While the coatings industry has dedicated a great deal of research, wealth and commitment to developing environmentally acute products, the industry’s innovative formulations continue to be packaged in containers that create waste. In the stirring of an uncertain economy and planet, there is an opportunity for paint manufacturers to generate savings and reduce packaging costs that will affect not only their environmental footprint but also their bottom line. The measurement of one’s sustainability is largely weighed in the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and environmental footprint throughout the development, manufacturing and finality of one’s product and/or service. While Figure 1 is not specific to paint containers or plastic, the elements are similar. When you measure the virgin inputs against the emissions and offsets, recycling is the only solution that omits N2O, CO2 and CH4 emissions and actually offsets fossil fuel use and increases forest carbon sequestration. LCAs characteristically become an “end of life” flow chart. The allowance of recycled content in packaging credits the virgin inputs, which dramatically increases the environmental value of the package and therefore the product.