Of all the types of paints available, eco-friendly paints are a real alternative to traditional paints on the market. In recent years, we've been hearing more and more about bio-based paints. Unlike standard acrylic paints and glycerol paints, bio-based paints stand out thanks to the use of natural and renewable ecological resources.
What is bio-based paint?
To understand what a bio-based paint is, you have to keep in mind that all paint is made up of 5 elements that are inseparable from each other: a solvent (usually water or oil), a resin to bind all the ingredients, a mineral or vegetable filler, pigments and additives. It may not seem like it, but in reality, making paint is like preparing pancake batter!
What makes a good bio-based paint special is, first of all, its resin, which is made up of at least 95% plant-based ingredients , but also the most natural and renewable components possible. A bio-based paint uses water as its solvent and is as free from the petrochemical industry as possible, and therefore from the petroleum derivatives usually used to make resins and other components of standard paints.
To add texture and thicken paint properly, many manufacturers use clay or chalk, for example. At Algo, we've instead turned to... algae.
Why algae in a painting?
Because we want to offer the healthiest possible paint, both in its design and in our philosophy, we use algae from the Breton coast in our Algo ecological paints.
Coming straight from the Bay of Iroise, near Brest , algae are an exceptional raw material for us, both natural and renewable. Growing algae requires neither fertilizers nor pesticides and does not encroach on land reserves intended to feed humans . Algae are even at the origin of a fascinating ecological phenomenon: like trees and other plants, they are capable of capturing the CO2 present in their environment and releasing oxygen.
Once harvested, algae are primarily used to extract oil, which has been used in the cosmetic and food industries for many years. Typically, the remaining mineral content of algae is considered organic matter destined for destruction. This is where we come in: we've chosen to reclaim the unexploited mineral content of algae and turn it into a powder that is incorporated into our resin. The algae give our resin an ideal texture and coverage by thickening it. This allows us to create a 98% bio-sourced resin , freeing us as much as possible from the petrochemical industry and standard paints, which can be composed of up to 65% petroleum derivatives.
A truly magical ingredient, seaweed is for us the element that represents our local approach: cultivated, harvested, processed and used directly in Brittany, it is the guarantee of a truly short circuit!
Why use bio-sourced paint?
A painting that respects the planet and its inhabitants
The first advantage of a bio-sourced paint is of course the ecological aspect! By favoring the use of plant resin and natural components, this type of paint stands out from standard paints which contain many ingredients derived from petrochemicals and which generate significant CO2 production.
An ecological paint for a healthy home
In addition to thinking about the planet, using a bio-sourced paint protects your health. Due to its predominantly natural composition and its drying by evaporation of the water contained in the formula, an Algo bio-sourced paint releases less than 1g/L of VOCs (volatile organic compounds, molecules that are toxic to health and the environment and which are responsible for the strong odor that emanates from many paints). Our bio-sourced paint thus preserves indoor air quality for you and your family and reduces indoor pollution in homes compared to conventional acrylic or glycero paints.
Exceptional application properties
Bio-based paints have nothing to envy from traditional acrylic paints: they boast equally good technical performance and are of very high quality. It just goes to show that nature does things well!
You'll quickly notice it when you open a can of bio-based paint: it has little or no odor. You'll no longer need to leave your own home to avoid headaches and other inconveniences related to a strong paint smell! Bio-based paints also have an optimal drying time and guarantee great resistance to aging: no matter how many years go by, your paint will look as good as the first day.
They also have a covering power equivalent to or even superior to conventional paints: 1L of Algo paint can cover 12m2 compared to around 10m2 for conventional paints and certain bio-sourced paints.
Another feature: maintaining a bio-sourced paint is particularly easy because it is washable, both in matte and satin finishes!
Which bio-sourced paint should you choose exactly?
Not all bio-based paints are equal, and for good reason: they display different percentages of bio-based components. It is still rare to find 100% bio-based paints, but most are 95% or 98%. This indication very often concerns the percentage of bio-based components included in the resin, which only represents a part of the product's composition ( generally ranging from 20% to 40% of the paint ).
Algo paints stand out from the others because, beyond the plant resin used, they use algae as a filler. In a paint, the filler can be of mineral origin (talc, chalk, whiting, silica, clay, etc.) or of plant origin and gives it many physical, mechanical or chemical characteristics. A filler can, for example, be used to thicken the paint , color it , improve its resistance over time or its hold on different surfaces. By choosing to use a powder made from Breton algae, Algo paints contain more bio-sourced components overall!
Don't hesitate to check out the websites of the paint manufacturers you're interested in to understand what their paints are made of and see which processes resonate with you most. Because beyond paint and its components, there's an entire ecosystem of companies, suppliers of materials, packaging, labor, human beings, and commitments that each have a role to play.
At Algo, we are proud to promote local partners and products. Our paints are entirely made in France and promote a short supply and production chain: from algae harvesting to packaging, our paints travel only 240 km. We work in collaboration with an ESAT (establishment and service for assistance through work), which encourages and promotes the employment of around fifteen people with disabilities. Our daily investment in promoting bio-sourced paints enabled all of our customers in 2020 to prevent the emission of 81 tons of VOCs compared to the consumption of conventional paints. In more figurative terms, this is also equivalent to saving a round trip from Earth to the Moon or even traveling around the Earth 20 times! Who would have thought that a brushstroke would have such an impact?
