ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
ESSENTIAL COATINGS The contribution of decorative paints, industrial coatings, printing inks, and wallcoverings to the UK
coatings.org.uk 1
CONTENTS Introduction Chapter 1: Types of Coating Chapter 2: Essential Coatings Chapter 3: Liveable Coatings Chapter 4: Sustainable Coatings Chapter 5: Economic contribution Chapter 6: Asks from Government Chapter 7: About BCF
Many thanks to BCF members for providing imagery used throughout this document: AkzoNobel, Anstey Wallpaper Company, Flint Group, Graham and Brown, HMG Paints, Itac Adhesives, Little Greene, Sherwin-Williams, Teknos.
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INTRODUCTION
ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
Coatings are all around us. They are everywhere. In fact, you could say that coatings is the most looked at industry in the world. Some are highly visible, like paint on walls or inks on packaging. Others often go unnoticed and are sometimes unappreciated. But the reality is, wherever they are and whatever their function, they are critical to the UK economy and play an important role in everyday life. In fact, when you start to recognise the manifold ways in which coatings are used, you have to ask yourself: could you even imagine the world without coatings? This report details the ways coatings – decorative paints, industrial and powder coatings, printing inks, and wallcoverings - contribute to the world around us. It summarises the various types of coatings used and looks at their essential uses in industry across a whole host of different sectors to enable us to live better, safer, and more comfortable lives. We also take a particular look at the ways coatings assist the drive towards a more sustainable world, with a direct role in enhancing the life-cycle of products and improving energy efficiency, as well as in supporting the development of green energy infrastructure. And, of course, there is a bottom line – the huge contribution the coatings industry makes in financial and economic terms to the UK. It is a £4 billion industry, directly employing 14,000 people: and it is a net exporter. But its impact is far wider, with industries downstream – from health to aerospace – worth around £300 billion GDP per annum relying on coatings products in some way or another, and over 300,000 people working directly with coatings every day. The coatings sector here in the UK is world-leading, both in terms of current performance and innovation. We are a success story. BCF’s members work hard to maintain that success and believe there is scope to grow still further. That ambition is certainly achievable, but we need a stable economic and policy foundation to deliver on it. There are a number of actions Government can take to help us continue to thrive and these are set out in a short chapter at the end of the report. BCF is therefore launching this report in the House of Commons, amongst many of our colleagues, friends, and key stakeholders, to evangelise about coatings and our members who make them. We hope you will find the content informative, interesting, and that you takeaway a newfound understanding of the many and varied ways the UK coatings sector contributes to the economy and to society at large.
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WHAT ARE COATINGS?
Coatings is a broad term used to describe a product that covers the surface – or substrate - of an object. This is done to enhance the object in one or more ways, be it by adding colour, to protect, or by seeking to otherwise improve performance. Coatings have been used for millennia, from cave paintings used as art or in the decoration of buildings, to the preservation of furniture and weatherproofing homes and other materials. The British Coatings Federation represents a broad range of coatings manufacturers in the UK, whose products are summarised in the categories below.
DECORATIVE COATINGS
This is the category that perhaps springs most readily to people’s minds when asked to think about coatings: the paints and other coatings applied to houses and other buildings across the country. They add protection and colour to walls and other surfaces but, as we shall see, also provide a range of other benefits to the surfaces they touch and the people who look at them.
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PRINTING INKS
Printing inks cover a huge range of applications affecting everyday life. These include both clear or coloured inks used to add colour, communicate, and protect across many different surfaces and substrates and in many different conditions. Take a look around you. What do you see? A calendar on your office wall. A newspaper on the table. That beautiful wallpaper you spent hours choosing. A carton of fruit juice, a chocolate bar, your children’s school books. All the bright, colourful things in life depend on it and yet we take it for granted. Ink - the most important medium of communication, education and decoration in our society.
ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
INDUSTRIAL COATINGS
Industrial coatings are paints or coatings that are more defined by their protective, rather than aesthetic properties. However, they can provide both, for instance providing a huge range of colours for the automotive or vehicle refinish industries. They often deploy specialist techniques, usually applied in a factory setting or used by professionals, which have been developed to maximise performance. These different techniques include: •
Powder coatings where the paint is applied in the form of a fine powder, most commonly by means of a spray gun. This imparts an electrical charge on the powder particles and directs them towards the object to be coated. The object is then subjected to heat which causes the powder to melt, flow out and form a tough, coherent film.
•
Coil coatings is a process used to apply coatings to metal sheets – often starting as large coils of steel which are then formed into a wide range of uses. This technique also enhances performance or makes surfaces easier to clean, maintain or repair.
•
Other specialist techniques might be used to boost performance and hygiene characteristics to finished products. These might be designed to protect from degradation like corrosion, abrasion, high or low temperatures, fire, chemicals and ultraviolet rays, moisture, microbes, and bacteria.
These techniques and others are used across a huge swathe of the UK manufacturing sector and in the provision of critical utilities and services.
WOOD CARE AND WOOD FINISH PRODUCTS
Wood care products are used for both decorative and functional purposes and have interior and external uses on homes and buildings. A DIYer might apply a woodstain to a garden fence, for instance. However, there are also what are known as ‘industrial wood finishes’, which are coatings applied in factories for a range of uses to give a product a protective finish, for example furniture, flooring or other wood surfaces. These might be oils, lacquers, varnishes, or other finishes depending upon need, with techniques used to achieve results becoming ever more environmentally friendly, with the vast majority of woodcare products now being waterbased.
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WALLCOVERINGS
The UK has always been a significant force in the global wallcovering market and this is still true today. There is a wide range of historic, traditional and modern printing techniques being used across the country to manufacture art for your walls, whether it be in the home or in commercial settings. Whilst wallcoverings have transformed the walls of our homes for centuries, the continual development of processes and materials, as well as the recent digital revolution, has provided a unique platform for today’s consumers to create a home tailored to their specific design and colour requirements using the various tools and imagery available.
