How much nature is in the lacquer or oil?

What is BRC?

Information on the percentages of renewable raw materials a product contains is unfortunately inconsistent. Hesse Lignal has opted for the most honest way of stating the BRC proportion.

But what does BRC (bio-renewable carbon) actually represent? Renewable raw materials are raw materials that consist of carbonaceous plant or animal materials. The designation BRC (bio-renewable carbon) refers to forms of carbon compounds that are bio-renewable. The ratio of C12 and C14 isotopes alters depending on the formation age of these carbon compounds. The C stands for carbon and the number denotes the isotope. Perhaps you’ve already heard of the C14 method. The carbon compounds derived from petroleum are several hundred million years old. Radiocarbon dating using the C14 method enables these substances to be analytically distinguished from petroleum-based carbon compounds. It can be used to determine when the materials were formed and thus distinguish between petroleum-based and renewable materials.

The proportion of renewable raw materials

The proportion of renewable raw materials

We declare the proportion of renewable raw materials in our entire product.

In a theoretical example, we assume a 20 % proportion of renewable raw materials in the product. The left column in the figure below illustrates our calculation. We also consider all other substances, here at 20 % each: (organic (binder, petroleum-based), inorganic (filling material, pigment), solvent (volatile) and water (volatile)).

There are however also other display options, as shown on the right in the illustration:

The renewable proportion in the binder. In this case our exemplary product would have a BRC proportion of 50 %
The renewable proportion in solid matter. In this case our exemplary product would have a BRC proportion of 33 %

Now it’s time to take a closer look:
which value should be provided for information on sustainable products? Sometimes one value is selected, sometimes the other, depending on product type and formulation. This can distort the impression, especially in product advertising. Which makes it difficult to compare products. Some suppliers even indicate the proportion of the product that is not made using petroleum-based chemicals. In our example this would then be 60 %.

But which value from the example is correct: 20, 33, 50 or 60 %?

Verify our transparency

All the values are correct, because there are no binding specifications as to how the proportion of renewable raw materials should be declared. We have recently started to indicate the proportions of renewable raw materials in the total product within our technical information. This enables us to transparently communicate how much of the material used to create surfaces is actually renewable.

Perhaps you’d like to directly verify our transparency? Here are a few examples from our product range:

Proterra RESIT GE 1710x
Proterra NATURAL-SOLID-OIL GE 11254

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How much nature is in the lacquer or oil?

What is BRC?

The proportion of renewable raw materials

The proportion of renewable raw materials

Verify our transparency