Are there environmentally friendly household paints?
Yes. Though it is next to impossible to rid a paint of all toxins, many paint manufacturers now offer a line of paint that have as little toxins as possible. These paints are water based, and have varying degrees of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). There are three kinds of environmentally friendly paints – natural paints, zero VOC paints, and low-VOC paints. Natural paints, also known as milk paints, use all natural ingredients. These can include water, plant oils and resins, plant dyes, essential oils, clay, chalk, talcum, milk casein, natural latex, and bees wax. Zero-VOC paints are a bit of a misnomer. It is impossible to have colored paint without Volatile Organic Compounds present. But, paints labeled as Zero-VOC have less than 5 grams per liter of VOCs present in the mix. This level is still very low. Low-VOC paints must have less than 200 grams per liter of VOCs, and often contain very little to no heavy metals or formaldehyde. The main drawback of environmentally friendly pai