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ARTIST’S COLOURS
BCF membership also includes the makers of artists colours, oil or waterbased paints, as well as other materials needed to produce great works of art, be it as a hobby or professionally.
ESSENTIAL COATINGS
ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
Coatings are essential to everyday life. They are all around us, used every day across the world, within virtually every industry, to make products better, safer, and more effective. Almost every single manufacturing process that results in the production of a non-liquid product includes a process for coating the finished good. Though the average consumer may not know it, coatings are everywhere and in, or on, almost everything: the breadth of uses is staggering. Coatings enable the success of a large swathe of industry, increasing longevity, preventing decay and corrosion, and enhancing the safety of the products and surfaces they are applied to. And they are also present in a more personal context. Coatings enable effective communication and creativity; they help us as individuals and groups - better understand each other, develop ideas, or set ourselves apart. The rest of this chapter gives numerous examples of the many and varied ways the coatings sector’s products can be seen as essential to the world around us. While there is not space in this report for detailed case studies showcasing every single use or application, the following pages are enough to prove the point: a world without coatings would be a much duller and less functional place. Coatings are a critical part of our surroundings and everyday life.
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AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE
BUILDINGS AND CONSTRUCTION
When asked to think of paints or coatings, most people will think about the paint or wallcoverings on the inside walls of homes or other buildings. There are a huge range of colours and textures available to decorate in an almost infinite number of ways. And when the professionals move out the DIYers move in - an estimated 30 million in the UK – with the industry selling about 165 million litres a year for this market alone. However, coatings are also used in the construction sector in a number of different ways. Masonry paints protect external walls, stopping surfaces being disfigured by staining and the penetration of water into the underlying structure. Floor coatings or coverings in residential buildings or office blocks provide further protection and different finishes for different uses. Wood care products protect window-sills, fences, or doors, while wallpapers and coverings give different grades of finish and high levels of design to homes and offices. And there is even a growth in functional coatings like those that self-clean surfaces such as glass.
Coatings are an integral part of aircraft. They help keep our planes in the sky by allowing engines that turn at immense speeds, and have to withstand extreme changes in temperatures, to operate effectively. They safeguard and protect vital internal components and, if you want an aircraft, submarine, ship, or other vehicle to be stealthy, some radar absorbing paint does not go amiss. Moreover, the more lightweight the coatings used, the less energy consumption is needed to fuel the vehicle. And coatings help us even out of this world, with highly specialist coatings deployed on satellites or even the Mars Rover, protecting against extreme temperatures, hostile environments, and radiation.
AUTOMOTIVE AND TRANSPORT
BOATS AND SHIPS
A range of specialist marine coatings are applied to all sizes of ships and boats, be they tankers, cruise ships, tugs or yachts. The coatings cover topsides, above the waterline, and must be hardy enough to protect surfaces against corrosion from the river or sea and all sorts of weather, with innovations such as anti-icing coatings. In addition, antifouling coatings are applied on the hull and keel to minimise marine fouling, i.e. the buildup of slime, algae and barnacles. These can increase the drag of a ship through the water, making it less manoeuvrable and fuel efficient. This is looked at more in the sustainability section of this report.
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In the automotive sector coatings are there for more than just colour, used in some applications you might not think of immediately. These include anti-scratch coatings for both interior and exterior surfaces, paint and coatings to protect from rust and to ensure mechanical parts operate effectively by reducing friction - even coatings on windscreen wipers to reduce noise. Buses, coaches, and trains – all have a vast range of durable coatings applied to cope with the number of users passing through their carriages, making surfaces easier to clean and harder to damage. Aside from the coatings applied in a factory setting, there are also the ‘vehicle refinish’ coatings that are applied in bodyshops and elsewhere for accident repairs. And with all of these modes of transport, any weight saved on the coating will lead to greater performance and fuel efficiency. Incremental gains of this kind are highly relevant in the world of F1 and other motor racing, for instance, where even the smallest amount of weight saved can make all the difference in lap times.
ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
FIRE RESISTANCE AND SAFETY
One of the most important types of specialist coatings are intumescent coatings. These are applied to structural steelwork and react in a fire to form an impervious layer that will protect the steel and maintain its structural integrity, giving occupants of buildings that critical extra time to escape from danger. Likewise, specialist paints that are more resistant to fire and heat, and can prevent fire spreading, are used in communal areas of buildings, like stairwells and fire escape routes, increasing the amount of time available for people to escape in an emergency. These coatings have to meet stringent test requirements and will carry certification on their performance. Coatings can be used to increase safety in other ways too, with the use of more abrasive anti-slip coatings on both internal and external surfaces, for instance.
COMMUNICATION, EDUCATION AND INFORMATION
Our printing ink members are at the forefront of communication. The obvious use of printing inks is in books, magazines and newspapers. However, there is so much more than that, with instruction manuals, logistical printouts and labels to make sure goods end up in the right place at the right time, and home ink and toner cartridges enabling more people to work at home. Schools and universities still rely on books, written exams, and other printed materials to teach and test students. Moreover, in some of its more specialist applications, ink can change colour depending on temperature and help protect against counterfeit and fraud. But it is not just written publications that utilise coatings to communicate, and nor is it just inks. Just look around the area you live in and you will see road markings painted on the ground, alongside signs helping keep people safe or make sure they know where they are and where they are going.
HEALTHCARE, HOSPITALS AND HYGIENE
Anti-microbial coatings are used across the country in hospitals and care homes – on floors and other surfaces – to prevent the spread of microbes and bacteria. Our industry also produces coatings for beds, trollies and even isolation units for the NHS, along with life-saving equipment, such as ventilators and vital signs monitors. All of these have multiple parts and components that must be coated to protect them and ensure that they work as designed. Medical devices require coatings, for everything from artificial joints to swab sticks and oxygen cylinders to endotracheal tubes; and from protective clothing to liquid plasters and even tablets. Many of these uses became critical during the Covid 19 pandemic, which also saw BCF members’ products being used to help manufacture the sneeze guards that sprang up in almost all shops and restaurants.
