Here at Capital we make the best choices we can to care for the environment when it comes to choosing paints and other materials.
As a trend the construction industry is adopting lower impact decorating materials as a common practice . So there are options out there if you are concerned about your impact and living environment.
Here are some ideas how you can make your decoraitng projects better for the natural and home environment.
Choosing low VOC paints
VOCs are present in high concentrations in oil based paints and lower amounts in water based products.
Problems associated with VOC’s include respiratory and skin irritation as well as many being known carcinogens. These chemicals continue to cause indoor air polution long after the initial fresh paint smell has gone away.
Switching from oil based paints to water based products is pretty standard practice these days as high quality water based paints have been developed to offer many of the durability features previosly only found in oil products. However most waterbased products do still contain low to medium VOC levels.
If you are concerned about VOCs in your environment there are products that offer low or even no VOC content but they are more expensive. Our top picks are Earthborne, Graphenstone and Bullmers. But be prepared to pay twice as much for these products over standard trade paint.
Single use plastics and throw-away products
Protecting floors and furniture etc is essential when painting. And in the past we have used large amounts of single use plastic sheeting and floor covers to protect our customers property.
We now aim to minimise use of single use plastic by opting for paper protection which is lower impact and can be recycled after use however this is also an additional cost to factor into the cost of a project.
The 3 R’s
Applying the 3 R’s: Reduce, re-use and recycle help minimise our impact on the environment.
By spending out on high quality tools and materials we reduce the amount of used brushes and rollers going into lanfill as well as using high quality paints that need fewer litres to complete a job.
Buying high quality brushes, these can be re-used for longer and actually get better with use!
Recycle all you can including old paint tins and donate left over paint to the local council to keep your landfill waste to a minumum.
These are our top tips for reducing the impact of decorating work, can you think of any other actions we can take to help make things even greener?
Capital Decorating offers a complete painting and decorating service in London. Based in the heart of the East End we service customers in Poplar, Mile End, Canary Wharf, Limehouse, Isle of Dogs, Wapping, Stratford, Bow, Tower Hamlets, Bethnal Green and surrounding areas.
