AkzoNobel representative Buck Storck, district sales leader, recently visited high school students in the collision repair program at Gaithersburg High School in Gaithersburg, Md., to speak about the importance of sustainable practices in the collision repair industry and recognize the students for their participation in the industry’s first Sustainability Challenge Grant. The grant is sponsored by AkzoNobel and administered by the Collision Repair Education Foundation.
“The need to achieve sustainability impacts individuals and industries around the world, and the collision repair industry is no exception,” Storck said. “At AkzoNobel, we recognize that the future of our industry lies in the hands of students who are preparing for a career in the field, and we are planting the seeds to stimulate awareness of sustainability and environmentally-friendly business practices with the Sustainability Challenge Grant.”
Storck commended collision repair instructor Kevin Lester and his students for their proposal to improve the recycling efforts of the school’s 6,500-square-foot collision repair shop by investing in a paper compactor to make masking paper more practical to store and recycle, plus a waterborne solvent recycler to allow solvent to be reused. He also encouraged the students to continue seeking out ways to improve processes, reduce their environmental footprint and connect the lessons they learn in the classroom with the practices they see in collision repair shops.
“These ideas represent the innovative thinking that is needed in our industry to make a positive impact on the environment and will result in cost savings to the operation of a collision repair shop,” he said. “Having the ability to think creatively and find practical solutions to problems will help you to adapt to changes in the industry and ‘future proof’ your career.”
Gaithersburg High School, located in a suburb of Washington, D.C., was one of five schools to receive AkzoNobel’s Sustainability Challenge Grant earlier this year to implement the forward-looking plans of its students. Other schools recognized for their innovative proposals to advance sustainable practices in collision repair include: Applied Technology Center, Rock Hill, S.C.; Cerritos College, Norwalk, Calif.; Manhattan Area Tech College, Manhattan, Kan.; Northern Maine Community College, Presque Isle, Maine.
Gaithersburg High School opened a new facility in fall 2013 that’s on track to achieve LEED Gold Certification for its green building design. It features geothermal heating and cooling, a vegetated roof to help minimize runoff, motion sensor lighting in classrooms and low-flow plumbing fixtures.
“The focus on sustainability – and programs like AkzoNobel’s Sustainability Challenge Grant – have helped our students make the connection between what’s being taught in the classroom and what’s being practiced in the real world,” said Lester. “Together, we’re all improving the way we go about our work on a day-to-day basis and learning to be better stewards of the environment.”
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