PACKAGING
Packaging must keep the right things in, whilst keeping the wrong things out. Printing inks and coatings are crucial ingredients to ensure packaging is effective, maximising product condition, hygiene, and shelf life. External packaging may also need to be waterproofed or have its performance enhanced in other ways, to withstand being moved around and extremes of heat or humidity. Then there is the labelling and decoration of paper, plastic and glass containers, which, likewise, have to take account of safety and protection during handling and use, and not rub off. Paper cups may need a coating to ensure they do not lose intergrity when filled with liquid. Inks are also vitally important to inform consumers about a product’s contents so they can make the best purchasing decisions possible and instructing on how it should be used.
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FENCING, FURNITURE AND OTHER WOOD PRODUCTS
Staining and protecting wooden surfaces indoors and out require different types of specialist wood coatings. Window-sills, doors, flooring, and other surfaces need to be stained and/or protected indoors, while more robust protection against weathering may be required for sheds, fences, window frames, and decking outside in gardens or on industrial sites. Wood finishes are applied in an industrial setting to office furniture, kitchen or bathroom fittings, shelving units and other household or commercial mainstays, which all require coatings to stand out and last.
FOOD AND DRINK
The coatings industry plays a vital part in food safety, protecting food from contamination and helping it remain fresh. Special coatings and printing inks are required when in contact with, or close proximity to, food and drink. These have to comply with food contact regulations, meaning they can only be made with certain substances. This applies to plastics used to protect fruit and veg or freezer products, as well as plastic or glass bottles, cardboard boxes, and tin cans. Cans, for instance, require a range of very specialised coatings, applied at low thickness but providing a high degree of protection, preventing interaction between the metal and the can contents and ensuring the quality of the food. Critically, inks on food packaging display dietary information, help identify ingredients consumers may be allergic or sensitive to, and provide storage and handling instructions to reduce the chance of wasted produce.
APPLIANCES AND TECHNOLOGY
Almost every household or office appliance or surface will have a coating applied to it. Powder or coil coatings are applied, for instance, to domestic appliances such as washing machines or refrigerators, making them easier to clean, maintain or repair. Coatings are on TV screens, credit cards, bank notes, coins, and mirrors. Moreover, specialist coatings are applied to your smartphones, tablets and laptops, inside and out, adding colour and performance, protecting against damage and prolonging product life. Specialist coatings protect against Electrical Magnetic Interference, from adverse chemicals, and weather.
INFRASTRUCTURE AND ENERGY INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING
Coatings often play an important role not just in end products but in the manufacturing processes themselves, in mechanical engineering, the functioning of machinery, and on specialist tools. They help reduce friction and smooth the operating of moving parts, as well as making them more durable and less prone to damage. Even humble nuts and bolts will generally be coated to ensure a proper and workable finish.
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Protective coatings are applied to all sorts of infrastructure and will have to meet a wide range of requirements through stringent specifications and standards before they can be used. They are applied to structures that have to survive in extreme conditions, including steelwork on bridges or oil and gas rigs, and also on various buildings across a range of purposes, from stadiums and warehouses to chemical plants. These type of robust, high-performance coatings are also essential in enabling and protecting essential energy sources and utilities, which provide us with electricity, gas, oil or water. They help to give aerodynamic properties to wind turbines, protect transformers, are key components of solar panels, and ensure the integrity and free flow of pipelines. We look more at these uses in a later chapter on sustainability.
CASE STUDY: COST OF CORROSION
ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
Rust destroys around five tonnes of steel every second worldwide. This not just damages or incapacitates infrastructure, buildings, and vehicles, it threatens the safety for all of us using them. The estimated cost of corrosion to the worldwide economy has been estimated at a colossal $3 trillion a year. In the UK alone, a study from the University of Edinburgh estimated that corrosion and wear costs the UK approximately £80 billion per annum. These are huge sums of money and costs that can be lessened by the development and use of ever more effective coatings. The coatings industry continues to create new and effective products that protect and prolong the life-cycle of infrastructure with the aim of saving vital resources and money.
CASE STUDY: INTUMESCENT COATINGS
Designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, The Shard is an 87-storey skyscraper forming part of the London Bridge Quarter development. Standing approximately 306m (1,004ft) tall, The Shard is an iconic part of the London skyline. The building’s steel frame is predominantly enclosed within the building itself. However, the upper levels of the steelwork are externally exposed, meaning in addition to protection against fire they require the highest standards of corrosion protection and durability. In this particular case, the specification required was to give 20 years external corrosion protection and also 90-120 minutes fire protection. This was achieved by the use of intumescent coatings, which were applied by the steel fabricator in their paint shop, before transport from the North-East to London and erection on site. The bulk of the steelwork was protected with an intumescent product but the externally exposed, top portion of the frame, employs a more highly durable intumescent coating, derived from products used on oil and gas platforms in the North Sea. 11
LIVEABLE COATINGS
The last chapter looked at the many ways coatings are essential to the functioning and protection of key products and infrastructure. However, coatings are clearly not just a functional product. There is alchemy in what our sector does, imbuing beauty, enhancing experience, and creating leisure opportunities for millions of people around the world. The power of coatings inspires, transforms and adds colour to life – in the home, at work, and around public spaces. Coatings make creativity possible and contribute to comfort, wellbeing and character. Let’s take a look at some of the ways coatings improve the daily lives of people across society.
