Painting & Wood Finishing

By reducing waste, large-volume painting operations may be able to avoid reaching the threshold level for chemical use which requires reporting emissions to the Minnesota Emergency Response Commission and compliance under the Minnesota Toxic Pollution Prevention Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing air emission rules that will apply to many painting processes. Painting operations that adopt waste reduction practices now will have an advantage if stricter air emission standards must be met in the future.

Tennant Company, Golden Valley, won a 2006 Governor's Awards for Excellence in Waste and Pollution Prevention for implementing numerous, diverse types of waste-reduction efforts, from a crateless packaging system that reduces wood waste by or over 1 million pounds per year to a reduction in chemical use by more than 4,000 gallons as a result of adjustments made to washer equipment.

These Web pages offer ideas and resources for preventing pollution. They also provide information on the environmental and safety rules in Minnesota for the coatings industry.

Resources for Minnesota's Coating Industry This two page checklist includes most of the resources available on the Painting & Wood Finishing pages on our Web site. Use this checklist to share the waste-related information available to Minnesota's coating industry.

If you have environmental questions related to the coatings industry, contact Paul Pagel at 612.624.4638 or e-mail Paul. From greater Minnesota, call 800.247.0015 and ask for Paul.