-
Resene - Source: ONE News -
Watch Video
Paint development and marketing company Resene has won the $1 million research and development award to develop a 'greener' paint.
The company scooped the prize awarded by Crown institute Industrial Research Limited (IRL) as part of its "What's your problem, New Zealand?" competition.
The competition is part of IRL's bid to encourage the productivity and competitiveness of New Zealand firms through R&D investment.
Resene managing director Nick Nightingale says the company had been trying for some time to source a paint that had a higher content of quality renewable resins, but without luck.
He says most paints in the market use a large amount of non-renewable resources in their resins.
Sustainable paints currently available have around 30-40% sustainable content whereas Resene is looking to boost this to 80%, according to the New Zealand Herald.
The company believes it has now found a way to make a resin and the award will allow it to work with IRL to develop the product.
While the details of the solution remain a secret, it will reportedly be a water based paint using renewable ingredients likely from existing industrial waste streams.
Nightingale says the final product, if successful, will make a big difference to the paint market.
Resene beat around 100 entries including nine finalists: Dynamic Controls, Fisher & Paykel Appliances, Gallagher Group, Glidepath, Group3 Technology, Mars Petcare NZ, Pacific Edge Biotechnology, PowerShield, and Pultron Composites.
