#P2Week Day 5: GLRPPR says goodbye after 25 years

All good things must come to an end and I’m sorry to report that GLRPPR’s time has come. Due to loss of funding, we will cease operations at the end of this month.

During the coming year, we will be transitioning our resources to ensure that they remain available. Watch this space for information about where to find them as they move.

I will continue as the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center’s Sustainability Information Curator after the project concludes. To stay up to date on sustainability news and resources, check out Environmental News Bits, my daily (M-F) news blog. Read it on  the web or subscribe to receive a daily digest in your inbox.

Thank you all for your support over the years. It has been an honor and privilege to connect you with the P2 information you need.

#P2Week Day 4: Essential pollution prevention publications for #ThrowbackThursday

Because today is also #ThrowbackThursday, I’m going to highlight some classic P2 publications. Although they were originally in the published in the 1990s through early 2000s, they contain a trove of useful information about implementing pollution prevention in today’s industrial facilities.

Want to learn more? Visit the Pollution Prevention 101 LibGuide for a comprehensive guide to pollution prevention and sustainable business resources.

EPA Sector Notebooks (U.S. EPA, late 1990s)
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) developed the EPA Sector Notebooks to provide chemical profiles of selected industries. Each profile includes information about the processes conducted in the industry, chemical releases and transfers of chemicals, opportunities for pollution prevention, pertinent federal statutes and regulations, and compliance initiatives associated with the sector. Although these notebooks were published in the late 1990s, they still contain a wealth of information about the production processes, environmental impacts, and pollution prevention options for these sectors.

Facility Pollution Prevention Guide (U.S. EPA, 1992)
For those who are interested in and responsible for pollution prevention in industrial or service facilities. Summarizes the benefits of a company-wide pollution prevention program and suggests ways to incorporate pollution prevention in company policies and practices.

Guide to Industrial Assessments for Pollution Prevention and Energy Efficiency (U.S. EPA, 1990)
Presents an overview of industrial assessments and the general framework for conducting them.  It describes combined assessments for pollution prevention and energy and provides guidance for performing them at industrial or other commercial facilities.

The Industrial Green Game: Implications for Environmental Design and Management (National Academies Press, 1997)
This volume examines industrial circulation of materials, energy efficiency strategies, “green” accounting, life-cycle analysis, and other approaches for preventing pollution and improving performance. Corporate leaders report firsthand on “green” efforts at Ciba-Geigy, Volvo, Kennecott, and Norsk Hydro.

Organizational Guide to Pollution Prevention (U.S. EPA, 2001)
This Pollution Prevention (P2) Guide provides information to help organizations get P2 programs started or to re-evaluate existing P2 programs. It presents an alternative method for working on P2 projects and four approaches to implementing a P2 program in an organization.

Pollution Prevention : A Guide to Project and Program Implementation (Illinois Hazardous Waste Research and Information Center, 1993)
This manual serves as an overview for Illinois businesses of all sizes that have chosen to learn more about developing a pollution prevention program.

Searching for the Profit in Pollution Prevention: Case Studies in the Corporate Evaluation of Environmental Opportunities (U.S. EPA, 1998)
This research was initiated to more fully illuminate the challenges facing industry in the adoption of pollution prevention (P2) opportunities, and to identify issue areas that can be studied and addressed by policy-makers and industry. The case studies in this paper describe three P2 projects that were chosen/or analysis precisely because they were in some way unsuccessful. This analysis, based on a small and non-random sampling, is not necessarily representative of the experiences of all companies or all P2 investment possibilities.

 

#P2Week Day 3: The Library of Things

When most people think about things they can borrow from their local library, books and DVDs are most often what comes to mind. However, many libraries are going beyond their typical collections and lending a plethora of other things. Some of these include:

Science kits, toys, and games

At the Alaska Resources Library and Information Services, you can check out animal skeletons, pelts, and skulls—along with over 250,000 books, educational science kits, and environmental education materials. Within the Great Lakes Region, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources partners with libraries and other organizations throughout the state to lend resource trunks/packs that cover a variety of Illinois-specific topics.

