It was a wire-to-wire victory for 150 GTA collision repair shop owners and painters at Woodbine Racetrack on Tuesday, April 22 as they learned about transitioning to waterborne.

The evening seminar was co-sponsored by Paint Circuit, 3M and DuPont Performance Finishes. Organized in an informal panel discussion format with converted waterborne shop owners (see above), the lively event provided an opportunity to educate and update attendees about recent waterborne advances and pending legislation that impact the industry.

Because of its composition, waterborne paints are significantly lower than conventional solvent-based paints in toxicity, thereby reducing harmful VOC emissions that pose a danger to on-site workers. These paints can also reduce the hazardous waste generated by their use, depending on the kind of paint used.

According to Dan Dominato, president of Paint Circuit and a staunch advocate of waterborne, low-VOC products are well received. "Ninety-nine per cent of shop owners of the 53 facilities we've converted in the GTA said they would never go back to solvent paints."

Currently, only about 700 shops across the country have converted to the waterborne system. That leaves little time to get everyone on board.

"Shops need to make the transition now," says Dominato. "It basically takes a week to train a painter in a shop to make the adjustment from solvent paints to waterborne paints. Don't be surprised if you wait and supplies run out."

Dominato alluded to the problems in California. Part of the state, currently in the process of assimilating to waterborne, is going through a drought of sorts. Supplies and especially equipment, once plentiful are now evaporating.

"Events such as this are important to get the message of urgency to shop owners," said Mike Savage, Ontario Sales Manager for 3M. "We as an industry have so much to do in a relatively small window of time"

Another point raised from the audience is the need for a stronger collective voice of waterborne users to help leverage pricing when dealing with insurance companies about cost and labour rates.