Buildings are the second largest user of plastics globally, representing 20 per cent of all plastics consumed around the world.
While plastics play a key role in the building industry due to their unrivalled performance, they also come at a growing cost to the environment and public health. This problem is only expected to grow – plastics are being used in a mounting range of building components and the demand is projected to almost double by 2050 to 150 million tonnes.
Some plastics are considered more problematic than others because of the toxicity of the many chemicals – including monomers, additives, processing aids, and more – used in their production and the lack of responsible management options.
Plastics commonly used in construction include polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene, polycarbonate, acrylic, and polyurethane acrylic, expanded polystyrene (EPS), and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) – used in a variety of applications, such as pipes, roofing, and coatings.
Coatings are used extensively in the building and construction market for protective and decorative purposes in structures, components or machinery in the built environment. Even though coatings only represent a relatively small proportion of the emissions associated with the lifecycle of a building, the industry is subject to a considerable share of regulations due to their relatively high concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOC).
When coatings go through the application and drying stages, VOCs are released into the air, which continues as the coating completes the curing process, posing risks to human health and wellbeing.
Therefore, a core focus for the industry is to reduce VOCs, for example through the development and adoption of alternative formulations, compositions and environmentally friendly processes in place of more conventional sources such as crude oil.
VOCs and their health risks are not the only issues making coatings problematic. According to reports by Habitable and architecture firm Perkins&Will, 18 per cent of microplastics in the ocean come from paints applied to buildings.
In another report by the World Economic Forum, it is estimated that the volume of microplastics from paint on steel surfaces alone that enter the ocean every year could be as high as 2.25 million tonnes, equivalent to 225 billion empty plastic bottles.
This highlights that while coatings play an important role in protecting structures and buildings and improve their durability, the industry should continue to develop sustainable solutions that support green building objectives without sacrificing their protection capabilities.
Building developers and designers are increasingly being encouraged to use products and materials that have environmentally, economically, and socially preferable impacts and reduce the embodied carbon in the design and construction of buildings and infrastructure.
For example, Green Building Councils have introduced several initiatives to increase the construction industry’s sustainability uptake, such as life cycle assessments, environmental labels, green building certification systems, and LEED material ingredients reporting of building materials and products used in the construction and operation of structures. However, as these initiatives generally operate on a voluntary basis, governments have also begun to regulate the production, use and disposal of plastics in the industry.
Examples around the world include the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy as well as the Construction Product Regulation with the latter ensuring any plastic used in building materials meet specific performance standards regarding safety, fire resistance, and environmental impact – requiring manufacturers to provide detailed information about their plastic products.
The aim of these regulations is to support the requirements of green construction schemes, enabling developers, builders and designers to make informed choices on the products they choose in relation to the chemicals used, the impact on indoor air quality, and the broader environmental impact.
