The first unified and mandatory environmental protection standard for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has been implemented.

As June arrived, there were more blue skies in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, but the concentration of ozone rose, making it the primary air pollutant multiple times. As important "gaseous precursors" of PM2.5 and ozone, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) urgently need to be controlled. Therefore, the "first unified mandatory environmental protection standard" for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, "Limits for Volatile Organic Compounds Content in Building Coatings and Adhesives" (referred to as the "Standard"), was officially released. Starting from September 1st this year, the three regions will uniformly implement the environmental protection standards for building coatings, restricting the use of VOCs such as paints and adhesives. 

The Ministry of Environmental Protection stated that compared to sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, etc., VOCs are still the "weak link" in air pollution control. The three regions first targeted key areas and launched regional unified environmental protection standards, which will play a good demonstration role and may not be ruled out for wide-scale promotion. 

High-emission products will be restricted in more fields

Why was the first unified mandatory environmental protection standard "implemented" on building coatings and adhesives in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region?

According to statistics, with the acceleration of urbanization and the vigorous development of the construction industry, the usage of building coatings and adhesives has grown rapidly. Taking building coatings as an example, in 2000, the output of building coatings in China was 563,000 tons, and in 2015, it increased to 51.6 million tons, growing by 8 times, with an average annual growth rate of over 15%. The solvent-based building coatings and adhesives contain a large amount of VOCs and have become one of the main emission sources of VOCs in cities. 

Take Beijing as an example, with the continuous improvement of control levels of industrial and mobile sources in Beijing, the proportion of VOCs emissions caused by building coatings and adhesives has increased. By 2015, the VOCs emissions in Beijing had reached 11,000 tons, accounting for 13% of the city's surface sources. 

The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau stated that building coatings and adhesives are mostly used in open environments and cannot be collected and treated. From foreign experience, source control is an effective management method, that is, by controlling the content of volatile organic compounds in products to reduce the overall emissions of VOCs. 

Geng Yaozong, honorary president and senior expert of the Hebei Province Adhesion and Coatings Association, believes that with the tightening of VOCs control in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, paints and other high-emission products will be restricted in more fields. The application scope and market share of water-based paints and other new environmentally friendly products will be greatly expanded. "The trend of 'oil to water' will affect industries involving coating and adhesive applications, including the construction industry." 

The limit on VOCs content is the strictest in history. 

It is introduced that this "Standard" is mandatory. In the future, for building coatings and adhesives produced and sold in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, not only the VOCs content but also the packaging labels must meet the standard requirements. That is, starting from September 1st this year, when producing and selling products within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region that meet the requirements of this standard, in addition to the original product descriptions, various contents such as the content of volatile organic compounds contained in the products must be supplemented and marked on the packaging labels, such as the recommended diluent and dilution ratio for products that need to be diluted during construction.