Council directive on limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds in wood finishing

Environmental legislation is likely to have significant impact on the practices of industrial wood coating over next decade, both in the present and future EU member states. To comply with the Council Directive1999/13/EC (VOC-Directive) the options open to woodcoaters are the use of compliant coatings (water-based coatings, UV- coatings and powder coatings), process modification by an increased "transfer efficiency" (defined as the ratio between solid paint on the object and total solid paint used) and abatement. The paper discusses some European experiences related to reducing the VOC emissions and compliant coating.