The Green Council and Hong Kong Productivity Council have jointly organised a seminar to address the impacts of paint on indoor air quality by introducing the innovative paint products and the most advanced intelligent and green technologies which offers new benefits to both property developers and consumers. Moreover, speakers also took the opportunity to introduce the details of green label certification schemes in Hong Kong and China.

Chief Executive Officer of Green Council, Ms Linda Ho explained, ” Many research findings already pointed out that materials used in interior refurbishing and furniture have a direct impact on the indoor air quality. Paint being the most common material used in interior decorations, its impact to our health thus cause great concern. However, as consumers do not know much about it and we are lack of a clear labelling system to help consumers to identify products, therefore very often consumers are unable to make the right choice. Through the seminar, we hope to arouse public concern towards the problems and encourage more manufacturers to apply the eco-labelling schemes. As a result, consumers are able to select products which are professionally certified as eco-friendly and have confidence in using them.”

We had invited experts and specialists to present at the seminar. Firstly, Mr. Raymond Fong, Principal Consultant of Environmental Management Division from Hong Kong Productivity Council introduced the impacts of paints towards indoor air quality. He explained that the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted during the application of paint would directly affect our health. Exposure to high concentration of VOCs can cause eye, nose and throat irritations, headaches, dizziness, skin allergy etc. Continued inhalation would even cause damage to central nervous system. Therefore, we have to understand the ingredient of the paint before using them. It is recommended to use water-based paint which has a lower percentage of VOCs.

Besides, Professor Jimmy Yu, Director of Environmental Science Programme, Department of Chemistry, Chinese University of Hong Kong had also introduced the latest environmental technological advancement on paints such as the application of Nano technology in paint to reduce the emission of harmful substances. On the other hand, motor refurbishing service industry has always confronted with the problem of VOCs emission, we thus invited Mr. KC Huang, Spies Hecker, Technical & Sales Specialist (South China), Dupont Technology Co Ltd to introduce the successful experience on using water-based paint in car industry.

To coincide with the topic of the seminar, we had also invited a successful applicant of Hong Kong Green Label on paint to share his experience in applying the Scheme, as well as the benefits in terms of sales, promotion and market developments after obtaining the Green Label. To help industries to have better understanding about Hong Kong Green Label Scheme and China Environmental Labelling Scheme, advisors from HKPC and Green Council explained the details on application procedures and certification criteria during the seminar.

Ms Linda Ho, CEO of Green Council opined, “Eco-friendly and non-hazardous indoor refurbishing products have become a global trend. For example, government in Mainland had already implemented ten mandatory standards of Indoor Decorating and Refurbishing Materials on limit of harmful substances emission on 1 July 2002. Products that failed to meet the new mandatory standards will be banned from the market. It is believed that with the increasing demands on product safety, eco-friendly paints would become the mainstream in the near future.”

Green Council will organize a series of seminars on green label schemes and green construction materials in the coming future to arouse the public awareness and support towards green products. It is aimed that through these seminars we are able to encourage the building industry to widely adopt green construction materials for building Hong Kong into a greener city.