Press release - BCF Coatings Care report finds industry improvement across sustainability measures

• British Coatings Federation (BCF) has been running its Coatings Care programme since 1996.
• Coatings Care measures a range of KPIs across health, safety, and environment.
• 2024 report shows record low levels of energy used in production, accident rates also at record low, significant decrease in production waste and amount being sent to landfill.

The BCF Coatings Care programme was established to monitor and drive improvement in the health and welfare of employees, the safe operation of processes, and sustainable practices across the coatings sector. Running since 1996, it is a voluntary programme which benchmarks BCF members’ environmental performance against 45 KPIs, allowing performance changes to be measured over the years. The scheme currently has over 40 UK coatings and printing ink manufacturing sites taking part.

The 2024 Coatings Care report demonstrates continued improvement in sustainability performance in the coatings sector across a range of measures. This year also saw the highest number of companies take part in the programme since 2012.

Leading the performance improvements was positive data showing energy use falling by 12% compared to 2022. This result means that energy use per tonne of production is lower than at any point prior to 2018. 

For the constant sample of 22 companies taking part in all the Coatings Care surveys in each of the last five years, and which therefore eliminates the effect of sample changes, the result was equally good. In 2023, energy use among those companies was 161 kWh per tonne of production, down 9% compared to the previous year, 10% lower than in 2020, and the lowest recorded energy use figure since the survey began in 1996.

This year, for the first time, a majority of sites reported zero landfill waste from production, as 59% said that all waste was either incinerated or recycled. For the constant sample of 22 companies providing consistent data for the last 5 years, 16 produced no landfill waste at all.

Moreover, for this ‘constant’ group, total waste was 34.6 kg per tonne of production, 7% lower than in 2023. Indeed, over the last 5 years, this was the best result outside of the exceptional covid year of 2020. Looking at the method of disposal, recycling increased to 70% of all waste compared to just 17% in 1996, while landfill waste fell to just 1%.

Accident rates are also at a record low and well below the rate of accidents reported for manufacturing industries in the latest UK Labour Force survey. 87% of the sites surveyed by BCF for their accident statistics reported no injuries at all.

Tom Bowtell, CEO of the BCF, commented:

‘We are proud to have been running our Coatings Care programme for nearly 30 years. It enables us, as a sector, to measure performance across a range of important health, safety, and environmental indicators which, in turn, drives progress.

‘This year’s results were particularly satisfaction. Participation among members has increased to the highest levels since 2012. More importantly, though, we have seen record low levels of energy used per tonne of production and big increases in the amount of waste being recycled and much less going to landfill. While we know there is much more to be done to continue to boost our performance, this year’s report shows welcome steps in the right direction and is a tribute to the work BCF members are putting into becoming a more sustainable sector.’

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Notes:

The data used in the 2024 Coatings Care report is for the full year 2023.

About the BCF

The British Coatings Federation is the trade association for the UK’s coatings industry. It represents 148 manufacturers of paint, specialist coatings, printing inks, and wallcoverings in the UK – who are its Full members - as well as over 120 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. It helps members better understand new rules and regulations emerging from Government and also actively lobbies to bring about changes in legislation, improve regulations, adopt more sustainable practices, or maintain and enhance standards. Some campaigning is also focussed on informing consumers, as they, too, often have a role to play in making sure products are used or disposed of in a safe and appropriate way.

More about BCF’s sustainability initiatives can be found on its website here.