Our Silent Partners PART 1 The Survival & Growth of the Aerosol Industry: 1973–2000 This article will cover a very important time in our aerosol industry’s survival from 1973 through 2000. Many of the issues the industry faced have been long forgotten, and are overlooked as we face the similar challenges of today. The last 13 years have continued to provide similar trials to our industry, but we need to know the history of the past to better understand how we forge ahead with our strategy for future survival. Ozone Issue In 1973, the U.S. had experienced steady annual growth of 10% per year and its volume was 2.9 billion units. In 1974, however, the U.S. aerosol industry was faced with an environmental issue that threatened its very existence. Two scientists by the names of Rowland and Molina had just developed a theory that the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that most aerosols used as a propellant were destroying the ozone layer. The theory stated that chlorine-containing chemicals, stable in the lower atmosphere, would break down in the stratosphere under the influence of ultra-violet light and act as a catalyst in the destruction of ozone. At this time, chlorine containing propellants—CFCs—were used in many, but not all, aerosol products (55% CFCs and 45% hydrocarbons). Although this was based on a one-dimensional computer model, it gained wide recognition (at that time) and eventual acceptance by the hyper-environmentally oriented vocalists who seemed to super-charge the politicians and thus the government. In short order, the various agencies of government involved joined together and started the By Donald Rowson, President & CEO, Industrial Hydrocarbons, Inc. 30 Spray December 2013 machinery that would eventually ban the use of fluorocarbons in all aerosols except a few that were considered essential and thus exempt. During the next four years, industry volume dropped from an all-time high of 2.9 billion aerosol units in 1973 to two billion aerosol units in 1982—a loss of almost one billion units. This was a result of the 1978 CFC ban in the U.S. and only a 33% CFC ban in Europe. Our industry, once recognizing that the ban was a “fait accompli,” devoted all of its energies into making a rapid conversion to non-fluorocarbon systems. Goals & Objectives: 1978 Master Plan a Reality With the potential resolution of the CFC issue at the forefront, the newly-formed Western Aerosol Information Board (WAIB) and the Council on Atmospheric Sciences (COAS) foundation from CSMA (currently the Consumer Specialty Products Association CSPA) led the endeavor. The CSMA Aerosol Board of Directors, chaired by Bob Jacobsen of Continental Can, met in California at the Glendora Country
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