2008 Products or Services Award

Dulux Powder Coating, a business of global chemicals company Orica, and Australian research institution the CSIRO, partnered to develop a powder coating system for heat-sensitive substrates that is both emissions free and environmentally sustainable. The new system, which replaces conventional liquid coatings traditionally used in the coating of plastics and MDF composite board, has been successfully commercialised in Victoria and is now in demand with customers interstate and overseas, who are after a high-quality product with proven sustainability credentials. A life cycle assessment was rigorously applied in the development of the system, which considered the product’s environmental performance from manufacture to disposal. The product avoids the use of toxic solvent emissions from liquid coatings and reduces solid waste going to landfill.