I bet you don’t know many 8 year olds that own a Harley……. You still don’t, but as an 8 year old I was the owner of a matte black bomber of a bmx bike that was lovingly nicknamed “The Harley”. The two main reasons for this name were due to the ridiculous weight of the thing and the awful noise that the chain, gears, axles, pedals, and I made while trying to ride it. But like many kids in that stage of life we loved our bikes and we loved to modify them. Everything from cards in the spokes and stickers, to BB gun holders and full color changes with whatever color of rattle-can spray paint you could find in the garage. In my case it was a nice  low gloss black.

(Not my bike, but close enough)

Over the past few weeks I have found myself diving headfirst once again into the wonderful world of coatings and just like in my youth I didn’t know much more than the concept of point and shoot. My name is Chad and I am the newest addition to the  Surplus and MIT family. Since beginning here I have been taking a crash course to learn all that I can and more about Powder Coat. I’ve been swimming in a world of spray booths, curing ovens, colors, textures, resin chemistries, TDS’s, glosses, fluidization, conveying air, and let’s not forget transfer efficiencies. Now as I think about my old “Harley” and its crude paint job I gaze into the mirror shine of my current bicycle (and just about every product with a coating) and wonder, “I think that’s  powder coat”.

It’s no secret that when it comes to a quality finish, powder coat is head and shoulders above its little brother, paint. Powder coat delivers a beautiful, durable, and cost efficient finish that is much more environmentally friendly. With powder coat’s popularity and usage continuing to rise there stands out one glaring issue: what happens with the “waste”?

As I finished the paint job on my old bike it became very apparent that as hard as I tried not all of the paint ended up on the bike. A quarter of it was on the bike, a quarter was on the floor, the third quarter was in the air, and the fourth was cemented onto the tip of my finger. Thankfully the transfer efficiency of powder coat is much better (typically around the 65% mark) there still is overspray that falls into that waste category. While it is common practice to bake the waste and put it in the trash we at MIT are working hard to keep that from happening. Through a strategic partnership with Surplus Coatings we would love to provide you the opportunity to be a “Zero Landfill” facility by helping you recycle your unwanted waste. Through the use of powder coat instead of paint you are already reducing emissions, more efficiently coating, and eliminating the use of liquid solvents. Let’s complete the circle and go Green by recycling your waste.

For more information on how to recycle your unwanted waste click here.

Surplus Coatings is helping MIT Powder Coatings to THINK GREEN!