VNC Press Room
In The News: The Christian Science Monitor (Jun. 23, 2010)
The whey-based coating has been applied with good results on the floor of a yoga center in Berkeley, Calif., woodwork in a Montessori school in New York City, and in the five-child, three-dog home of contractor Jason Lawrence of Stewartstown, N.H., who says it's the equal of any oil-based product he's ever used.
Read the full article. [HTML]
New Product News: PaintSquare (Jan. 15 2010)
Vermont Natural Coatings (Hardwick, VT) introduced PolyWhey Exterior Wood Finish, a new addition to the company’s line of natural clear wood finishes.
Read the full article. [HTML]
Buildaroo Interview with Andrew Meyer at Greenbuild Conference (Nov. 2009)
At this year’s Greenbuild conference, Vermont Natural Coatings displayed their PolyWhey wood finish, a natural environmentally safe finish with a low VOC content. Ricky from Buildaroo stopped by the Vermont Natural Coating's booth and interviewed Andrew.
View the video [HTML]
Product Review: Woodworker's Journal (Jan. 2009)
'I asked him how this is different from the milk paint we have all heard about. "We've found that whey protein simply makes a stronger binding agent than casein, which is at the heart of milk paint. The upshot is you get a substantially more durable coating. Of course, casein-based milk paint is not clear. Our whey-based coatings are."'
View the PDF (reprinted with permission) [PDF]
Featured Product: The Family Handyman (Sep. 2009)
'Polywhey has been getting kudos by industry professionals for both its durability and ease of application.'
View the PDF (reprinted with permission) [PDF]
Featured Product: Architectural Week (May 2009)
'Wood Finish from Whey'
View the PDF (reprinted with permission) [PDF]
Product Review: Traditional Home
'Whey Better'
View the PDF (reprinted with permission) [PDF]
Vermont Natural Coatings turns cheese whey into green varnish
'Meyer founded Vermont Natural Coatings in 2004 and spent the ensuing years perfecting the formula, working with Guo, as well as local woodworkers, to ensure the product performed in real world environments.'
View the PDF (reprinted with permission) [PDF]
Product Mention: FreeGreen Green Home Project: Needham, MA
'The product is pretty much odor free, dries in a few hours and is made from a renewable resource which is a byproduct of Vermont cheese manufacturing that would otherwise be discarded. As a result, it does not contain imported crude oil, is very durable and has indoor VOC levels below 180g/L, which exceeds the toughest standards in the U.S.'
View the article at Free Green [HTML]
Vermont Natural Coatings has a corporate profile in the latest issue of The Paint Dealer Magazine (August 2009)
'Finally, A Premium Wood Finish that is Safe and Durable.'
View the PDF (reprinted with permission) [PDF]
Green mystique adds up.
Joel Banner Baird - Burlington Free Press
'This couldn't be a better time to be in a green business here,' [Andrew Meyer] said. 'When people hear Vermont, they think green, they think high—quality product and they think profitability.'
View the article at the Burlington Free Press [HTML]
Growing business for Vermont farms.
The Green - University of Vermont Quarterly Winter 2009
To turn the whey and soy projects from good ideas into real jobs and income for Vermonters, all that was missing was an entrepreneur willing to take on the financial risk of launching one new business and expanding another.
Read the full article. [PDF]
Industry Interview: Vermont Natural Coatings: Say Cheese for a New 'Whey' to Finish
Michael Dresdner - Woodworker's Journal
"It’s the whey that contributes so heavily to the durability of our finishes. Lab testing shows that our whey-based finishes have superior durability compared to some of the other waterbased finishes in the field. For the user, our coatings dry within about two hours and have a neutral odor that most users find essentially nonexistent."
Read the full article at Woodworker's Journal [HTML]
Vermont Natural Coatings turns cheese whey into green varnish
Efrain Viscarolasaga - Mass High Tech
"We’re finding the product is very competitive in the green building market, but as green building becomes more mainstream, we’re being compared more and more to traditional, mainstream products..."
Read the full article at Mass High Tech [HTML]
Company Mention: Uniting Around Food to Save an Ailing Town
Marian Burros - New York Times
"Last month the center signed an agreement with the University of Vermont for faculty and students to work with farmers and food producers on marketing, research, even transportation problems. Already, Mr. Meyer has licensed a university patent to make his Vermont Natural Coatings, an environmentally friendly wood finish, from whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking."
