British Coatings Federation Announces Coatings Care Awards Winners

AkzoNobel Decorative Coatings and Sun Chemical won the 2020 British Coatings Federation (BCF) Coatings Care Awards. 

Whilst the BCF Awards will resume in full next year, winners of the BCF’s Coatings Care Awards were celebrated remotely in November.

The Coatings Care program recognizes improvements in the performance of the coatings and printing ink industries across 45 KPIs in the fields of the environment, safety, health, distribution and product stewardship. 

The coatings industry overall saw record low levels of energy used per tonne of production in 2019, and record low levels of waste sent to landfill, at just 4% of the 1996 figure.

The new AkzoNobel Decorative Paints plant in Ashington won the Coatings Care Overall Best Performer Award, sponsored by Verlingue. 

The Ashington site had zero waste sent to landfill with the waste recycling rate above the sector average, with the remainder being incinerated for energy recovery. 

Solvent emissions per ton of production were amongst the lowest in the industry. Full emergency plans are in place, including involving the local community in testing those plans.

“Congratulations to both the shortlisted and winning companies who take part in the Coatings Care program each year,” said Tom Bowtell, BCF chief executive. “In a difficult period, we are pleased to see companies continuing to engage and monitor their actions against tough KPIs. In particular, well done to our worthy winners, AkzoNobel Decorative Paints in Ashington and Sun Chemical.”