Why is paint a problem?
Paint is made up of a cocktail of chemicals – each of which has a purpose, but causes varying amounts of environmental damage or health issues.
Problems include:
- organic solvents (which are the liquid in which all the other components are suspended) give off volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as the paint dries and for months afterwards. VOCs have been connected to asthma, chemical sensitivity and sick building syndrome, are toxic and carcinogenic at high concentrations, and form ozone (but not in a good way) when they react with nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide in the air
- the white pigment titanium dioxide (which is used to make the paint opaque) has a high environmental impact from its manufacture, including the use of scarce resources, high embodied energy (i.e. it takes a lot of energy to make it) and high emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, various nitrogen oxides, methane and VOCs
So what are greener alternatives when decorating?
GreenSpec – “the foremost green building resource in the UK” recommends using:
- water-based paint
- paint with low levels of titanium oxide
- paint with low levels of organic solvent
You may find that such paints don’t cover as well as you’re used to (there was a reason that stuff was in there), so be prepared to do an extra coat or employ a professional.
You can read a very detailed discussion of the environmental and health risks of paint on GreenSpec’s website. Their recommended paints include EarthBorn clay paint, casein-based paint (sadly not vegan) and Fragile Earth eco-paint (also not vegan).
Of course, paint’s environmental impact can also be reduced by decorating less frequently. A room can be made to last longer by:
- gently cleaning marks with soapy water
- touching up spots with spare paint
- covering marks with paintings or decals (decorative stickers)
- changing harsh lighting for softer lighting
- just putting up with a tired room a bit longer
How can I make my flooring last as long as possible?
New floor coverings, like carpets and composite wood planks, also release gases for months after they’ve been fitted. Here are some ideas for delaying or avoiding the need for new flooring.
- Make sure you always have carpet spot cleaner in the house to prevent permanent damage from spills and messes
- Hire a carpet cleaning machine to shampoo dirty carpets
- Cover worn or damaged areas with a rug
- Some worn or damaged areas can be repaired or patched. Check out videos by skilled carpet repairers and lino repairers to see what’s possible before deciding whether or not a floor covering needs to be completely replaced
- Small scratches in wood flooring can be repaired with DIY kits
- Good quality wooden floors are designed to be sanded and re-varnished or sealed many times
- Alternatively, appreciate the patina of an old floor and all the imperfections that come with it
- Choose tiles for high-traffic areas
- Fix felt pads to the bottoms of chair legs to prevent scratches
- Worn flooring of all types can be taken up, and the best bits re-used in smaller or less important rooms (you’ll need to re-stretch the carpet for a good result)
- If your room is more or less symmetrical, you might be able to turn your flooring around so the worn bits are underneath the furniture. You’ll have to patch in around door recesses and radiator pipes, and you’ll need to re-stretch the carpet. You probably still won’t get a good result, if we’re honest, but it might do in a small or unimportant room
- Alternatively, you could move the furniture into new positions to hide the worn-out bits
- Completely worn-out flooring can be used to suppress weeds in the garden
What are some sustainable flooring alternatives?
The range of sustainable flooring alternatives is increasing all the time. Here are some solutions you might not have considered before:
- Wool carpets
- Treadmore recycled rubber underlay
- Seagrass, coir, jute and sisal matting
- Cork tiles
- Reclaimed flooring, e.g. from old schools and gymnasiums
- Bamboo planks (but check what binding material has been used)
- FSC-certified wooden planks
- Antique or reclaimed tiles
- Resilica – solvent-free resin flooring
- Ecoscreed – uses recycled glass to reduce the amount of sand and cement in screed flooring
- EcoSolution Q – fully recyclable commercial carpeting with a range of eco certifications
- Noraplan Eco – rubber flooring containing up to 75% recycled material
- Lino or Marmoleum – made from linseed oil, rosin, wood flour, cork flour, limestone and jute
- Lifeline planks – a low-emission product with non-PVC binding agents
Everyone has different sustainability criteria (for example, if you’re vegan you probably won’t consider a wool carpet) so please don’t assume that a product meets your needs without doing further research – but we hope the above list demonstrates that a trip to your local carpet warehouse isn’t the only option available to you.
Image credit: Photo by Roselyn Tirado on Unsplash