Life cycle assessment of water-based paints with emphasis on its carbon footprint generation

Due to environmental hazards that have been exhibited by solvent-based paints throughout history, the innovation of water-based paints that have equal or better performance than solvent-based paints have been invented. These innovations have led to reduction of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) commonly found in solvent-based paints. This has led to a decrease in the pollution released, reducing damage to local flora and fauna and the effect on climate change, and reduced impact on human health. Now, water-based paints are constantly used for residential areas as these pose less risks to the environment and to human health where most VOCs from solvent-based paints would get trapped inside the architectural structure. Water-based paints are indeed better for the environment, however the total life cycle of this product still utilizes energy and a variety of raw materials, though less, that may have an impact on climate change. Climate change is an ongoing problem causing extreme weather conditions negatively affecting the environment and ecosystem biodiversity. The study aims to a) analyze and identify processes that have high carbon footprint, utilizing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and b) to provide an Environmental Impact Assessment to help mitigate and give scope to the severity of its carbon footprint generation. There are five processes with regarding to manufacturing of water-based paints: Raw Materials Procurement, Manufacturing, Logistics and Distribution, Consumer Usage, and Waste Disposal, there are no processes removed. The study was able to determine that among the five processes, Logistics and Distribution generates the most carbon footprint, with a 36.14% allocation of carbon dioxide of the total process. Furthermore, recommendations were done to reduce carbon generation by choosing trucks with higher capacity, travelling shorter distances by selecting raw material suppliers nearer to the company’s proximity, and doing single trips rather than multiple ones, since primary contributor to the carbon footprint are in the phases of Logistics and Distribution