Waste Reduction Fact Sheet on Paint Shops

Reduce

• Ensure that employees have good housekeeping skills. This will decrease the risk of spills and thus reduce waste.
• Turn off solvent streams and cover solvent tanks to reduce evaporation when they are not in use.
• Implement rigid inventory controls including a "first-in, first-out" inventory system, to use the oldest stock first, particularly for products with a limited shelf life.
• Rework spilled materials back into the process. If this is not feasible use absorbent towels to collect the spilled materials, rather than washing them into the floor drain with water or solvents.
• Develop, schedule and record proper preventative and corrective maintenance practices for all equipment used on-site.
• Whenever possible, substitute hazardous materials with non-hazardous alternatives such as replacing solvent cleaners with water-based cleaners or substituting detergent-based solutions for caustic solutions.
• Only purchase raw materials when needed and in the appropriate-sized container.
• Check all vehicles for leaky engine parts. Place drip pans under these leaks to prevent spills onto the floor.
• Avoid unnecessary equipment cleaning.
• Substitute alternative paint formulations for solvent-based paints wherever possible (e.g. water-based, high-solids, powder coatings, etc.).
• Get all employees involved in your waste reduction efforts. Keep them informed of the goals and objectives of your waste reduction program. Set up a waste reduction team.
• Promote your 3Rs program to the public and your customers to gain a competitive edge.
• Use longer lasting and higher quality paint formulations .
• Turn off all lights and equipment, when not in use.
• Instead of using solvents to strip paint, examine the feasibility of: abrasive media, plastic media, cryogenic, thermal, and/or wheat starch media blasting paint stripping processes.
• Re-examine the need for coating, as well as available alternatives (e.g. only paint the damaged section not the whole side of the car).
• Turn down thermostat after hours.
• Train employees on proper paint application techniques (e.g. control nozzle adjustment and pressure in spray guns), and install efficient paint spraying equipment (e.g. electrostatic, or air-assisted airless spray systems).

Reuse

• Return/donate excess, or off-spec paints to your suppliers, charitable organizations, or give them to your customers for use in touch-ups. One can also use the Ontario Waste Exchange to find a user for this material.
• Work with suppliers to cut down on, or use reusable packaging.
• Contract a linen and laundry supply service to provide towels and rags for cleaning purposes.
• Return containers to the suppliers for reuse, and/or examine methods of reusing or recycling containers yourself.
• Reuse spent solvents as a precleaning solution, or rough prestrip, before using virgin solvents. This will extend the life of your solvents.
• Install a drying rack and/or drip pan to collect solvents running off washed parts. Then reuse the solvents.

Recycle

• Segregate all waste materials to minimize contamination, spills or evaporation, and to increase their recycling potential.
• Contract, purchase or lease a collection and recycling service for solvent bath liquids. This will lead to an immediate reduction in disposal and raw material costs.
• Standardize solvent usage.
• Recycle paint overspray.
• Talk to your municipality, hauler or local recycling company about setting up a recycling program for all solid non-hazardous wastes including fine paper, cardboard, plastics, glass, and wood. Or encourage employees to take blue box materials home.
• Purchase materials that can be easily recycled and/or contain recycled content.

For Additional Information Contact the Following:

Local Municipality

Ontario Waste Exchange, 2395 Speakman Dr. Mississauga, Ontario L5K 1B3 (905) 822-4111

Recycling Council of Ontario 489 College St., Suite 504 Toronto, Ontario M6G 1A5 (416) 960-1025

Ministry of Environment and Energy Public Information Centre 135 St. Clair Avenue W. Toronto, Ontario M4V 1P5 (416) 323-4321 1-800-565-4923

Reference Materials:

• Refer to additional Fact Sheets on a variety of industrial, commercial and institutional sectors (automotive, commercial printing, etc.), and various business operations (e.g. offices, cafeterias and lunch rooms, etc.) available from your local municipality.
• Contact the Hamilton District Autobody Repair Association (HARA) for a number of fact sheets detailing proper methods of handling, storage, collection, recovery, recycling and disposal of various substances (e.g. oil, VOC's, tires, refrigerants, etc.), P.O. Box 47594, Centre Mall, Hamilton, Ontario L8H 7S7.

