Introducing Optiva Nature

This is the first step on our journey towards the future. An exciting product development that reflects an innovative and more sustainable facet of the paint industry.

Both the paint and outer packaging have been designed with the environment in mind: over 64% of the packaging is made from recycled raw materials to further reduce environmental impact.  

Low-emission and fast drying, Optiva Nature has also been granted the Nordic Swan Ecolabel and is recommended by the Swedish Asthma and Allergy association.

Why is this important?

Fossil resources are limited in supply. The rate of environmental damage is accelerating – climate change and natural resource depletion will soon make life on earth challenging and counter measure actions are needed now.

Currently, the paint industry relies on a variety of these finite resources for production. And so, the challenge is to detoxify and de-fossilise the formulations of paints, without deteriorating the protective and durability qualities of the paint.

Paints contain three key components: Liquid (Water or Solvent), Inorganic Material, and Organic Material. The volumes of each component vary product to product, but in Optiva Nature:

·        The Liquid component is water and represents around 48% of the mix.

·        The Inorganic Material (e.g., Titanium Dioxide) represents around 28% of the mix.

·        And finally, the Organic Material represents around 24% of the composition.

The bio-based development has changed the make-up of the Organic Material component, which we know to be 24% of the total ingredients. Of this 24%, 30% of the fossil-based ingredients have been replaced with bio-based.

This means that roughly around 7% of the total product is bio-based.

The binder in the paint is the focus of this ingredient change. This change, however, comes with many challenges. The binder is the key ingredient that directly affects the performance of a paint, such as adhesion, washability, scrub resistance, fade resistance, and gloss retention.

If switching to a more sustainable raw material results in a seemingly reduced durability (requiring more frequent painting or a deteriorated life cycle of the substrate), then the production footprint is increased, and any potential sustainability improvements are rendered meaningless.

As a result, Optiva Nature has been rigorously tested and meticulously modified over time to ensure that the paint's quality and technical performance meet Tikkurila's high standards.

Small steps lead to great things.

Future product development will be focused on gradually increasing this percentage of bio-based ingredients; however, this process must be carefully managed to avoid any negative impact on our customers.

Increasing to more than 7% of total composition with the current available resources would not only significantly increase costs - but could also result in compromised quality and performance. This is both due to the scarcity of suitable raw materials required to make this change as well as the lengthy testing process itself.

Tikkurila is committed to taking concrete steps to ensure that the solutions it creates and provides to its customers are increasingly sustainable, and we are excited about what the future holds as a result of our progress in this area so far.