Press Releases
Paints is Clear Product Stewardship Winner
July 2007
ICI Paints is the winner of the Product Stewardship category in this year's ICI Leadership Awards for Sustainability.
Working with partners Carillion and Forum for the Future, ICI Paints have developed a Streamlined Life Cycle Analysis process which quickly identifies the main product impacts in all stages of the life cycle.
The awards were presented at a recent ceremony at ICI?s London headquarters by Chairman Peter Ellwood and Chief Executive, Dr. John McAdam.
This novel Streamlined Life Cycle Analysis (SLCA) tool is based on the internationally recognised Natural Step Framework for Sustainable Development. The matrix assessment tool reveals approximately 80% of the environmental impacts over the complete life cycle of any product within an afternoon?s workshop. It can be used to communicate sustainability benefits/impacts to non-experts and to benchmark progress towards full sustainability.
The first application of this unique SLCA approach in Dulux paint was used to develop strategies to improve the sustainability of paint. This included defining specific projects to reduce the emissions (solid, liquid and gaseous) profile of paint across its complete life cycle, from extraction/ production of raw materials through manufacture and use to ultimate end-of- life disposal.
This work was instrumental in obtaining external funding for ICI Paints to carry out research and deliver technology within the DTI Technology Programme?s Zero Emission Enterprise. They are working closely with a major UK Trade customer (Carillion), as a representative of the demands of the whole construction sector.
SLCA has also provided a rigorous sustainability filter to help Paints' technical and marketing staff to think systemically about the opportunities that Sustainable Development can provide. This will be built into ICI Paints innovation stage-gate process, and evaluated for other ICI businesses.