HARA OFFERS ONLINE PROFIT FOR BODYSHOPS

June 2000

Shops can now download a free profitability workbook available on the Canadian Centre for Pollution Prevention website. The Hamilton District Autobody Repair Association (HARA) partnered with the Ontario's Ministry of Environment's Pollution Prevention Office to create the workbook because both strongly believed that operating a collision repair shop profitably and efficiently leads to more profits and a cleaner environment.

The easy-to-read workbook contains chapters on marketing, customer service, computers, insurers and brokers and marketing strategy, as well as sections on health and safety, the environment and human resources. Training and the use of HVLP spray guns are covered.

The workbook is free to any shop and is available to download on this site on the News / Events page or in hard copy from HARA for $20 ($15 for association members). or Please call HARA at 1-800-318-DENT

ONTARIO SHOP ASSOCIATIONS SHOW NEED FOR PAINT PRICE INCREASES

May 2000

With increased costs for refinish paint being passed on to autobody repair shops, coupled with tighter environmental controls on their use and disposal, three southern Ontario autobody associations have issued a release calling for a $24 per paint refinish hour rate for its member shops.

The Hamilton District Autobody Repair Association (HARA), the Peel Vehicle Repair Association (PVRA) and the Toronto Collision Repair Society (TCRS) say they have announced the $24 recommended rate, after unsuccessfully trying to get a Canadian materials estimating guide designed and printed for the country.

According to John Norris, executive director of HARA, "A (third-party produced) materials and paint pricing guide for this country, similar to those guides well used and respected in New York, California and elsewhere, would be one of the answers to properly invoicing customers and insurers.

"Despite requests to the data providers in Canada," he continues, "we have no certainty that the guide will be forthcoming, and the increasing costs that coatings firms are passing on to the shops is creating an unfair situation for shops and their customers."

Use and acceptance of low emission paint product in Canada, in concert with higher efficiency spray guns, has dramatically reduced paint sales volumes by refinishes manufacturers, says a news release from the three associations. "In 1985, 32 million litres of auto refinish paint were sold in Canada. By 1992, volume was down to 18 million litres and some estimates are that paint sales in Canada will plummet to below nine million litres this year. Coupled with consolidation of a number of paint manufacturers, increasing raw material costs, upward pressures on U.S. exchange rates, and (with) a diminishing marketplace, paint prices are going up significantly."

The release further states that paint companies, supplying over 92 per cent of the Ontario marketplace, have announced price increases of 4.5-7 per cent at some point this year.

Mitchell International, the release continues, has announced that from 1989 to 1996, the cost of paint materials has increased "by 62 per cent while payments for those materials increased by only 13 per cent.

"Other provinces in Canada have recognized the problem, with Manitoba's paint reimbursementcharge-out rate being raised to $24.02 per hour, Saskatchewan's at $24.45 and British Columbia raised their charge-out rate for this year to $24.73 per hour."

With all this in mind, the three associations recommended that paint charge-out rates by their member shops be raised to $24 per refinish hour on June 1st, "to allow information providers data systems and insurance company claims departments time to work with the new prices.

"Our fear is that shops, faced with losing money because some insurers would pay them less than the costs of their paint, will attempt to recover those losses improperly elsewhere in the invoicing--called cost shifting--or not properly handle their environmental responsibility for the application and disposal of paints in order to cut their losses," Norris explained. "We hope that these new prices will continue to encourage shops to operate legally and be environmentally friendly."

The associations made it clear that they are only recommending the rate increase, and that shops are under no obligation to charge these prices at their own particular facility.

HARA is also providing a free backgrounder package to shop members, as well as insurance, government agencies and the media. The backgrounder contains pricing comparisons, non-VOC controlled and VOC controlled jurisdiction paint pricing levels, and paint price increase data from 1988 to present, increase pricing announcement documents from paint companies, and sample descriptions of Material Estimating Guides. Copies of the national standards and guidelines for paint content and comparisons from other provinces and jurisdictions are also included.

For the free package, call HARA at (905) 662-9499 or 1-800-318-DENT.