Interpreting the Road of Environmental Protection Transformation in the Coatings Chemical Industry: Solid Waste Treatment and VOCs Governance Becoming Key!

After experiencing strict control of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the paint industry is currently facing a new dilemma - the cost of solid waste treatment has doubled in recent years, and sometimes even at high prices, there is no way to handle it.

With the acceleration of the national process of air and soil pollution prevention and control, and the increasingly strict environmental protection policies and regulations, the cost of environmental protection treatment is rapidly rising. After experiencing strict control of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the paint industry is currently facing a new dilemma - the cost of solid waste treatment has doubled in recent years, and sometimes even at high prices, there is no way to handle it.

At the "2017 International Symposium on Environmental Protection Regulations and Best Practices in the Coatings Industry" held in Beijing recently, representatives from the conference combined relevant policies and implementation status of solid waste in North America, Europe, and China, as well as the experience of advanced enterprises in solid waste management, to explore ways of solid waste management in the coatings industry, such as solid waste treatment, waste packaging treatment, and waste paint treatment. The meeting also held discussions and exchanges on environmental hotspots such as VOCs emission control during the production and coating process.

The Embarrassment of Solid Waste Treatment

Sun Lianying, President of the China Coatings Industry Association, pointed out that "promoting transformation through environmental protection and seeking development through green" has become the development vision of the Chinese coatings industry. In this context, it is urgent to increase the efforts to reduce VOCs and solid waste emissions and governance. However, in terms of solid waste treatment, the coating industry also faces severe challenges.

It is understood that the state stipulates that the solid waste generated by enterprises must be disposed of by a qualified third party, but currently in China, the treatment capacity of waste treatment companies is limited and the level is uneven. What's even more troubling is that there are limited institutions in the country that can provide waste treatment qualification certification. Although various regions are actively expanding their waste treatment capabilities, there is still a serious shortage of production and demand. Some enterprises cannot find suitable third parties to handle waste for 3-5 months each year. And the pressure on processing costs is very high, especially in some southern cities where the cost of waste incineration even reaches 18000 yuan/ton. For the first time in 2016, PPG's waste disposal costs in the Asia Pacific region exceeded those in Australia, which has always been in the top position.

Dr. He Yi from the Solid Waste and Chemical Management Technology Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection stated that although the centralized utilization and disposal capacity of hazardous waste in China has significantly improved during the 12th Five Year Plan period, the development of the industry is uneven. There is a gap in the incineration and landfill disposal capacity in some regions, with incineration and landfill facilities in the central and eastern regions being at full capacity or even overloaded; The homogenization competition in the comprehensive utilization industry is severe. In 2015, the national load rate of hazardous waste utilization facilities was only 26.4%. The phenomenon of repeated construction of high-value hazardous waste utilization facilities, oversupply, and scattered industries is prominent, and excessive emissions often occur. At the same time, there is insufficient technological support capacity, a lack of basic research, and unclear identification institutions and procedures for hazardous waste. This is all the reason why the current cost of solid waste treatment has skyrocketed.

He Yi specifically reminds that although water-based coatings are excluded from the National Hazardous Waste List (2016 edition), this does not mean that waste generated during the application of water-based coatings for barrier coatings or spray painting and painting processes does not belong to hazardous waste. The definition of hazardous waste in the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste refers to solid waste with hazardous characteristics that is listed in the National Hazardous Waste Catalogue or recognized according to the national hazardous waste identification standards and methods. Therefore, although water-based coatings are not included in the National Hazardous Waste List, it is still necessary to determine whether they belong to hazardous waste according to the national hazardous waste identification standards and methods.

Drawing inspiration from 'stones from other mountains'

Europe and America have rich experience in the solid waste generated by paint coating, and multinational corporations have also taken effective measures in this regard, which is worthy of reference for domestic paint companies.

——PaintCare Program

Mr. David, Vice Chairman of the Coatings Industry Association of America, explained and compared the governance, legislation, regulation, and practices of solid waste and hazardous waste in North America and Europe. Special introduction was given to different regulatory projects on building coatings in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, including PaintCare, ProductCare, etc.

David introduced that in the United States, paint waste includes unused raw materials, cleaning materials, filtering materials, substandard products, dust, laboratory waste, packaging waste, etc. For packaging drums, if there is no more than 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) of material remaining in the container, or if the packaging container is below 110 gallons and the material balance does not exceed 3% of the total weight, and if the container is above 110 gallons and the material balance does not exceed 0.3% of the total weight, it can be considered an empty container for recycling.

