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CARB Issues Stricter VOC Regulations on Industrial Aerosols

VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) have been regulated for years. One of the strongest regulations comes from CARB. CARB (California Air Resources Board) is a department within the California State EPA charged with helping to reduce pollution and maintaining a healthy air quality in the state. CARB has not only been a driving force on air quality standards in California. Their regulations have often had national impact on air quality regulations.

California is the only state that is permitted to have such a regulatory agency as it is the only state that had this type of agency before the passage of the federal Clean Air Act. Other states are permitted to follow CARB standards, or use the federal ones, but they cannot set their own rules. So as California goes so goes many other states.

CARB, since its inception in 1967, has primarily been focused on monitoring and regulating what are commonly referred to as “consumer products.” They have been focused on hairsprays, deodorants, adhesives, break cleaners, general-purpose lubricants, and other chemical formulations that would typically be found around the house and sold in retail establishments. The idea was to go for the low-hanging fruit where the scale of the consumer market would offer the greatest benefit for these regulations. To a large degree, CARB’s efforts have been successful in reducing pollution levels and improving air quality across the state.

Now, due to political pressure and the desire to continue seeing gains in air quality, CARB has started to shift its focus to include “industrial products” commonly used in manufacturing. CARB has been systematically collecting data on these industrial formulations for the past 3 years and new CARB requirements will start being phased in beginning January, 2017. These new requirements will limit the allowable VOC content for many industrial chemical formulations including adhesives, aerosol paints, industrial lubricants and mold release agents. Some of these new VOC limits may require substantial reformulations in many popular industrial products.

Slide Products is already compliant.

Slide Products has undertaken a comprehensive review of our formulations and updated all of our product labeling to ensure that we are CARB compliant. All Slide mold release formulations are below the require MIR value of 1.10, and our new product labels will reflect this information. We will continue to monitor CARB for any future changes and make needed updates to our products and packaging to ensure compliance. If you wish to learn more about CARB, please visit their website www.arb.ca.gov/homepage.htm.

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For technical assistance call Slide Products at 1-800-323-6433, or email us at info@slideproducts.com.

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