#66 Paint Zero
The world's most sustainable paint
Read time: 5 minutes
Hi, I’m Javi Gascón.
This is Climate Tech Distillery, a newsletter where I talk about one specific climate tech company every week.
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Today we’ll distill a company that’s making zero toxins, zero waste, 100% plant-based, fossil fuel-free paint: Paint Zero 🇬🇧
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What Problem Does Paint Zero Tackle❓
I’m sure paint is not the first sector you think about when it comes to climate tech but it turns out this industry is associated with huge environmental and health issues.
1. CO2 Emissions: The production of paint involves very energy-intensive processes and those are usually not powered with clean energy. One of the main manufacturers alone, Nippon Paint, reported over 2.5 million metric tons of CO₂ equivalent emissions in 2022.
2. Water: The vast majority of paints are water-based and producing them requires hundreds of millions of liters of water every day. On top of that, around 70% of the wastewater from paint manufacturing is released into natural bodies of water, causing severe pollution. FYI, around 40% of microplastics in the ocean come from paint particles.
3. Air Pollution: Paints emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chemicals that evaporate easily into the air. They contribute to ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) formation, affecting air quality.
4. Health Impact: Those VOCs can cause eye irritation, breathing difficulties, headaches, nausea, and even long-term effects like kidney damage, nervous system damage, or cancer.
5. Waste and Disposal: We all know leftover paint buckets are a messy problem to deal with. Improper disposal of paint introduces toxic waste into the environment, with a significant portion of waste being disposed of rather than recycled.
The world needs a new global benchmark for sustainable paint.
Product / Service 📦
Paint Zero has created what I call the MOAP (Mother Of All Paints). It basically solves all the big issues the paint industry is facing:
100% Non-toxic: It’s made from plant-based ingredients and is completely free of VOCs, microplastics, phthalates, or any other toxic component you can think of. Way safer for the painters, inhabitants and environment.
Light on Carbon: It contains no fossil fuel ingredients, achieves a 90% reduction in emissions vs conventional paints and reduces the transport and storage emissions by 75%.
Super Convenient: Just mix the powder with tap water to apply. Reseal the pack for future use. It’s fast-drying & odour-free, meaning improved project speed and air quality.
Long-Lasting and Lightweight: The powder format allows for long-term storage (5+ years), and it is lightweight and compact, making it easy to store and transport.
No Waste: The leftover paint is compostable and the packaging is completely biodegradable. No more half-empty tins of expired paint taking up space in your home.
Cost-Competitive: At £1.33/m² it’s significantly cheaper than leading competitors and the price will drop further to be competitive with conventional paint. On top of that, since it’s fume and off-gassing free, rooms can be handed back to the client as soon as the paint is dry, making projects several days shorter.
Market 🌐
The niche of sustainable and zero-VOC paint is set to grow a lot, especially in Europe. Both the “EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation” and the “UK Industrial Coating Regulations“ become effective in 2025 and will directly affect this sector.
On top of that all the global ESG regulations will also boost paint that is both safer for citizens and better for the environment.
Other Key Players
There are many companies now selling zero-VOC paint like Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore & Co and AkzoNobel, but they stop there.
None of them are going the extra mile to also make it waterless, biodegradable, plastic-free, low in carbon emissions, etc. That’s why this one is setting a very high new standard for sustainability in the sector.
Founding Story 🦄
Paint Zero was founded in 2023 by the British inventor Ross Harling. He’s an award-winning inventor with a track record for resolving complex challenges and creating transformational change. He studied the impact of the paint industry and decided it was time to set a very high new standard for it.
After lots of R&D the solution was clear, a powder-based paint that’s as sustainable and safe as it gets.
Even though the company is still early stage they’ve had strong B2B demand across several sectors, and some exciting retail and strategic partnerships are in progress. They were also recently selected by Amazon as one of their Sustainable Product Award winners.
Their current paint portfolio is designed for interiors, but an exterior formula is already in R&D.
Top Impact Stats 📈
1. They received the world’s first patent for a plant-based paint in a water-mixable powder format.
2. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) results show around 0.6 kg CO₂e per litre, compared with 4–6 kg CO₂e for conventional paints. Saves up to 20kg of CO₂ per room painted (5L usage).
3. 0% of all the bad stuff (toxins, plastics, oils, fumes, etc.).
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