CREATING A SPACE TO LIVE OR WORK IN
This is the application of coatings most of us will recognise. Paint or coatings used to cover walls, floors, furniture, and appliances. But part of decorating that space – be it for work or at home – will also be about generating a mood. A room at home can be made cosy, a place to relax in, with colours and finishes used to add warmth or texture. A workplace can be designed to be more functional, with blank schemes designed not to distract, or with high-energy vibes to motivate. And if you have children, easy clean wall paints or coverings are a must!
IMPROVING WELLBEING AND HEALTH
A holistic design process can go far beyond just making a room functional or comfy. Paint has the power to improve feelings of wellbeing, by bringing light, colour and energy to buildings, rooms and spaces. Research has proven that a decorated environment can help to boost moods and change lives. Indeed, to that extent, coatings can be truly therapeutic with, for example, specially formulated interior paints helping to improve the health and comfort of groups of people who can be hyper-sensitive to their surroundings, including people with dementia or autism, children in schools, and patients in hospitals.
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ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
HOBBIES AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES
Coatings provide leisure outlets and supply many millions of people with a hobby across the country. The UK is full of avid DIYers painting or varnishing, artists colours are there for those who like to paint pictures, while hobby paints help the growing industry of wargaming and roleplaying. People relax with books, newspapers, magazines, or Sudoku books, while ink cartridges mean people can print off documents and family photos at home. Outside of the house a trip to an amusement park and ride on the latest rollercoaster, or to a football stadium to watch a match, can only happen if the infrastructure is well maintained and safe. Children’s toys will usually be coated to protect them from damage, and also be coloured with specialist inks or paints. Amateur boat owners will be familiar with anti-fouling coatings, which improve fuel efficiency of their boats, as well as keeping the hull clean.
DESIGN, MARKETING AND BRANDING
Branding plays an important role in society, allowing companies to differentiate themselves, their products, and their ethos from one another through the medium of design. Printing inks offer choices of colour and even textures, helping to achieve this with logos on packaging and through marketing campaigns using mailshots, billboards and flyers. And, of course, the battle of ideas is still fought by political parties and candidates at election times with printed literature, including the traditional election address.
SELF-EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION
It isn’t just corporate bodies that want to differentiate. Coatings help people express themselves through their choice of designs at home or by making their rooms or possessions more bespoke with paints, wallcoverings, or inks. We say ‘happy birthday, ‘thank you’ or even ‘I love you’ with cards, some with heart-felt poetry and some with more tongue-in-cheek humour, and even in old fashioned letters, delivered by snail mail, all relying on inks to help deliver our message for us.
HYGIENE AND SAFETY
And while we have already looked at how categories of coatings help keep microbes at bay in hospitals, a whole range of home goods and products are also covered with coatings designed with daily hygiene in mind and developed to keep you and your family healthy and safe. Kitchen surfaces and household appliances are made easier to clean, while certain interior coatings also contain antimicrobial additives, which help to extend the useful life of the coating by controlling deterioration or odour caused by mildew in kitchens and bathrooms. And coil and can coatings have helped prevent illness and even deaths that used to occur due to contaminated food.
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SUSTAINABLE COATINGS
It may not be obvious, but coatings are one of the greatest products invented for an environmental net positive. Paints, coatings and printing inks play a fundamental role in saving resources: they have a huge range of integral sustainable applications, including improving the longevity of infrastructure and extending the life of essential items like food or drink. Moreover, coatings help us refurbish and renew our belongings like new so that they don’t need replacing. But it goes beyond that. Coatings technology is increasingly at the cutting edge of sustainable innovation, pioneering the creation of some of the products that enable and support our national journey to reaching Net Zero. They are used to coat wind turbines and solar panels as well as used in the advanced batteries the automotive industry is relying on in the future. Moreover, coatings are now contributing to energy conservation directly themselves through, for instance, reflective or absorbative technologies. And all the time, whilst providing those sustainability benefits, the coatings sector itself is always looking to continue to improve its own environmental performance. From changing raw materials used for better environmental outcomes to minimising waste and recycling in manufacturing processes, the sector has made huge progress in recent decades. However, we know there is much more to do and you can read more about how the sector is planning to tackle some of these issues in our recently published Net Zero Roadmap. Here follows some of the ways coatings are making a difference across the world. 14
ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
THE MOVE TO GREEN ENERGY
Green energy power sources are often located in places where weather conditions are at their extremes. Wind turbines take a battering from rain and gusts, with those offshore also having to resist wear from waves and sea spray. Specialist coatings help protect these important pieces of infrastructure from corrosion and parts failure. In fact, recent research advances mean nanotechnology can be used to create self-cleaning coatings for wind turbines. Meanwhile, powder coatings are used on solar panels to give the required performance and protection from the elements.
PROLONGING LIFE-CYCLES MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY BUILDINGS
Generating more green energy is important but we can make our buildings more energy efficient too. Architectural coatings play a critical role in providing air barriers that are essential for energy efficient building enclosures, contributing to energy efficiency performance requirements found in all green building standards. Interior insulating paints can be applied to internal walls, which can prevent heat from being lost from buildings. And new technologies with heat or light reflective or absorbative qualities are being used on the outside of buildings to play a bigger role in energy conservation, helping control temperatures on the inside and thus helping to reduce energy costs. It is through this type of product that our industry will play an increasing role in enabling the UK to achieve its Net Zero target.
We have noted before that one of a coatings’ main functions is to protect and prolong the life of a product. The longer lasting a product is, the fewer resources need to be used to replace it. On a small scale, anti-scratch coatings can prevent watches, glasses, or phones being rendered unusable. This type of preservation helps reverse the damaging trend of the recent throw away society. But on a larger scale, coatings extend the life of everything from machinery to buildings, and from street furniture to bridges, protecting valuable natural resources such as wood, concrete and steel from the elements. This may mean infrastructure like bridges don’t have to be repaired or repainted as often, again saving resources, not just in terms of the amount of paint or coating used, but in having to perhaps shut down the infrastructure while it is maintained or even entirely replaced, and all the issues that go with that. For instance, if a bridge is closed for maintenance, traffic often has to be diverted, leading to more carbon emissions produced by the diverted vehicles.
