Turman Commercial Painters Use Water Purification to Filter Wash Water
Turman Commercial Painters of Livermore, Calif., has invested in a specialized AkzoNobel water purification system that filters the wash water from cleaning brushes, rollers and paint sprayers.
“Our investment in leading edge technology helps reduce the environmental impact of our company, increases our efficiency, and contributes to our client's environmental initiatives” says Dave Theobald, president and chief executive officer.
Each Turman field crew returns buckets of wash water back to the plant where it is filtered through the purification system. The cleaned and filtered water can be sent down normal drainage systems and the remaining inert solid remnants are dried and then can be disposed of normally.
“When we first saw the AkzoNobel filtration system, we knew it would solve the problem of disposing of our paint wash water from the field in an environmentally friendly manner. We have now purchased this system for each of our offices across the country, taking California’s more stringent environmental standards and applying them as a rule to each of our other national offices,” said Theobald.
The company also gives away excess paint to local communities to reuse and recycle, invests in Prius and Ford Transit vehicles to decrease emissions and reduce fuel consumption, and uses zero or low volatile organic compound paints where possible. “It is in our company DNA to do the right thing ─ that translates to how we treat our clients, our employees and the environment,” says Theobald. “Our investment in high technology to reduce our impact on the environment, which in turn helps reduce the supply chain footprint of our clients, are other examples of that ideology.”
In other green efforts, the company is now using a LifeSize videoconferencing system for companywide meetings and recently completed a carbon footprint analysis of 2009 operations.