In addition, some developed countries and regions have also established recycling systems for coatings, where consumers purchase coatings at a price that includes a certain deposit, which is refunded when the packaging container is returned after painting, and then professional institutions handle these solid waste. The American Coatings Industry Association (ACA) pioneered the Paint Management Program PaintCare in Oregon in 2009 and has since promoted it in other states. Currently, 12 million gallons of paint have been recycled. In May 2016, the British Coatings Federation (BCF) launched the PaintCare program. This is an industry-led project for recycling unused coatings. In April 2016, the Australian Coatings Manufacturers Federation (APMF) implemented the Paintback Program, a comprehensive national voluntary management plan for waste coatings and coating packaging.

——Team collaboration to identify 'waste streams'

PPG is committed to working together with upstream and downstream to reduce the generation of solid waste. At the end of 2015, it proposed to reduce total waste generation by 10% by 2020. Chen Hong, the EHS project manager of PPG Asia Pacific, shared the company's practical solutions for solid waste management. Chen Hong believes that compared to large chemical industries, the paint industry has more manual operations, lower automation, and more obvious situations of leakage, so there is more room to reduce the production of solid waste. PPG has developed a process called 'waste logistics', aiming to systematically analyze the process of waste generation, identify opportunities for improvement, help the entire company achieve its sustainable development vision, better utilize resources, and achieve operational goals. In the identification process of "waste logistics", a team composed of production, quality, warehousing, and technical personnel mainly conducts on-site inspections to discover what waste will be generated? What is the quantity? So we can think about how to reduce the generation of waste.

Reducing VOCs and Looking at the Whole Life Cycle

In recent years, regulatory measures for VOCs emissions in China have been continuously tightened, as shown in Figure 1. The 2016 Action Plan for Reducing Volatile Organic Compounds in Key Industries screened 11 key industries such as coatings, automobiles, and furniture to accelerate VOCs reduction. The plan is to reduce the use of solvents and additives such as benzene, toluene, xylene, and dimethylformamide (DMF) by more than 20% during the implementation period of 2016-2018, and to achieve a coating product proportion of over 60% with low (no) VOCs. Industrial coating industry: The comprehensive removal rate of VOCs in containers is 80%; 70% of coil manufacturing; Steel structure reaches 30%. The number of VOCs control projects has increased from around 20 to around 150, and emission limits have been tightened to 10-15% of existing standards. The emission standards cover the entire process, including process discharge, storage tanks, loading and unloading and transfer, wastewater treatment units, and so on.

Since 2007, ASD China has been upgrading its product strategy by replacing solid solvent based systems with water-based paint systems and high solid paint systems, reducing solvent consumption by thousands of tons annually. Yan Fucheng, Product Director of ASD Greater China, believes that in order to achieve sustainable VOCs emissions reduction, effective cooperation between the industry, regulatory authorities, and social public welfare should be achieved first, and regulations should be formulated for a reasonable balance of specific market segments to fully understand products, product lines, and their utilization efficiency.

Xiu Guangli, Vice Dean of the School of Resources and Environmental Engineering at East China University of Science and Technology, pointed out that there are still many challenges and confusions in reducing VOCs emissions. On the one hand, there is a lack of professional VOCs management talents, different cities have different control systems, different definitions of VOCs, and different detection methods; On the other hand, companies are at a loss when choosing control technologies. In addition, the conflict between VOCs control and policies such as safety, fire protection, and energy conservation, as well as the contradiction between controlling investment and meeting emission standards, also puts enterprises in a dilemma. He suggests that companies and governments should consider the direct and indirect contributions of emission reduction measures to haze pollution reduction when making decisions, as well as the relationship between water-based coatings and water pollution, solvent based coatings and air pollution. At the same time, attention should also be paid to the secondary pollution caused by VOCs emission reduction measures. For example, combustion methods can increase nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions; The absorption method can cause water pollutants; The adsorption method can cause solid waste pollution, etc. Therefore, benefit analysis based on the entire lifecycle is the key to selecting reasonable technologies.

Yang Yuande, Secretary General of the China Coatings Industry Association, believes that the "three wastes" generated during the coating process are much greater than those generated during the coating production process. The paint and coating industry needs to reduce solid waste and VOCs emissions, with a focus on improving product yield during the production process, achieving fully enclosed integrated production, preventing spills and leaks, implementing lean management, blocking the generation nodes of "three wastes", and improving collection and treatment rates. In the coating production process, on the one hand, it is necessary to use high solid, water-based, and solvent-free coatings; On the other hand, improving the coating method and increasing the utilization rate of coatings; In addition, in terms of terminal treatment, it is necessary to improve the collection and treatment rates of "three wastes", and purchase and use terminal treatment equipment correctly.