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REDUCING FOOD WASTE
It is not just the lifetime of the built environment that coatings help to improve. Over 9.5 million tonnes of food waste is thrown away in the UK each year. While a large part is left over from meals, a significant amount will be from food having spoiled past its expiry date. Food packaging plays a major role in reducing food waste, communicating best before dates - printed on the packaging or even directly on the product, such as eggs. Coatings and inks are critical to help protect and prolong the shelf-life of food and drink meaning less is wasted and thrown away.
PROTECTING SPECIES
Marine paints have broader environmental benefits than just fuel efficiency, though. By preventing the buildup of algae, crustaceans, and plant life, they also have a vitally important role in stopping the migration of invasive species between continents.
RESTORATION AND RE-USE
There is a growing trend to recycle, reuse, or even ‘upcycle’ run down or damaged items. Just look at the demand for TV programmes like the Repair Shop or Salvage Hunters the Restorers. While we might not all be as talented as some of those featured tradespeople, a lick of paint or a coat of varnish can help bring run down items back to life and reduce the need for buying new. Coatings are an important part of this environmentally friendly trend. But is not just household belongings where coatings allow repair instead of replacement. For example, the ability to repair and refinish a vehicle with appropriate coatings avoids having to replace damaged car panels, reducing the environmental footprint and cost of having to use new factory painted panels.
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GREATER FUEL EFFICIENCY
The amount of paint used on an average car is around 20kg. For a commercial aircraft, upwards of 400kg, and for a container ship, many times more. Each extra kilogram of weight means more fuel burned. The development of more efficient, lighter coatings is helping to improve fuel efficiency across the whole range of transportation options. In the case or marine paints, anti-fouling coatings have an even bigger role to play. Without these specialist coatings keeping hulls clear of barnacles, slime and weeds, the world’s shipping fleet would use 40% more fuel than they currently have to. That is a huge contribution to reducing fossil fuel use.
CASE STUDY: THE FORTH BRIDGE
ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
Famously, painting the Forth Bridge was a job that never finished. You got to the end and then you needed to start repainting again to ensure it was properly protected and covered from the elements. In recent years, though, advances in coatings technology mean that is no longer the case. After the most recent operation to recoat the Bridge back in 2011, it will not need to be repainted again for twenty five years. The materials used in the current coats of paint are similar to those used on oil rigs, and which provide similarly long life-spans there. Not only is this better for the environment, with fewer resources needed to keep repainting the structure, it also means contractors spend fewer hours on scaffolding in high winds, making the process safer in the long-run too.
CASE STUDY: WOODCARE
If the Romans had not invented the first simple wood lacquers, there would be precious little deciduous hardwood forest left across Europe today. Before that invention, the only way to have long-lasting wood products was to use hardwood trees, which have a harvest maturity of 100-150 years. Softwood trees have only about a 25-40 years harvest maturity, but are less dense and more porous and so degrades more quickly. The Roman lacquers coated the softwood and, in effect, gave it the characteristics of hardwood. As a result, a more sustainable model was created, based on the replenishment of softwood over shorter periods, and which lessened the demand for more difficult to replace hardwood. This process has been refined and developed over the years, with wood products continuing to enable softwood to be used in ways it would not otherwise be able to be. Moreover, the techniques used to achieve this have become more environmentally friendly in recent years, with the vast majority of woodcare products now being waterbased. 17
ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION The coatings sector is one of the country’s manufacturing success stories. It contributes £4 billion a year to the UK economy, with our members’ manufacturing sites spread across the whole of the UK, directly employing 14,000 people. Three out of four paint cans of paint sold in this country are made here, and the sector is a net exporter, with over £1 billion of coatings exports annually. In addition, many companies are foreign owned and bring large amounts of inward investment into the UK.
DOWNSTREAM INDUSTRIES RELIANT ON COATINGS BY GDP VALUE
£37bn
Manufacture of air and spacecraft related machinery
£32bn
Construction of other civil engineering projects
Construction of residential and non residential buildings
£62bn
Manufacture of motor vehicles
SKILLED JOBS
We are a nationwide employer, with over 140 full manufacturer members supporting skilled and highly valued jobs in all corners of the UK. From R&D lab technicians to workers on the factory floor, and from logistics and marketing teams to regulatory and operations specialists, there are a huge range of career options within the coatings industry.
£93bn
£31bn
Building completion and finishing
£11bn
Treatment and coating of metals; machining
£5bn
Building of ships and boats
£10bn
Printing and service activities related at printing
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ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION BCF FULL MEMBER SITES ACROSS THE UK (REGION)
ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION DOWNSTREAM
Other important industries downstream - worth around £300 billion per annum to UK GDP - rely on our members’ products. This means around a further 300,000 people are employed in using or applying coatings. Professional painters and decorators alone number some 200,000 in the UK, working with the latest paint materials and techniques, with emphasis on health and safe working practices. But sprayers, applicators, builders, and other skilled workers operate in a multitude of settings, applying coatings to make other products last longer, look better, or work more effectively.
