The Environmental Impact Analyser was developed to help Product Developers identify significant changes in carbon, water and waste from a new paint formulation across significant stages of the lifecycle of paint.

The process
The first step is to choose a baseline against which the impacts will be measured.  For example, the savings for the new Dulux matt used the 2008 formulation as a baseline.

The impact of the product is considered from extraction, growing and pre-processing of raw-materials to processing at the factory.  

To gather this information for AkzoNobel we first contacted primary suppliers, and then supplemented this with secondary data.

For chalk pigments, for example, Dulux’s main suppliers provided the processing impacts directly. For the impact of mining the chalk, we used publicly available data from a mining company.  The transport impacts were calculated from distances given by the supplier using conversion factors for shipping and road transport from The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).  A simplified summary of the data sources is shown in the chart below.

The final step is to check how sensitive the percentage savings calculated by the EIA are to the assumptions made, and to ensure the savings identified are conservative and appropriate.

Overview of data sources for Dulux paint

Scope

Included:

• All greenhouse gases (not just carbon dioxide) and water and waste;
• Extraction, growing and pre-processing of ingredients;
• Manufacturing of raw materials;
• Manufacturing of paint;
• Transport up to the manufacturing stage; and
• The global warming potential of any material emitted during use.

Not included (no reason to believe they are different for the new compared to the baseline):

• Storage;
• The life-cycle after factory gate;
• Packaging (being addressed separately); and
• Manufacture and maintenance of plant and machinery.

Continuous improvement
The environmental impacts associated with key ingredients are recorded in a database that can be updated as new information is made available or as new ingredients are identified.

For more information contact info@forumforthefuture.org