Start-ups paint the future with sustainable contributions

The push for sustainable mobility is gaining momentum. Automakers, suppliers and transport providers are all scrambling to clean up their operations and to offer more eco-friendly products and services to the market. On top of that, they are cleaning up their operational footprint and supply chains.

For the paint and coatings segment, sustainability credentials have become an absolute corporate must-have. While the segment’s history is coloured with harmful practices—everyone will have heard about the dangers of lead paint and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—today’s players are all about going green. In some cases, that means bringing in outside help and adjusting the traditional business model.

Innovation in the can

AzkoNobel can trace its roots to a paint factory that supplied horse-drawn carriages back when Napoleon was riding around the streets and today it supplies paints and coatings for the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Scania, Volvo, General Motors and McLaren. Paint may sound simple: mix together solvent, pigment, additive and resin, then pour it into a tin. “There is much more technology behind this,” Raymond de la Court, Managing Director of AkzoNobel Benelux Decorative Coatings, tells media during a tour of the company’s Sassenheim site. “It is all about what you put into the can, the  innovation.”