Navigating Global Regulations and Non-BPA Requirements

GLOBAL REGULATORY EXPERTISE FOR PACKAGING COATINGS

For more than 35 years, our technology, people and resources have been devoted exclusively to the unique packaging coating requirements of our customers. Our elite team of regulatory experts, working with Sherwin-Williams  laboratories around the world, is dedicated to ensuring regulatory compliance of our coatings, whether a newly developed coating or existing product validation. 

We are deeply familiar with major regulatory programs administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Health Canada, the European Food Safety Authority and the European Chemicals Agency, among others. We are also familiar with REACH (Registration,  Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) as well as emerging standards, such as those in China, South America, India and other parts of the world. 

To ensure we’re always ready to meet demand, we coordinate with  organizations and associations around the world to provide input on innovative and compliant products. 

We then help bridge the gap between these regulatory developments and market opportunities by keeping customers up to date on what’s happening and what’s coming down the pipeline. 

“ We have world-class, global regulatory experts,” says Lynn Grega, Vice President for Environment, Health and Safety at Sherwin-Williams Packaging Coatings. “It’s a complex  environment to navigate, especially for companies operating in multiple countries or across regions, so we make it a priority to keep our customers informed of what could impact them in the future.” 

Sherwin-Williams has a highly experienced team of packaging coatings regulatory experts working in locations around the globe. Our experts are intimately familiar with local, national and global regulatory challenges and that could affect your business. As a result, they can help you remain informed about potential regulatory changes while providing our product developers with the information they need to keep your packaging products and operations ahead of the curve.

Sherwin-Williams has a highly experienced team of regulatory experts working in locations around the globe.

INNOVATING THE FUTURE OF PACKAGING COATINGS

While there is a growing demand for non-BPA coatings, any new coatings must perform as well as traditional epoxy coatings. BPA-based epoxy coatings have dominated the market for decades, running efficiently on can maker lines,  providing superior protection for both the canned product and the can itself. Developing a high-performance non-BPA solution challenged the market, as not all firstgeneration non-BPA products performed at the level can makers and  brand owners had come to expect from BPA epoxy coatings. 

To meet the industry demand for high-performing non-BPA coatings, we set the goal of developing a new, high performance, non-BPA epoxy technology. This exciting approach to new product development  led us to create the revolutionary valPure® V70 technology platform — a novel non-BPA epoxy coating that retains performance advantages of traditional epoxy technologies. V70 represents the future of next-generation epoxy coatings for light metal packaging for the food, beverage and household product industries. 

The specific goals of the valPure V70 innovation program were to develop a technology that: 

• Provides industry-standard epoxy performance benefits, of epoxy technologies, without the use of BPA
• Is approved for use in food contact applications
• Provides excellent metal application, can fabrication properties and product protection
• Offers a long-term solution addressing global regulatory and market needs across the food and beverage, household, and personal care industries
• Provides a solution with broad pack latitude, so brands can continuously run one coating technology for all their packaged goods and optimize production efficiencies

To begin the product development process, the Sherwin-Williams Research and Development team chose candidates from the bisphenol family for further evaluation. The innovative development process brought the Regulatory team in much earlier in the creation of the new technology — at the ideation phase rather than the final phases of new product development, with the use of a pharma-based development protocol called Safety by Design. Intended to establish  Safe, sustainable food-contact materials, this process focuses on early screening of materials for regulatory and environmental compliance, working to ensure public and market acceptance over the long term.

“We knew we needed to find a new way to make an epoxy without BPA, yet meet all the stakeholders’ expectations,” says Grega. “We are very proactive, not reactive. Over a decade ago, we pioneered a new development process [Safety by Design] to ensure products are developed to stand up to scientific rigor over the long term. It ensures that substances are safe for their intended use and stand the test of time in an ever-changing regulatory environment.” 

