Looking For a Green Solution to an Old Age Practice 
Several years ago, Mike Swederska was looking for an alternative to traditional solvent-based paints to use in his auto body shop in Maplewood. He was going through a rebuilding of the shop building and its work processes.
Shur-Way was building an addition to the existing shop including new office space, estimation bay along with two cutting edge work stalls. He used as much recycled materials as possible in the construction such as recycled brick, cinder block and even used crushed concrete for fill. Energy saving items was used in designing the building and the remodel of the old building. All the bay doors used are now the highest made insulated doors on the market. All the windows in the new building are thermal and have the UV glass to save on energy use. The building roofs are coated in a silver reflective material to help keep the cost of cooling down in the summer. All the lighting fixtures are energy efficient florescent lights, including the handicap bathrooms light that is on a motion sensor to saving energy. Heck, even the toilet is a low water fixture. When it came time to pave the parking lots Shur-Way used concrete instead of asphalt. Asphalt is a petroleum product needing recoating annual of another petroleum product. Asphalt parking lots also produce radiant heat around the body shop in the summer moths increasing the cooling cost.
When he started to ask paint manufactures to bring water based paint to St. Louis and the Mid-west he was met with opposition. There was no mandated law making the paint companies work with him on water. After almost a year of prodding and persuading the manufactures they finally gave in with some samples. At that point in the process looking at all the different lines of water base paint, he found the best water-based product and convinced the company to supply him in St Louis. He then started a campaign to convince his fellow body shop owners to take a hard look at this new eco-friendly system but was met with hard opposition. No other shop wanted to change what processes they were doing. Today he has worked with other body shop owners thru-out the Midwestern states and is now recognized as one of the leaders on water-based systems in the Midwest.
His shop became the very first in the Midwest to go Green with waterborne paint instead of traditional solvent-based paints for auto repairs.
He knew that water-based paints were better for the environment than solvent-based paints because they contain fewer hazardous materials, reducing hazardous waste. Waterborne paints release evaporated water instead of chemicals. They are less toxic, less flammable and improve workers' health. He also found out that water-based paints don’t contain harmful solvents and thus emit less VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds). Low VOC levels help reduce the creation of harmful ozone smog and reduce severe health problems. Paint guns are cleaned with water-based solutions rather than chemicals...
After contacting and testing numerous companies and products, Mike selected the Sikkens Autowave ® paint system from AkzoNobel for his shop, Shur-Way Auto Body. These paints guarantee a legendary color match to ensure your receive an invisible repair. General Motors also uses Sikkens Autowave ® paint system for its North American collision repair centers. And Volvo signed a global contract with AkzoNobel to supply their dealer network with its Sikkens products. These are just a sample of the car companies who have gotten on the bandwagon.
There are other advantages to using waterborne coatings:
- Solvent-based coatings contain VOC’s and Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP) such as xylene, toluene, methyl ethyl ketone and ethyl benzene
- Besides their lower VOC and toxicity levels, waterborne coatings are less flammable. Not only does using them reduce air emissions and improve worker health, but they’re safer – factors that could decrease shop insurance costs.
- Waterborne products can provide lower costs. They require no additives or hardeners. In addition, fewer products may be needed to cover the same surface area.
- Paint guns used for waterborne products can be cleaned with water or water-based solutions rather than more expensive paint thinner, acetone or methyl acetate.
Shur-way Auto Body also has implemented other green efforts for their environment and employees including:
- Recycling air conditioning refrigerant, excess paint and thinner, sheet metal, plastic bumper body parts and cardboard, by increasing the recycling of waste, Shur-Way is able to cut 2/3rds of its land fill waste a week.
- Welding fumes are extracted; polyester filler dust is vacuumed, swept and mopped
- Primer is sprayed in preparation decks to extract fumes
- Paint mixing occurs in an explosion proof mix room with fume extraction
- Spraying occurs in a downdraft spray booth with sophisticated high volume, low pressure (HVLP) guns
- Painters wear paint masks which supply fresh outside air and a full body paint suit to avoid skin absorption of toxins
If you have any questions about using a water-based paint on your auto please contact Shur-Way Auto as any of their staff can answer your questions and help you with your automotive needs.
Shur-Way is committed to safe and accurate repairs with a nationwide lifetime warranty, and to protecting the environment and their employees with eco-responsible products and methods.
For more information go to, shurwayautobody.com or contact Shur-Way Auto Body at 3540 Greenwood Blvd, Maplewood, MO 63143, 314.645.5540.