Automotive collision repair may not seem a likely industry for environmentally sound practices, but the staff of Auto Beauty Specialists has taken the idea of becoming an ecologically minded shop and turned it into a reality. By taking steps to modify business practices, Auto Beauty has successfully become a “green” collision repair shop.

Located in an 85 year-old building in downtown Webster Groves, the family-owned company has been in business for over fifty years. Company-wide, changes have been made. Traditional solvent-based painting methods have been replaced with the spraying of waterborne paints. Solvent-based painting requires the removal of used paint product from the facility, but the application of waterborne paints results in a 90% reduction in waste production and a massive decrease of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) being discharged into the atmosphere. Furthermore, the process that once required the disposal of large containers of hazardous liquid waste now results in only periodic removal of a small can of six-inch disks of solid product. This change has made Auto Beauty a non-hazardous waste generator.

Auto Beauty Specialists’ collision repair shop mixes an average of two gallons of waterborne basecoat per week. By using this water-based product instead of solvent-based basecoats, Auto Beauty prevents over 600 pounds of VOCs from being emitted into the air we breathe. This is equivalent to taking more than 2,000 vehicles off the road annually.

Another advantage of spraying waterborne paints is also transferred to the customer, as the refinished surface of the car is more appealing. Since the majority of new cars are originally painted with waterborne paints, cars refinished with these products in the course of collision repair result in a better match, both in color and texture.