ACA Sustainability Report 2022 - Report - Page 37
Responsible Production and Recycling
MEMBER STORY
Sustainability Without Compromise
For more than 70 years, Eastman has
been a leading provider of high-quality
raw materials for the global paint and
coatings industry. Eastman offers one
of the most diverse product portfolios in
the coatings industry:
• Cellulose esters for rheology
•
•
•
•
modification, defect control, and
color consistency
Solvents for achieving the desired
application and performance
characteristics
Coalescents with a wide range
of attributes to meet desired
performance and regulatory
needs
Resin intermediates, providing
unique structural options for
designing coating resins to
meet the required performance
properties
Resins, specifically Tetrashield™
protective resin system, which
make coatings more durable
through groundbreaking
weathering, chemical resistance,
and hardness.
Eastman is laser focused on innovating
for a sustainable future, and the
company’s molecular recycling now
offers more sustainable solutions
for the myriad of markets it serves
— including coatings — without
compromising performance at all levels
of substitution.
Sustainable innovation is more
important than ever, as the world is
facing a culmination of environmental
crises that require complex solutions.
From climate change to plastic waste
to depletion of natural resources, these
challenges impact both current and
future generations.
Circularity is a path to address these
challenges, which is why Eastman
is dedicated to advancing a circular
economy. This model will help drive
that needed change and improve the
quality of life for global communities
through collaboration and innovative
recycling technologies that produce
sustainable products.
Eastman’s molecular recycling
technologies provide a truly circular
solution for waste materials that were
previously destined to end up in landfills,
incinerators, or the environment. By
breaking down plastic waste into its
molecular building blocks and rebuilding
it into new materials, Eastman can
reprocess complex materials that
cannot be recycled by traditional
methods today. By 2030, the company
expects to recycle up to 500 million
pounds (≈ 225 million kg) of waste
plastic annually.
Eastman is actively working to find new
ways to reduce its own environmental
impact by advocating for the creation of
a more robust recycling infrastructure
35
and helping its partners preserve
natural resources through molecular
recycling.
To address the climate crisis, Eastman
set a goal to be carbon neutral by
2050. The company’s molecular
recycling technologies accelerate
circularity and are an element of its
strategy to mitigate climate change, as
those technologies have a 20%–50%
lower carbon footprint than processes
using fossil-based resources.
Eastman is translating this technology
to coatings and is now able to
introduce its line of Renew products
into this important market.
Eastman cannot create change
alone; it is seeking collaborations
with the coatings value chain and
are pulling for industry peers to
be successful in using advanced
recycling to turn plastic waste into
new materials. Together, both parties
can deliver a more sustainable
solution that will enable companies
to achieve sustainability targets and
reduce scope 3 emissions without
compromising performance.
Learn more about Eastman’s chemical
coatings solutions at https://www.
eastman.com/Markets/Coatings/
Pages/Introduction.aspx.