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Industry Opportunity: Switching From Solvent-Based to Water-Based Coatings

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By Mike Manetta, Target Account Executive

This is a major industry shift that is becoming commonplace. If you have yet to make the shift, now is the time to put the wheels in motion.

Potential benefits

Switching from solvent-based to water-based coatings has a lot of benefits for industrial and wood customers. It can lower your carbon footprint, improve the health of your workplace, demonstrate to buyers that you are forward thinking, and reduce your vulnerability to government regulations related to solvent-based coatings. But the biggest benefit is cost.

In just the last five years, OSHA regulations and environmental permitting for solvent-based coatings have become much more extensive than those for water-based coatings. At issue are VOC and HAP emissions, storage and flammability concerns, employee health and more. All of this increased oversight makes purchasing and using solvent-based products more expensive.

In the past, water-based paints haven’t performed as well as solvent-based ones in tests measuring qualities such as durability, gloss and feel, but technology has dramatically improved. By working with and testing coatings from multiple manufacturers, we have seen the improvements firsthand. Water-based coatings will become the standard in most applications.

On the coattails of this industry shift will be major changes related to removal of phosphates from pre-paint pretreatment products and UV-curable coatings and chromates from pigments and dyes. (Contact us at 1.800.593.0126 to learn more.)

How to gain from this opportunity

Potential barriers to making the switch to water-based coatings include additional training and the cost of purchasing new application and drying equipment. In many cases, you can modify equipment to work with water-based coatings. In the long run, these barriers should not prevent you from at least considering water-based coatings.

How Accessa partners

Accessa can help customers evaluate their particular advantages to using water-based coatings and estimate the costs of making the switch. We can also help you project your cost savings using this less-regulated product.

Contact me at 317-879-2055 if you would like to learn how water-based coatings can benefit your business.  

 

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