B & Q paints dark picture of solvent level proposals

Date: 30/04/03

By Karen Carstens

B&Q, the UK's biggest home improvement retailer, fears that a European Commission proposal to reduce solvent levels in paints could undermine its own more stringent labelling scheme.

"We don't want to end up with a situation where our voluntary initiative is greener than the latest EU legislation," said Alan Knight, head of social responsibility for B&Q parent company, Kingfisher, which also owns France's Castorama and Germany's Promarkt.

Knight has overseen the development of a labelling system for paint that includes five grades for the volatile organic compound (VOC) content of solvent-based emulsions, ranging from 'minimal' (less than 0.29) to 'very high' (more than 50).

Some 580,000 tonnes of VOCs are used in paints sold in the EU each year.

In high concentrations they can cause health problems, including nerve and brain damage.

VOCs also contribute to the formation of photo-chemical smog when they interact with nitrogen oxides and sunlight, which can worsen respiratory problems such as asthma.

The Commission's proposal, revising a 1999 directive still to be adopted by the European Parliament and member states, includes paints and varnishes for the first time.

It aims to slash the total volume of VOCs emitted into the atmosphere by 50, to 280,000 tonnes annually, by 2010.

European paint and ink association CEPE is largely satisfied with the proposal, which involves two phases, in 2007 and 2010.

However, Knight said Kingfisher was concerned about one key aspect of how the Commission defines the invisible culprits that escape from opened paint cans.

The B&Q labelling scheme is based on the definition of a VOC as having an initial boiling point of less than, or equal to, 280 degrees Celsius. The proposed EU directive, however, defines them at or below 250 degrees.

This would allow some of the main 'coalescing solvents' in water-based paints, to escape classification as VOCs, Knight warns.

Moreover, he added, the Commission's environment directorate also recommended the 280 degrees definition following an independent study it commissioned last year.

"The market is ready and the technology is there for a high definition," said Knight.

"The current draft is a weak definition which will potentially undermine what's already in the marketplace."

A Commission official admitted that the Kingfisher figure was more stringent, but added that 250 degrees was a compromise struck to get CEPE - which fears SMEs could suffer from the costs of implementing tougher measures - and others behind the proposal.

"Our big concern right now is that the Greek presidency is postponing this to the last minute and the Italians will not support it," the official said, referring to the Italian EU presidency starting on 1 July.

While many northern member states have striven to reduce VOC levels, the record is patchier in several of their southern counterparts, including Italy, he added.

A first reading of the proposal in Parliament, with Italian MEP Giorgio Lisi as rapporteur, has been postponed from May to June.

B&Q, the UK's biggest home improvement retailer, fears that a European Commission proposal to reduce solvent levels in paints could undermine its own more stringent labelling scheme.