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EXPORTER TO THE WORLD
The coatings sector makes an important contribution to the UK’s balance of trade, with exports of over £1 billion a year. While our largest trading partners are generally within the EU, the range of reliable and often specialist coatings made in the UK means they are in demand across the world. TOP 20 EXPORT PARTNERS, UK PAINTS, 2022 Country
TOP 20 EXPORT PARTNERS, UK PRINTING INKS, 2022
Export
Import
Balance
Country
Export
Import
Netherlands
£97,984,773
£57,216,884
£40,767,889
Germany
£97,165,734
£147,489,316
Ireland
£56,823,156
Italy Türkiye
Netherlands
£30,669,574
£20,782,493
£9,887,081
-£50,323,582
USA
£29,600,128
£14,861,606
£14,738,522
£8,531,596
£48,291,560
Italy
£23,193,298
£7,661,149
£15,532,149
£41,843,406
£68,614,558
-£26,771,152
Austria
£11,080,489
£56,450
£11,024,039
£41,434,750
£4,161,335
£37,273,415
Türkiye
£10,819,060
£91,906
£10,727,154
France
£38,811,297
£43,478,457
-£4,667,160
India
£9,308,759
£3,430,837
£5,877,922
Poland
£35,754,779
£28,872,134
£6,882,645
Germany
£8,996,020
£30,772,117
-£21,776,097
USA
£33,726,439
£26,452,609
£7,273,830
Poland
£8,797,990
£111,160
£8,686,830
Spain
£33,328,933
£26,554,114
£6,774,819
Spain
£8,275,035
£10,253,911
-£1,978,876
Belgium
£30,623,266
£24,121,747
£6,501,519
China
£7,967,512
£1,034,961
£6,932,551
Saudi Arabia
£30,453,383
£206,084
£30,247,299
France
£7,524,398
£12,270,887
-£4,746,489
China
£27,709,042
£5,591,131
£22,117,911
Australia
£5,115,864
£2,238
£5,113,626
Norway
£25,584,360
£4,824,748
£20,759,612
£4,789,075
£7,584
£4,781,491
Greece
£18,622,429
£2,716,969
£15,905,460
China, Hong Kong SAR
Sweden
£14,296,946
£22,927,607
-£8,630,661
Saudi Arabia
£4,316,657
£37,369
£4,279,288
United Arab Emirates
£13,814,809
£588,292
£13,226,517
Belgium
£4,128,412
£5,749,404
-£1,620,992
£981
£4,118,697
£11,208,350
£12,350
£11,196,000
Russian Federation
£4,119,678
Russian Federation
Ireland
£3,911,690
£1,492,009
£2,419,681
Czechia
£10,881,990
£299,740
£10,582,250
Canada
£3,796,354
£3,145
£3,793,209
Australia
£10,593,223
£1,302,267
£9,290,956
Viet Nam
£3,503,573
£52,541
£3,451,032
India
£9,868,525
£1,121,517
£8,747,008
South Africa
£3,307,619
£430,426
£2,877,193
Source: UN Comtrade, November 2023
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Balance
ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
TOP 20 EXPORT PARTNERS, UK WALLCOVERINGS, 2022 Country
Export
Import
Balance
USA
£37,037,204
£5,850,414
£31,186,790
Netherlands
£12,048,296
£2,795,089
£9,253,207
France
£7,072,799
£7,676,564
-£603,765
Germany
£2,600,496
£9,219,950
-£6,619,454
Australia
£1,856,448
£38,819
£1,817,629
Canada
£1,670,222
£22,805
£1,647,417
Italy
£1,482,000
£7,079,469
-£5,597,469
India
£1,343,138
£242,883
£1,100,255
Ireland
£1,232,705
£133,444
£1,099,261
Japan
£1,182,478
£1,024,234
£158,244
Spain
£1,015,827
£824,204
£191,623
United Arab Emirates
£962,037
£13,965
£948,072
Poland
£852,521
£741,120
£111,401
New Zealand
£737,236
£275,277
£461,959
South Africa
£640,434
£16,129
£624,305
Russian Federation
£571,965
£0
£571,965
Sweden
£564,599
£2,322,455
-£1,757,856
Belgium
£557,007
£6,571,861
-£6,014,854
China, Hong Kong SAR
£536,244
£8,275
£527,969
Switzerland
£419,036
£4,184
£414,852
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ASKS OF GOVERNMENT 1.
A PROPORTIONATE, CLEAR, AND CONSISTENT REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT
Industry needs an ambitious and proportionate Chemicals Strategy that creates a framework within which UK business can compete as a world leader. REACH stands for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, and is the main piece of regulation that has governed chemicals across the EU for the past 15 years. Following Brexit, business still needs certainty on how this process will be managed in the UK in future. Keeping the cost of registration down is important as the UK is about one-tenth the size of the EU market. If domestic costs are set too high, this will lead to reduced inward investment, a hit to competitiveness compared to the EU, and reduced exports. Since Brexit, Defra has engaged with industry, NGOs and others on creating a UK version of REACH. We are pleased that it has revised its original proposals – which it recognised as being too burdensome and costly to industry – and that a new Alternative Transitional Registration model (ATRm) will be consulted on in early 2024. While we need to see the details contained in the consultation, BCF is cautiously optimistic from what has been announced so far. It seems the new ATRm could provide a more proportionate, cost-effective version of UK REACH and that it will still retain high standards and enable regulators to do their job. We’re glad to see a similar clarity and approach is being taken by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for other chemical regulations, particularly for Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) and biocides.
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ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
2.
AN INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY TO SUPPORT MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing needs a consistent policy approach in order to maximise investment and growth. This will best be achieved through a long-term and robust UK industrial strategy, with industry itself involved in its development and, ideally, with cross-party co-operation and support. Issues to be tackled within the strategy should include future levels of business taxes, a new approach to business rates, and other measures to promote R&D and support innovation to keep the UK at the leading edge of manufacturing. The Apprenticeship Levy also needs to be reassessed as part of a broader skills agenda (see point 4). We welcome the measures contained in the recent Autumn Statement including full expensing of capital expenditure, speeding up planning applications for businesses, as well as the introduction of more Investment Zones.
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3.
