October 2020)
Recent studies show that the volume of microplastics from paint on steel
bridges, there is considerably less waste collection.
surfaces that enter the ocean every year could be as high as 1.5-2.25
The most quoted source of data1 on how much microplastics from paint
million tonnes, equivalent to 150-225 billion empty plastic bottles.
enters the ocean each year gives a figure of 60,000 tonnes/year, which
U
is the equivalent of six billion empty plastic bottles being dumped in the ntil recently, microplastics that enter the ocean from paint have not
ocean every year. However, recent research found that despite it being
received a lot of attention but unless paint residuals are collected
a big figure, it falls short of the real size of the problem for two main
during surface preparation and the maintenance process, they will
reasons:
largely end up in the ocean as microplastics.
• It only includes marine coatings, representing 4% of all paint volume,
Microplastics come from the impact of corrosion, wear and tear and,
and does not include Industrial Maintenance (IM) and Protective Coating
most significantly, from the traditional open-blasting methods used to
(PC) which represent another 11% of all global paint volumes sold2;
maintain steel surfaces. In fact, open sandblasting and water jetting,
• It works with the 2009 OECD estimate3 that assumes 1% of paint
which are the predominant methods of surface maintenance used
applied falls off each year (meaning an average paint life of 100 years),
at an industrial scale worldwide, count various but limited degrees of
while industry experience shows that, in fact, industrial and marine
waste collection and recycling. There is a certain level of collection inside
paints have an average life of approximately 20 years or about 5% of
controlled environments like shipyards. However, offshore, on oil rigs,
paint falls off each year.
ocean wind farms and ships, and in many situations on-shore, such as
For these reasons, the real level of paint microplastics entering the
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N.35 - 2020 OCTOBER - ipcm® Protective Coatings
