Company Profile > The Greening of Whitford

The Greening of Whitford

Historically, high-performance coatings such as those we manufacture have been made with solvents, which have been a crucial ingredient in achieving the performance of such coatings.

But solvents are "volatile organic compounds", and "VOCs" contaminate the atmosphere.

Many years ago, recognising the damage to the environment caused by pollutants, and acutely aware of what we were contributing to the damage, we began to look for safer alternatives to our solvent-borne products (one of the reasons we spend so high a percentage of our sales on R&D). The search gave us the jump on the industry.

The administration building at Whitford Worldwide's headquarters, located in Frazer, Pennsylvania. With the factory, the facility has 70,000 square feet of working area.

Today, we make environmentally acceptable analogues for most of our product lines, with hundreds of "green" formulae available to our customers. The VOCs of these coatings are less than (and, in some cases, significantly less than) the limits permitted by the toughest environmental legislation found in any of the markets in which we sell.

With seven manufacturing facilities around the world, it is our policy to apply the most stringent environmental regulations to all of our locations, no matter how less demanding the local laws may be.

More enlightened self-interest

Whitford Plastics Ltd., European headquarters, combines the factory facility and the administrative offices in one modern building, located in Runcorn, near Manchester, in the northwest of England.

Our decision to develop coatings with low VOCs may have been based on a concern for the environment, but it was also based on what we believed to be sound business judgment.

It was obvious that regulations governing the emissions in most areas in which our customers conduct their businesses were going to become more strict. They have, and they will continue to be tightened. Being a leader in "green" options gave Whitford a head start.

We continue to develop low-VOC options, and look forward to the day when our entire product line is "green".

Doing what's right is good for the environment. But it's also good business, since it helps our customers — and that in turn, helps us.