Read the full article at The New York Times [HTML]
UVM Initiatives Support Food-Based Companies
WPTZ News
"Healthy, local and fresh were the buzzwords at Vermont Soy and Vermont Natural Coatings Tuesday. The president of the University of Vermont signed a partnership with The Center for an Agricultural Economy, a group of local businesses that strives to develop a healthy food system in the Hardwick area and to create an economy that's based on food and agriculture."
See the video at WPTZ [HTML/Flash]
Product Mention: Burlington YMCA Goes Green
Kate Duffy - WCAX News
"So this year, one change will improve air quality during and long after the renovation. The Y is finishing wood floors and paneling with a product called poly-whey, produced by Hardwick-based Vermont Natural Coatings."
Read the full article at WCAX News [HTML]
Product Mention: Materials Matter
Melody Voith, Chemical & Engineering News
"One of Material ConneXion's newest finds is a natural wood finish called PolyWhey, made by Vermont Natural Coatings. As the name implies, the product takes advantage of an abundant waste from cheese making to create a protein-based bonding agent."
Read the full article at Chemical & Engineering News [HTML]
Product Review: Whey-Based Floor and Furniture Finishes
Brent Ehrlic, Environmental Building News
"Achieving durability along with low-VOC content has challenged the floor-coatings industry, but Greg Hebert of Vermont Natural Coatings expects the company's floor finish to have similar durability to high-end commercial products..."
Read the review at Environmental Building News [HTML]
Product Review: A Clearly Green Finish
Mark Schofield, Fine Woodworking
"If someone mentions Vermont dairy products, you might think of Cabot cheese or Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Chances are you wouldn’t think of a modern wood finish. That might change now that Vermont Natural Coatings has started using whey ... as the bonding agent in two new water-based finishes: PolyWhey furniture finish and PolyWhey floor finish."
Read the review at Fine Woodworking [HTML]
Big Ideas: Hardwick farmer Andrew Meyer reinvents Vermont agriculture
Candace Page, Burlington Free Press
"In the future of Andrew Meyer's dreams, more farms -- not fewer -- dot the hillsides of the Northeast Kingdom. Farmers still sell milk, but have diversified to earn a more stable income, less whipsawed by the rise and fall of milk prices. "
View the article at the Burlington Free Press [HTML]
Crazy Idea, But it Might Just Work
Bibi van der Zee, The Guardian
"The farmers are happy, the environmental officers are happy, and the floors are gleaming. What more could you ask?" Read more. [PDF]
View the article at The Guardian [HTML]
Where there's a will there's a 'whey'
BRUCE EDWARDS, Rutland Herald
Growing up on the family farm in Hardwick imbued Andrew Meyer with a love of farming and a commitment to Vermont agriculture. Today, the 37-year-old farmer and entrepreneur has taken that passion and created two companies that produce valued-added dairy-based products. Meyer found an innovative use for whey, a byproduct of cheese making. Whey protein is most often used as a food additive. But Meyer's company, Vermont Natural Coatings uses whey to make a water-based wood finish for floors and furniture that is far more environmentally friendly than finishes that rely heavily on solvents. Read more. [PDF]
Made in Vermont: "Green" Wood Finishes
Read the WCAX - Made in Vermont story by Jack Thurston
Vermont Natural Coatings™ Introduces New High-Performance Floor and Furniture Finish Made from Natural Whey Protein
Vermont Natural Coatings™, a Vermont-based manufacturer of low-VOC floor and furniture finishes, announced it has launched its PolyWhey™ Floor and Furniture Finish products. In development since 2001 ... PolyWhey is a high performance natural finish that offers an environmentally smart alternative to traditional polyurethane. [PDF]
"UVM Innovations," Todd Keiller, Office of Technology Transfer, 2007
Dr. Ming Ruo Guo of UVM’s Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences developed an environmentally friendly wood finish that incorporates whey protein, usually a dairy industry waste product. Read More...
"Fueling Functional Foods," Jon Reidel, The View, University of Vermont,
February 11, 2004 [PDF]
Dr. Mingruo Guo, co-creator of Vermont Natural Coatings PolyWhey, discusses
the creative process behind his research. Read more...
"Clean and Green: Wood Industry, Dairy Farmers, and Consumers to Profit
from Whey-based Varnish," Sharon Harlow, Impact, Spring 2001, University of Vermont Extension [PDF]
The origins of Vermont Natural Coatings follows the environmental and economic needs of the local dairy and wood product industries. Read more...
Partial funding for this project was provided by NCIC through a Rural Business Enterprise Grant from USDA Rural Development.