In the past several years, many in-depth articles have been written across the industry heralding a wide variety of advances suggesting that biobased materials were on the verge of achieving explosive growth. Some of these coatings manufactured from "natural" or ecofriendly sources are commercial and manufacturing success stories. Yet, many other developments and advancements are still waiting for the right resin, application, or manufacturing opportunity to manifest itself. In 2019, an in-depth look at the role that academia plays in successfully making coatings "benign by design" hinted that success in mass utilization of biobased coatings must include a several pronged industry-wide approach.1 Following up on those observations, this article further examines today's biobased coatings world from the perspective of sustainability, standardization and industry/ government/university collaboration as a basis for progress moving forward.
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