PA Refinishing & Restoration: Volume 6, Issue 27 (Repost)

The ABC's of HAPs and VOC

by Paul Smith

Regulations, by their nature, are divisive. Everytime we hear about a new one we either, (a) embrace it as a much-needed protection for us/our ethnicity/our religion/our environment or, (b) condemn it as an intrusion to us/our freedom/our rights/our business. The truth is, every regulation ever written is both.

When it comes to envirionmental regulations, California leads the United States in the enacting most of the well-known laws governing environmental issues. This is no accident. Since the 1970's, when Los Angeles routinely led the nation in smog levels--mostly attributed to automobile emissions--California has had to find a way to make breathing a little easier. By legislating tougher emission standards in cars allowed to be sold in California, they did two things: They (1) put pressure on our national Environmental Protection Agency to tighen its standards on all cars sold in the USA and (2) put the automakers in the position of either selling two lines of cars--with the lower emission ones being sold to California residents--or tightening the already tighter EPA imposed standards to meet all cars sold in the US. Over time, the second choice became much more reasonable. It was much more efficient to produce one level of emissions standards
on each car model just as it's much easier to stack plates in your cupboard at home if they are all the same size.

Over the last decade, environmental regulations have tightened on many restoration products. HAPS, which stands for Hazardous Air Pollutants, is a regulatory standard applied to air quality. VOC compliance also addresses environmental concerns and applies to lacquers and other finishes. Some states, including Pennsylvania, have offered an even more stringent VOC standard. see PA Code Chapter 130, Title 611 Even so, California has led the nation in environmental standards for restoration products as they have in many issues pertaining to clean air, water, and soil. Like auto manufacturers, restoration products manufacturers have had to choose to upgrade their product compliance or not sell them to California.

With the New England and Mid-Atlantic states becoming the next hotbed of environmental regulations, the strategy of not selling certain products to California will be short-lived. In time, federal regulations will catch-up, forcing formulatic changes to many restoration products that have not yet changed. Already, larger manufacturers, such as Mohawk Finishing Products, have changed formulas to make them more VOC compliant with mixed results. Of course, the products successfully met the standards but, in some cases, the coloration was slightly different and/or the usage was restricted in a different way.

In the 1990's, independent family-owned manufacturers, like Restorco/Kwick Kleen, joined the larger manufacurers in introducing HAPs compliant finishes alongside traditional ones to give customers the best of both worlds. It is likely that the environmentally friendly ones will eventually eclipse the others as more attention is focused on environmental issues. For this reason, users of finishing products should check the labels for the three-letter listings of VOC and HAP and if they do not see them yet, keep a lookout for newer variations that will meet these standards. Becoming familiar with this new generation of restoration products now--before the old generation disappears--will ensure a smoother transition for finishing technicians and a big step in the right direction for environmental protection.