SUPPORT FOR THE TRANSITION TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE UK
Government needs to pursue policies to scale up, at pace, emerging technologies such as hydrogen, carbon capture utilisation and storage, and modular nuclear, alongside the continued growth of existing green energy sources such as wind and solar. These, together with necessary connections of green energy sources to the Grid, are essential if industry is to meet future Net Zero commitments and deadlines set out in the Carbon Change Act. At the same time, direct financial support to industry via the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, or newly created similar funds, should be continued or, preferably, expanded. This pump-priming will spur businesses towards developing and installing innovative new technology and processes, less energy use and greater and faster decarbonisation. Measures to help SMEs recognise and meet their Net Zero goals would also be helpful. A scheme along the lines of Help to Grow, which previously offered small-scale support to help businesses digitise, could instead provide vouchers or funding for SMEs to buy in Net Zero planning consultancy support or software. The Government can also push demand for more sustainable products, including paints and coatings, through procurement strategies. Moreover, in addition to a drive to use more sustainable products on new builds, there should be a focus on retrofitting current homes and buildings to make them better and more energy efficient. Additional measures should include tax relief, or a deduction for capital expenditure specifically on ‘green’ investments aimed at decarbonising industrial processes. Moreover, to support moves to a more circular economy, Government needs to work closely with industry to develop practical and sustainable solutions around material use and recycling, including promoting a mass balance approach and chemical recycling.
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ESSENTIAL COATINGS BRITISH COATINGS FEDERATION
4.
LONG-TERM FOCUS ON SKILLS AND TRAINING
Amidst a growing worldwide skills shortage, there needs to be a wholesale review of skills and training policy in the UK. This should include an overhaul of the Apprenticeship Levy, which business would benefit from being more flexible in approach. The Levy should allow funds to be used across a greater range of training initiatives to ensure workforces are kept up to date with emerging technologies and processes.
5.
IMPROVING POST-BREXIT TRADE
The UK coatings sector is a net-exporter and its biggest customer market remains Europe. The Trade and Co-operation agreement with the EU is due to be renegotiated in 2026. With lessons learned and perhaps a greater willingness to engage, both the UK and EU should look to seize the opportunities an improved and closer deal could bring. A better deal for all concerned could be achieved with, for example: greater amounts of data sharing, especially as regards chemicals policy; the possible re-examining of ‘associate’ membership of the European Chemicals Agency; more recognition of equivalency of qualifications and standards; and the use of new technology to increase trust and speed up customs processes. At the same time, the UK should seek to improve trade support for UK businesses looking to export, be it to the EU or to the rest of the world. We need to see a range of help, for SMEs as well as larger companies, and an increase in the number of trade missions and trade fairs. Where new trade deals are being struck the needs of the chemicals and manufacturing sectors need to be addressed.
A continued focus on STEM subjects in schools is required to ensure the next generation of scientists keep UK businesses at the forefront of global manufacturing. This is particularly important for the coatings sector where an ageing workforce is coming up to retirement. At the same time, we need to ensure students have a path towards gaining technical skills which will make them more employable in the manufacturing sector. Technical training should not be forgotten or underfunded, either through the current T-Level programme or any future Advanced British Standard.
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ABOUT THE BCF The British Coatings Federation is the trade association for the UK’s coatings industry. We represent 148 manufacturers of paint, specialist coatings, printing inks, and wallcoverings in the UK – who are our Full members - as well as another 121 Associate members, made up of the many businesses who supply raw materials and services to the sector. BCF works to promote to the Government and the general public a greater understanding of the coatings industry’s contribution to the UK economy and how it improves people’s everyday lives. We help our members to better understand the news rules and regulations emerging from Government but we also actively lobby on various issues of concern to the businesses working in this area. These issues include the need to bring about changes in legislation, improve regulations, or maintain and enhance standards. Some of our campaigning is also focussed on informing consumers, as they often have a role to play too in making sure products are used or disposed of in a safe and appropriate way. For more information about the BCF and its priorities for Government, please contact david.park@bcf.co.uk. British Coatings Federation Ltd Spectra House Westwood Way Westwood Business Park Coventry CV4 8HS Tel: 02476 935390 Email: info@bcf.co.uk 26
BCF MEMBERS
