Our enamel costs 3–4 rubles and turns yellow. It won’t burn out like the one that costs 35–40," director of JSC “Lakokraska” Andrey Gurchin acknowledges the fairness of the remarks that buyers sometimes make about his product. At the plant they believe: it’s better to repaint a burnt-out one than to pay for a jar of premium enamel from a European brand. And yet why must paint always stink, how does lacquer come from sunflower, and when will glowing lane markings appear on roads in Belarus? We visited the factory and found out.

"It stinks so you don’t get poisoned"

Belarusians love traditional colors: white, red, cherry, green, blue, yellow, orange. These observations are shared at the plant where journalists came during a press tour of enterprises in the Grodno region. And where do these bright colors start?

The raw solvent is obtained at “Naftan,” they produce additional chemical components themselves and manufacture the enamel itself, director Andrey Gurchin explains.

"Everyone says that Lidskaya paint is easy to recognize from afar because it stinks. We tried to make it odorless, thinking: this is what people need."

And customers concluded that, of course, it doesn’t smell, but the headache from it is just as much.

In the end we went back to the classic. Chemistry is dangerous—it's better to sense the smell to avoid health consequences.

"If anything, there’s a first aid point"

Well, let’s test it in practice. At the entrance to the area they honestly warn: not everyone tolerates the solvent smell well, especially if they’re not used to it

Everyone thinks that the paint on our roads glows from headlights. It’s not the paint that glows: road workers, when they apply it, add glass beads about a millimeter in diameter — those are the ones that reflect headlight glare. I don’t think projects with fluorescent paint have any prospects. Either way, it will flake off.

If we set such prices, no one will buy the paint. We’ll bury the budget.

White enamel turns yellow and will keep turning yellow.

As the manager says, every paint contains…