The demand for environmentally-friendly products is growing, and the auto body repair industry is responding with innovative products and services. When you finish your auto body courses, for instance, you may find quite a few shops that are now offering automotive painting services which are gentle on the environment.
However, many people have questions about what eco-friendly car paints are, why they are better for the environment, and whether they perform as well as traditional paints do. Read on to find out the answers to these and other questions about eco-friendly car paints.
Waterborne Paints Are an Eco-Friendly Auto Body Repair Solution
The key difference between eco-friendly paints and traditional paints is that traditional paints are solvent-borne while eco-friendly ones are waterborne. Solvent-borne paints use petrochemical products containing large amounts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to thin the paint. VOCs are chemicals that are found in such things as vehicle exhaust, glues, cigarette smoke, varnish, and cleaning products. Waterborne paints, on the other hand, are thinned with water, which significantly cuts down on the amount of VOCs they contain. These paints are better for the environment, and using them can help an auto body shop reduce its environmental impact.
Waterborne Paints Are Better for Your Health and the Environment
Fewer VOCs is great news for the environment since VOCs are one of the primary causes of air pollution, especially in urban areas. Products that emit high levels of VOCs contribute to ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter, which in turn create smog.
As you might already know, smog can be harmful to health. It can cause irritation and aggravate respiratory problems, which is why many auto body professionals welcome initiatives aimed at reducing smog. That means that by switching to eco-friendly paints during your career in auto body repair, you can help keep your community green and healthy.
Eco-Friendly Paints Are a High-Quality Choice for Your Career in Auto Body Repair
A somewhat common misconception is that environmentally-friendly products tend to perform less well than traditional products do. When it comes to automotive paints, however, this is untrue. In fact, many automotive repair shops find that waterborne paints actually perform better than solvent-borne ones. For example, a recent survey by Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes found that quality was the main reason auto body shops used waterborne paints over solvent-based ones.
Specifically, respondents said the colour matching of waterborne paints was superior to that of solvent-borne ones. Plus, waterborne paints require fewer coats and they dry faster compared to solvent-borne paints. So, after your auto body repair courses you could use eco-friendly paints to not only save the environment but to also help your shop enjoy increased productivity.
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