The Chicago Public Library has a circulating collection of ScienceConnections Discovery Packs. And the Shirley M. Wright Memorial Library in Trempealeau, WI loans bird watching kits and metal detectors. Many libraries also circulate maker kits for kids.

Many libraries loan toys. Several of those, including the Zion Benton (IL) Public Library, loan American Girl doll kits.

Prom dresses/formal wear and interview clothes

The Gilbert (MN) Public Library loans formal dresses for four weeks at a time. The Schaumburg (IL) Public Library holds a Prom Formal Giveaway each spring. The New York Public Library’s Riverside Library’s Grow Up work accessories collection lends neckties, bow ties, briefcases, and handbags. Items have a one-time, three week lending period.

Image courtesy of Bartlesville (OK) Public Library

Home improvement and maintenance tools

Tools are handy to have around the house, but they can also be expensive and difficult to store. Tool lending libraries, which aren’t always affiliated with public libraries, are becoming increasingly common. Find one near you or start one if your community doesn’t have one already. Libraries throughout the country loan Kill-A-Watt power meters, which help you measure the efficiency of your appliances. Many libraries have also started loaning technology, including internet hot spots.

Cake pans, cooking tools, and maker/crafting kits

If you like to cook or bake, you may eventually run across a recipe that requires a special type of pan or kitchen tool that you may only use once. Libraries have you covered there too. The Northlake Public Library in Northlake, IL lends a wide variety of speciality kitchen equipment, including food processors, panini presses, and crepe pans. They also lend crafting tools like sergers and knitting looms.

Musical instruments

Musical instruments are an investment if you aren’t sure you’re going to continue playing.  Libraries have you covered there too. For example, you can borrow a Moog theremini and a wide variety of other instruments from the Ann Arbor (MI) Public Library.

Seeds

Seed libraries, often located in public libraries or other community gathering points, are institutions created for the purpose of sharing seeds. The idea is that a library patron can “check-out” seeds to grow themselves, let “go-to-seed”, and then return seeds to the library to share with other community members. Learn more about seed libraries here or find one near you.

The next time you need household tools, electronics, games, or even formal wear, check to see if your local library has you covered. You can save money and reduce your environmental impact at the same time.

#P2Week Day 1: Pollution prevention and resilience

In 1990, Congress passed the Pollution Prevention Act. Pollution Prevention (P2) Week, celebrated during the third week of September each year (September 17-23, 2018),  highlights the efforts of EPA, its state partners, industry, and the public in preventing pollution right from the start.

This year’s theme, Pollution Prevention for a Resilient Planet, is especially timely as Hurricane Florence pounds the southeastern U.S.  As the storm neared landfall late last week, news outlets reported on the risks posed by coal ash ponds and pig waste lagoons in North Carolina and EPA’s evaluation of the vulnerability of Superfund sites in the storm’s projected path.

Pollution prevention is a cornerstone of community resilience. By reducing the use of toxic chemicals and eliminating waste, communities improve the health and welfare of their citizens and reduce their risk when natural disasters strike.

For more information on actions that cities can take to become more resilient, see the Resilient Cities LibGuide.

Great Lakes Environmental and Economic Data Visualization Tool

GLRPPR is pleased to announce the release of the Great Lakes Environmental and Economic Data Visualization Tool, which was developed as part of an initiative to help pollution prevention technical assistance providers target their efforts by using public data. You can find publications from the initiative here.

The tool uses data from U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Inventory, as well as the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns data set.

The web page for the tool includes links to downloadable data sets, additional tools for targeting technical assistance, and a user’s guide.

GLRPPR’s data initiative was funded by U.S. EPA’s Pollution Prevention Information Network grant program.

