Is Your Paint Poisoning The Planet?

While we’re all cutting down on plastic straws, plastic bags and plastic packaging, other less obvious forms of plastic remain hidden around our homes – often encircling our very walls. Most of the paints on offer in this day and age are made-up of petrochemicals (you know that stuff we want to stop pumping into our cars?). But there is a way to decorate your home with much greener formulas. We caught up with founder of plant-based paint company Edward Bulmer to learn more.

Q&A With Plant-Based Paint Maker Edward Bulmer

What dangers can paints pose to people and the planet and what makes your paints comparatively eco-friendly?

Regular paints like ‘conventional’ farming are highly reliant on energy intensive processes and artificial chemicals. Some people are made ill by the petrochemicals in paint but the majority of us are suffering because modern paint making relies on ‘externalising’ the negative effects of manufacturing processes – in other words – pollution. This pollution is in the form of poor air quality, microplastic residues and carbon emissions.

You describe your paints as plant-based and petrochemical free. What are they made of?

Largely minerals and water. We do not need petrochemicals as our binder is made from plant materials, our pigments are mineral rather than synthetic dyes and we do not use multiple chemical additives to achieve good application performance.

Tell me about your origin story. When did you first realise you needed to react in response to the climate crisis?

In my early twenties I could see that organic farming balanced nature, animal welfare and human nutrition far better than agri-tech. It was a short step to realise we were doing the same thing to the biosphere by pumping it full of greenhouse gases through our energy systems and our addiction to plastic. A concerned interior design client gave me the opportunity to try out natural paints (they have been around for millennia) and I have never looked back – not least because the finish is so much more beautiful!

Image courtesy of Edward Bulmer

What is one thing you wish more people knew about most modern paints?

That they are just plastic by another name and they will always remain that – they never fully breakdown, they just become microplastic. The waste comes about because to make the byproduct of petrol refining useful you have to create a lot of waste in the processing.

Should we be wary of green-washing when choosing paints and how can we separate the fakes from the real deal? Can low and no VOC paints still be harmful and how?

Yes. See if the paint maker has signed the Anti Greenwash Charter. See if they have nothing to hide and declare all their ingredients. See if the binder is acrylic, alkyd or vinyl resin – they are all plastic.

What do you do to ensure full transparency as a brand?

By declaring the ingredients on the tin and being the only paint company with knowledgeable people on the end of the phone who REALLY want to help you.

How do you try to encourage biodiversity through your paints?

By raising awareness and using plant derived ingredients. Our factory is in the centre of a farm that is practicing regenerative agriculture.

You say your paints and products are as environmentally friendly as you can make them – what are your future hopes for innovation?

We still have some acrylic in our eggshell which we want to eliminate.

Are you concerned about the lack of urgency across the rest of the paint industry?

Yes. We may no longer be seeing so much climate denial, we are still seeing massive urgency denial!

What Other Solutions Are There?

While CEO of the British Coatings Federation, Tom Bowtell, is similarly supportive of any steps towards sustainability in the paint industry, he is keen to stress that most of the paints used in our homes today don’t cause us any harm: ‘To state that people are made ill by decorative paints is scare mongering,’ he argues.

The BCF is a not-for-profit trade body that represents the paint manufacturers behind 98 percent of the decorative paint sold in the UK. ‘The paints sector itself is always looking to continue to improve its own environmental performance,’ he says. ‘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.’ He stresses that no decorative paints sold in the UK are toxic to health. ‘In many cases, the only hazardous ingredient in water-based paints is the preservative, which is there to preserve the paint and extend its shelf-life,’ explains Tom.

Today, more than 84 percent of paint sold in the UK is water-based, giving off very low or trace VOC during drying. Though Tom explains that VOCs may lead to poor indoor air quality – releasing chemicals that can contribute to pollution of the atmosphere and global warming – the more common water-based paints of today often contain less than 0.3 percent VOC (whereas traditional solvent-based paints may have contained more than 50 percent). ‘There will always be a trace element of VOCs, even if no raw materials containing VOCs have been added […] This is why, at the BCF, we don’t think it’s reasonable to use the term “VOC-free”.’ If you want to keep an eye out for the options with the lowest VOC then check for the BFC Trace VOC Globe on the tin, or just read the VOC content recorded on the label.

Though Edward Bulmer suggests most paints are simply plastic by another name, the BCF rejects this definition due to paint being a liquid mixture, not a solid. ‘All paints contain resins (or binders), which are added to help the pigment stick to the wall or other surface, and when dried form a film to prevent the paint from being washed off. Resins or binders, even those made from renewable sources are all polymers (a type of chemical made up of many repeating units of smaller molecules). The film that resins or binders form could be considered a “plastic” film, “when/if” you consider the definition of plastic being a polymer that is solid.’ If you want to learn more about the paint you’re using, the industry’s Green Claims Guide can help you make informed decisions about the paint you put on your walls.