FULL MEMBERS (MANUFACTURERS) A-Chem Limited T/A Timbashield Addev Materials Aerospace Ltd Advanced Chemical Specialties Ltd Akcali UK Ltd t/a WRX Trade AkzoNobel (International Paint) Ltd AkzoNobel and Specialty Coatings AkzoNobel Decorative Paints AkzoNobel Industrial Coatings Ltd AkzoNobel Metal Coatings AkzoNobel Packaging Coatings Ltd AkzoNobel Powder Coatings Ltd AkzoNobel Vehicle Refinishes Andura Coatings (DGH Manufacturing Ltd) Annie Sloan Interiors Ltd Anstey Wallpaper Co Ltd Anstey Wallpaper Co Ltd (WC Only) Apollo Colours Ltd Aquarius Marine Coatings AVKO Ltd Axalta Coating Systems Huthwaite UK Ltd (Formerly Spencer Coatings) Axalta Coating Systems UK Ltd Axalta Powder Coating Systems UK Ltd Bailey Paints Ltd Bankside Decor Ltd Barrettine Products Bartoline Ltd BASF Plc Becker Industrial Coatings Ltd Bedec Products Ltd Belzona Polymerics Ltd Benjamin Moore UK Ltd
Britannia Paints Ltd Chestnut Products (Finishes) Ltd Chugoku Paints B.V. Churchill Paints Limited Colart International Holdings Ltd Colorcon Ltd Craig & Rose Ltd Crown Paints Ltd Dacrylate Paints Ltd DataLase Ltd Decorative Resins International Ltd Derwent Domino Printing Sciences Plc Dulux Envirograf Epson UK Ltd Farrow & Ball Ltd Fine Decor Wallcoverings Ltd Flint Group FSi Limited Fujichem Sonneborn Ltd Fujifilm Speciality Ink Systems Ltd Gardiner Colours Ltd Glixtone Graham & Brown Ltd H S Richards Hempel UK Ltd HMG Paints Ltd HMG Powder Coatings Ltd HP Inc UK Ltd Hubergroup UK Ltd Indestructible Paints Ltd Industrial Protective Paints Inktech Ltd
Intercoat Industrial Paints Ltd Inx International UK Ltd ISF Group ITAC Limited James Briggs John Myland Ltd Johnstone’s Trade Jotun Paints (Europe) Ltd Leyland Trade Liberon Ltd Little Greene Luminescence International Ltd LVH Coatings Ltd Lysis Technologies Maker Industrial Products Ltd Mankiewicz UK LLP Manor Coating Systems Ltd Mapei UK Ltd Marabu (UK) Ltd Mipa Paints Mirage Inks Ltd Muralplast Muraspec Nazdar Neogene Ltd Newlife Paints Ltd Newpaintco Ltd Nippon Paint Automotive (UK) Ltd Owatrol UK Paintmaster Ltd Palatine Paints & Chemicals Ltd Paragon Inks (Holdings) Ltd Paramount Powders (UK) Ltd
Plascoat Systems Ltd (an Axalta Coatings Systems company) Polyvine Ltd PPG PPG Aerospace PPG Architectural Coatings UK Ltd PPG Automotive Coatings, OEM PPG Automotive Refinish PPG Industries (UK) Ltd PPG Packaging Coatings PPG Protective and Marine Coatings Pronto Industrial Paints Ltd Protective Polymers Ltd Protek Products Pulse Printing Products Ltd Pulse Roll Label Products Ltd Purecoat Limited Remmers (UK) Ltd Renolit Cramlington Ltd Resitex Ltd Ronseal RPM International Inc. Rustins Ltd Rust-Oleum UK Ltd Schloetter Company Ltd Seagulls Re-Use Sherwin Williams - Powder Division Sherwin Williams Automotive Sherwin-Williams Consumer Brands Ltd Sherwin-Williams Packaging Coatings (formerly Valspar)
Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings Sherwin-Williams UK Coatings Siegwerk UK Ltd Solar Inks Ltd Steyport Ltd Stonelux Sun Chemical T & R Williamson Teal & Mackrill Ltd Technico Surface Coatings Ltd Teknos (UK) Ltd Tetrosyl Ltd The Surface Print Co Ltd Thermaset Ltd Thomas Howse Ltd Tor Coatings Ltd Tremco CPG UK Limited (Formerly Tremco Illbruck) Trimite Global Coatings U-POL Upoxy Ltd Valspar (UK) Corporation Ltd (Witney) W S Jenkins Watco Ltd Wikoff Colour (UK) Witham Oil & Paint (Soham) Ltd Zeller and Gmelin UK Ltd
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS (SUPPLIERS) 24-7 Emergency Advice (OHES Environmental Ltd) 6 Engineering Ltd AdvanSix Inc Ahlstrom-Munksjö Malmédy SA Arxada Ltd (formerly Lonza) ASA UK & Ireland Ltd (Formerly Central Tin Containers Ltd) Azelis UK Banner Chemicals Ltd BENS Consulting (Allchemist) Berry Superfos, part of Berry Global Biocote Ltd BioLabTests Ltd Blackburn Chemicals Ltd Blagden Specialty Chemicals Ltd Bluewater Training & Consultancy Ltd BRE Global BTC (a brand of BASF) Business of Science Ltd BYK Gardner Camida Centre Colours Ltd Chemical Inspection and Regulation Service (CIRS)
Corrodere Academy Covestro UK Ltd Crusader Vans DCL Corporation Dow Europe GmbH Eurofins Product Testing Services Fenton Packaging Solutions First Graphene (UK) Ltd Friedheim International Ltd GB Technical Coatings Ltd GDB Paint & Coatings Grolman Ltd H2 Compliance UK Halborns Hexigone Inhibitors Ltd Holland Colours UK Ltd HPS Product Recovery Solutions IMCD UK Ltd Imerys Industrial Microbiological Services Ltd (IMSL) Ingevity UK Ltd IPL Global J1 Technologies Kammerer-Paper Gmbh
Information correct at time of print (November 2023).
Kromachem Ltd Lake Coatings Lankem Ltd LANXESS Ltd LKAB Minerals Ltd Lubrizol Ltd Markel Consultancy Services Massilly Portugal S.A Merck Performance Materials Ltd Microban (Europe) Ltd Millstone Durbax Ltd Newson Gale Ltd NexantECA Ltd Nordmann U.K Ltd Novasol Chemicals UK Omya UK Organik Kimya ORONTEC GmbH & Co. KG Pidilite Industries Ltd Plastribution Speciality Chemicals PML Applications Ltd PRA World Limited ProductVision Ltd Promtek Ltd Protex Chemicals Ltd
Q-Lab Europe Ltd Rakem Ltd Ravago Chemicals UK Ltd RBH Ltd (Richard Baker Harrison Ltd) Safic Alcan UK Ltd sales-i Sanitized AG SAPICI SpA Schoeller Allibert Swiss SÃ rl Semkim Seqens Custom Specialities (formerly Chemoxy) Sigmund Lindner GmbH Silberline Simpsons UK Ltd ( Roha/JJT Group) Skillveri c/o Reallusion Stort Group Sun Chemical Color Materials Synthomer Deutschland GmbH System Laboratories UK TER UK Ltd Terrafend Ltd The Apprenticeship Training Agency The Paint Foundation The Printing Charity
Think Incentives Thomas Swan & Co Ltd Thor Specialities (UK) Ltd TotalEnergies Marketing UK Ltd Toupret UK Trident Utilities Trivium Packaging UK Ltd Tronox Pigments UK Ltd TWI Ltd UL UL International (UK) Univar Solutions Universal Matter Venator Veolia Verlingue Vibro-Mac Srl Vil Resins Ltd Vogelsang Ltd Warringtonfire Testing & Certification West & Senior Ltd Wilfrid Smith Ltd Xyntra Chemicals BV Yordas Group
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