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Newsletter winter 1999 |
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Reprocessed Paint
Hirshfield's, a paint manufacturer in Minneapolis,
worked with Hennepin County to reprocess interior latex paint
from the county household hazardous waste collection program.
One thousand gallons of paint were reprocessed and 75 percent
of it was applied to the new Hennepin County Public Works
building.
Hirshfield's met with the county to detail
the sorting protocol. About ten percent of the latex paint
not suitable for citizen reuse was suitable for reprocessing.
They met with the architects to pick colors that they felt
they could create from the reprocessed paint. They decided
to tint the paint six different colors.
Manufacturing
Paint was processed in 500 gallon batches.
Quality control was an issue. "With virgin materials,
you know precisely what you're working with. (But with the
waste paint) you have to take something that is not quite
right and make it usable," says Mark Uglem, executive
vice president of Hirshfield's.
Hirshfield's screened the paint to remove
any undissolved solids and remixed the paint. The paint was
thin and needed to be built up. It also needed pigments added
to allow for better coverage. Hirshfield's ran the normal
battery of tests on all batches of paint. "With virgin
it's usually a ten to 15 minute procedure to get the okay
before packaging," says Uglem. The reprocessed paint
can take a day in tweaking to get it right. After adjustments,
the reprocessed paint was comparable to a similar quality
virgin paint.
Hirshfield's was concerned
about bacterial contamination of waterbased materials.
"You just don't know what's going to be in the paint,"
says Uglem. To prevent contamination of their operation, Hirshfield's
sterilized its equipment after reprocessing.
Application
Concerns were raised about potential
indoor air quality issues. Testing showed no problems. But,
the county decided to act conservatively and only use the
paint in well ventilated areas that would not be immediately
occupied. The reprocessed paint was applied to concrete block
and sheetrock walls in shop and warehouse areas. Offices and
conference rooms were also painted.
"It applied like any other paint,"
says Bob Swanson of Swanson and Youngdale, the painting contractor
for the public works building. "We didn't notice any
difference in application."
Reprocessed paint cannot be matched for
touch up painting because of the variability in the base tint
of the feedstock. When the extra paint runs out, an entire
wall would need to be repainted.
After six months, the paint is performing
like virgin paint according to Wayne Johnson, Public Works
building manager. He would like more reprocessed paint to
apply in the other shops.
"The concept of recycled paint works
very, very well," says Uglem. "Remanufacturing paint
is a good thing for the industry to do." It can take
a lot of paint out of the waste steam.
The cost to reprocess the old paint was
higher than the cost to dispose of it. But, Hennepin County
saved money overall because purchasing a comparable virgin
paint would have cost them three to five dollars more per
gallon than their reprocessed paint.
Contractors may have excess paint to contribute
to or initiate a reprocessing project. Consider specifying
reprocessed paint in construction or remodeling projects.
For additional information on recycled latex paint, visit
the Minnesota
Office of Environmental Assistance Recycled Latex Paint
Web page or contact Steve
Blomberg of Hirshfield's
Paint Manufacturing.
VOC-Content
Limits for Coatings and Consumer Products
The EPA finalized regulations limiting
the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in architectural
coatings, automobile refinish coatings and consumer
products. By providing federal standards, EPA hopes
to make the rules governing VOC content consist and
uniform. Previously, there were many varying local limits.
The rules can be found in the Federal
Register, September 11, 1998. Find them on the Web,
choose September then scroll down to the EPA rules section.
Direct questions to Steve Rosenthal, EPA Region V, Chicago,
312/886-6052.
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