Circular economy project

Bullcrem Lack is a manufacturer of high quality powder coatings recently established in northern Italy.

Its founders have many years of experience manufacturing power coatings, but the new company is born out of entirely different assumptions, taking inspiration from the words of Albert Einstein in his book, “The World As I See It”: “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Specifically, the company has been founded in pursuit of a set of organisational and production choices that go beyond the linear economy (take-make-dispose) to embrace circular economy concepts based on the “3 R’s”: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

This means the use of raw materials is reduced to a minimum, while maximising reuse of products and their parts. It is essential for raw materials to be recycled to high standards.

A communication from the European Commission in September 2020 stated that “Access to resources and sustainability is key for the EU’s resilience in relation to raw materials. Achieving resource security requires action to diversify supply from both primary and secondary sources, reduce dependencies and improve resource efficiency and circularity, including sustainable product design.” In Italy, Article 184-bis of Legislative Decree 152/06 anticipated this by defining four conditions where a residue may be considered a by-product rather than waste. The four conditions must all be met simultaneously.

In line with this existing legislation, Bullcrem Lack is offering its customers an innovative collection service for powder coatings which can no longer be used in the painting system, as defined in a contractual document which establishes:

• support for compiling the technical file at the expense of the by-product producer, compiled with reference to specific residue batches, which have the same functional profile and destination
• support for compiling the “Declaration of conformity” at the expense of the producer
• a contractually governed guarantee that there direct use will be made, without other treatments from “normal industrial practice” and “legality of use”, through the establishment of an internal procedure for managing the residue. In light of this, it is requested for a significant and representative sample of the by-product to be sent to the production site before it is collected
• in order to implement the above, the colours of the spent powder must be separated and be free of other waste (hooks, cigarette, pieces of wood, etc.).

Not wasting means we have to save: this is the only way we can face the challenges of the future

Brochure - The value of colours