The process led to the selection of tetramethyl bisphenol F (TMBPF) — a bisphenol showing no evidence of estrogenic activity — as the key building block for the new, non-BPA epoxy. Tests have confirmed an absence of detectable free bisphenol even at a detection limit down to 0.8 parts per billion.

valPure V70 offers a long-term solution addressing global regulatory and market needs across the food and beverage, household, and personal care industries

VALIDATING VALPURE® V70 

The Safety by Design process used to select TMBPF incorporated a variety of testing, including studies intended for global regulatory compliance and hypothesis-driven scientific research to promote innovation. Contract research  organizations performed regulatory compliance studies following widely accepted guidelines under standard laboratory practice conditions. These studies include toxicology testing of acute, sub-chronic, and chronic end points; reproductive and developmental toxicology; genotoxicity and mutagenicity; ecotoxicology; and environmental fate. 

There have been more than 70 studies on TMBPF, confirming its efficacy and validating its place as a long-term solution for the packaging industry. As a commitment to transparency, we made the study reports and scientific research publications available via links on our website. The collection represents more than a decade’s worth of V70 research and development.

The valPure V70 technology became fully commercial in 2017. To date, more than 400 billion V70-coated cans have been used in commerce. Feedback from the market confirms its high performance and customers are seeing very robust application, fabrication and product protection performance.

“V70 has been fully commercial since 2017 and is widely used in North America,” Jeff Niederst, Vice President of Marketing for Sherwin-Williams Packaging Coatings. “Our customers have seen very high value in the technology,  and the products have been running well with hundreds of billions of cans produced since V70’s inception. We’ve also seen strong adoption across Europe, with customers converting to non-BPA solutions in preparation for BPA regulations.”

The validation of these performance advantages has led to V70 being a leading non-BPA packaging coating technology for the market. In addition, valPure V70 has major global regulatory approvals, allowing can makers and brands to use it and sell products with it worldwide while helping support global food contact regulatory compliance, including strong offerings in the tube and monobloc segments. 

With valPure V70, can makers and brands can trust we have a long-term, sustainable, non-BPA coatings solution that doesn’t sacrifice performance. The V70 technology has been rigorously evaluated by numerous external third-party organizations confirming that it is a leading non-BPA technology for the market. V70 is another example of the Sherwin-Williams approach to delivering on industry needs with an eye toward products with sustainability attributes for long-term success.

BEYOND V70    

While valPure V70 is a stand-out solution for those seeking non-BPA coatings that perform like epoxies, we have other non-BPA technologies (acrylics and polyesters) in our valPure® portfolio to meet our customers’ diverse performance criteria.

The valPure® V40 Series continues the Sherwin-Williams legacy of innovation for two-piece beverage cans. It has excellent application performance for two-piece beverage inside spray on a wide range of can-making lines and has broad beverage pack performance. It is retortable, acid resistant and hot fillable. 

The valPure polyester series of coatings provide good application and fabrication and are also retort capable and have broad pack resistance for beverage ends, D&I food cans, three-piece food cans, closures, monobloc aerosols and bottle cans.

LOOKING AHEAD    

Sherwin-Williams anticipates a future with continued regulatory activity as additional materials become subject to regulatory interest.

“The regulatory environment continues to rapidly change,” says Diana Dunlap, Vice President of Sales for North America for Sherwin-Williams Packaging Coatings. “We’re focused on making sure we understand what emerging needs will be and aligning our capacity and product development to meet those needs.” 

Non-BPA isn’t the only market interest. 

“Globally, we’re seeing high energy costs and more customers interested in alternate curing technologies,” says Niederst. “So, we’re investing in that and will once again rely on our Safety by Design protocol to ensure it’s a solution for the long run.” 

Regardless of technology, the Sherwin-Williams Technical Service team is always working hand-inhand with customers to trial its products, limit scrap, optimize film weights, minimize metal exposures and help lines run more efficiently overall. 

“We’re here to provide what the customers are asking for,” says Dunlap. “And that often comes down to helping apply coatings as efficiently as possible and answering regulatory questions. We have a best-in-class Technical Service team and renowned regulatory experts. We don’t just provide coatings. We’re the solution provider no matter the need.”

With valPure V70, can makers and brands can trust we have a long-term, sustainable, non-BPA coatings solution that doesn’t sacrifice performance.

We don’t just provide coatings. We’re the solution provider no matter the need.