Interesting Facts

The paint, printing inks and wallcoverings industries supply the construction, home improvement, printing, automotive, aerospace and other advanced manufacturing sectors worth over £150 billion to UK plc which employ more than 1 million people.   80% of the house paints sold in the UK are now water borne, significantly reducing emissions of solvents into the atmosphere and our coatings extend the life of machinery, bridges and buildings, protecting valuable natural resources such as wood, concrete and steel from the elements.  Three out of every four cans of paint sold in the UK are made in this country and we export 30% of all the paint made here, making the UK a net exporter of paint.  Did you know:

• Half the UK workforce, about 15 million people, would have to go home if their coatings and inks supplies did not turn up.
  
• 30 million DIY painters use 200 million litres of paint each year.
• 100 tonnes of ink is used each day for printing newspapers
• 35m rolls of wallcoverings were sold in the UK in 2009
• 7 million rivets on the ForthRailwayBridge are each protectively wrapped in paint.
• Over 80% of the 600 million paper sacks used each year are printed using inks.
• The world's shipping fleet would produce an extra 70 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses and nearly 6 million tonnes of acid-rain-producing sulphur dioxide if ships were not treated with anti-fouling paints.
• 10 billion metal cans for food and drink produced each year are coated on the inside to prevent contamination.
• A jumbo jet needs 2 tonnes of paint. 
• Glass bottles are being coated so that glass walls can be thinner, saving the glass packaging industry 300,000 tons of glass a year.
• 2.2 millions miles of fibre optic cable laid by BT are protected by 2 layers of coatings
• Inks are printed on 500 million prescription forms each year

Click here for Interesting Facts specific to the Printing Inks industry.