BMW’s new poop-based paint

Even paint can be sustainable

Recycling to be more sustainable is a current trend. We have seen it applied to water that can be recycled from sewage but you may not believe waste can be also used as sustainable paint. BMW has teamed up with BASF (a German multinational chemical company) for a new kind of paint.

Down the toilet, there’s a goldmine. Once again, our poop is a resource we can use in several fields including paint.

As reported, BMW is attempting to lessen the environmental impact of its paint by switching to ones developed from renewable resources like bio-waste or wastewater from sewage treatment plants. This reduces the need for crude oil in the manufacturing process and reduces CO₂ emissions by more than 15,000 tonnes between now and 2030. BMW is the first to deploy them in Europe and its facilities in Leipzig (Germany) and Rosslyn (South Africa) also use corrosion protection and matte paints that are sustainably manufactured too. They are chemically identical to the ones previously employed and share all of the same features, but their carbon costs are lower. These actions contribute to a more than 40% reduction in CO₂ emissions from BMW’s paint manufacture. Additionally, BMW unveiled a novel painting technique called EcoPaintJet Pro that makes them save 6,000 megawatt hours of electricity and lowers its annual carbon footprint by 2,000 tonnes.

“By reducing our use of fossil raw materials, we can conserve natural resources and lower CO₂ emissions at the same time”, said Joachim Post, BMW’s head of purchasing and supplier network.

Of course, companies failed to mention the emissions from restrooms in South Africa and Germany that are released into the atmosphere later in the supply chain. It’s more a matter of meal-to-wheel when it comes to BMW emissions than well-to-wheel.

Anyway, now you’ll never look at brown paint with the same eyes.