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Aerosol Coatings Meet Regulatory Challenges Graffiti Resources Council Rebranding, Air Quality Efforts Aerosol coatings include all paints that are specially formulated for spraying from a pressurized can. These versatile products can be used for a multitude of applications, including the finishing and touch-up of cars, machinery, metal furniture, appliances and other unlimited items. Approximately 80% of aerosol paints are sold to consumers for “do-it-yourself” paint jobs with the remainder sold for industrial or construction applications. Additional applications include construction-related markings, parking lots and athletic fields, as well as arts and crafts. Fans of the 2014 International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup will remember that the referees in all of the games used an aerosol coating product (that disappeared after 30 seconds) to mark the 10-yard distance for defenders when there was a free kick. The variety of surfaces to which aerosol coatings can be applied and its diversity of users are limited only by the imagination of our industry’s formulators. Aerosol paint products accomplish a professional finish unachievable with brush paints. Its unique capacity to cover hard-to-reach or irregular surfaces, coupled with its convenient portability and long shelf life, make it a user-friendly and irreplaceable product. In addition to its engineering for both discreet and large areas, aerosol paint is also environmentally favorable in that it is storable until completely used, and aerosol cans are completely recyclable when emptied. However, this special product is not immune from regulatory pressures, both from environmental agencies seeking to reduce emissions of solvents into the ambient air and local governments whose communities have been the victim of graffiti vandalism. The American Coatings Association’s (ACA) Spray Paint Manufacturers Committee (SPMC) is dedicated to the maintenance of a reasonable regulatory environment for the formulation, display and sale of aerosol coatings. The SPMC has guided the industry through these and other issues that jeopardize the marketplace for aerosol coatings. Players watch as the referee marks off a free kick Graffiti Vandalism Since the late 1980s, U.S. communities both large and small have become targets of graffiti vandalism, much of it carried out with aerosol paint. For the industry, this criminal misuse of legitimate products is a disturbing problem and the focus of a substantial effort to support and strengthen local anti-graffiti initiatives across the country. In the early 1990s, the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles adopted local laws that required retail stores to “lock up” aerosol 26 Spray August 2014 HEIDI McAULIFFE Senior Counsel, Government Affairs, American Coatings Association coatings in cases or cages. By taking the product off of open shelves and requiring floor personnel to assist in the selection, these laws add time and inconvenience to the consumer purchase decision, thus dramatically cutting sales by approximately 30%. After litigation challenging these regulations was dismissed, many other cities in California soon enacted similar lock-up ordinances. In 1993, the city of Chicago passed a law banning the sale of aerosol coatings and forcing customers to go outside the city to purchase these legitimate products. The impact on the aerosol coatings industry was significant. As a result of these display and sales regulations, the available retail shelf space for aerosol coatings shrank dramatically. In an effort to successfully address the criminal mishandling of spray paints and emerging legislation that unfairly punishes the aerosol paint market, the National Council to Prevent Delinquency (NCPD) was established in 1994. The NCPD, launched by the aerosol paint industry and the American Coatings Association (then the National Paint & Coatings Association NPCA), sought effective and workable public policies to tackle the unlawful misuse of spray paint. As such, NCPD acted as an advocate in the interest of combating graffiti and an industry representative against potentially damaging legislation. The NCPD’s primary effort was the development of the Responsible Retailing program, which consists of identifying all aerosol paint retailers, preparing guides explaining the legal restrictions and practical theft prevention considerations for the sale and display of aerosol coatings, producing in-store signage and offering theft prevention training for retail sales staff. For 20 years, the NCPD has been very successful in preventing the proliferation of lock up ordinances across the country and has helped launch Responsible Retailing programs in Albuquerque, NM; Bernalillo County, NM; Miami Dade County, FL; Milwaukee, WI; Sacramento, CA; Kansas City, KS; and Suffolk County, NY, among many others. To celebrate its 20th year in operation and to recognize the fact that Responsible Retailing is only part of the solution to graffiti vandalism, the NCPD is transitioning into the Graffiti Resource Council (GRC). Our goal is to make it immediately clear that GRC is a resource for cities and communities seeking to be graffiti-free. While the mission of the council remains the same, the council’s portfolio of services has expanded to provide additional resources for city managers, city procurement officers, street and sanitation employees, downtown beautification councils, graffiti task force members and all the personnel involved in preventing and cleaning up graffiti vandalism. The GRC’s portfolio of services includes centralized resources so


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