U.S. EPA Region 5 fact sheets on ethylene oxide use and dry cleaner regulations

U.S. EPA Region 5 recently issued an update to their ethylene oxide fact sheet, which now includes a case study.  They have also developed a regulatory update for dry cleaners that includes recommendations for alternatives to percloroethylene (perc).

Download the ethylene oxide fact sheet at http://go.illinois.edu/region-5-eto-case-study.

Download the dry cleaning regulatory update at http://go.illinois.edu/region-5-dry-cleaning-fact-sheet.

Waste reduction policy resources for municipal and county governments

Recently, Rick Yoder of P2RIC  asked me to help him identify resources that local and county governments can use when developing waste reduction policies. This post compiles our results to provide a starting point for communities looking to do similar projects.

Comprehensive resources and templates

Waste Reduction Planning and Implementation for Owners/Operators (CalRecycle)
A comprehensive web page with linked steps to developing a good waste reduction plan. Lists specific material options and multiple policy suggestions. Concludes with reference to an environmental management system (EMS).

Implementing Waste Reduction (CalRecycle)
Outlines the steps for establishing a waste reduction program within a state agency. Many of these steps are consistent with those used by the private sector. This is a general outline that pertains mostly to office settings.

SFEnvironment: Striving for Zero Waste
Details San Francisco’s steps to become a zero waste city by 2020. Includes links to ordinances and practices that prevent waste, reduce and reuse first, and recycle and compost. They also link to policies related to zero waste.

StopWaste.org Model Policies and Ordinances
Links to models policies and ordinances in Alameda, Calif.

Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan (2011)
The Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan (Master Plan) projects future activities and services provided by Austin Resource Recovery (ARR or Department) for the next 30 years. The Master Plan looks at the Department in its entirety, laying a framework for how the Department provides services to its customers and empowers the Austin community to achieve Zero Waste. Implementation plans for each proposed project, service or policy will be developed within the context of the Master Plan, each one in synergy with the other to ensure consistency between the service message and physical development of the service program.

Texas Pollution Prevention (P2) Planning
Through the Waste Reduction Policy Act (WRPA), Texas requires companies that are large quantity generator or report on TRI Form R to submit P2 reports to the state each year. The site includes information on the state law and associated regulations, as well as a pollution prevention planning guide for facilities and links to P2 planning resources.

Zero Waste Communities (CalRecycle)
Links to Communities with Zero Waste Plans and ResolutionsCommunities Educating on Zero Waste or Working Toward a PlanZero Waste Community Tools and Resources; and Zero Waste Community Case Studies.

Reducing Waste and Recycling More, An Evaluation of Policies from Across America
Evaluation of extended producer responsibility policies from around the U.S.

General Service Administration (Denver) > Waste Reduction & Recycling
Compilation of GSA Denver waste reduction and recycling policies and regulations.

Sustainable Facilities Tool (GSA)
Brings together the sustainability information necessary to green your buildings. Use SFTool as your quick reference for day-to-day questions or dig deeper to understand more about efficiency, indoor environmental quality, conservation and the connections between them.

Buildings

Circular Economy in the Built Environment: Opportunities for Local Government Leadership
Authored by StopWaste and Arup, this primer provides an overview of a circular economy framework for the built environment at the community, neighborhood and building scales. The ideas and concepts included here are intended to stimulate local government decision-makers and staff in Alameda County and beyond to consider policies and actions in their jurisdictions. It illustrates concepts with real-world examples of sites and policies. The document is intended to initiate conversation and action among public policymakers, public agency staff and other partners.

Food waste

ReFED > State & Local Governments
Links to information about ways that states and municipalities can incentivize prevention, recovery, and recycling of food waste.

Tackling Food Waste, Nashvillian-Style
In 2015, NRDC launched the Nashville Food Waste Initiative (NFWI) to develop high-impact policies, strategies, and practical tools to serve as models for cities around the country. As a midsize, demographically diverse metropolis in the center of the country, Nashville can serve as a model for other cities. This page provides an overview of the project and links to resources.

Nashville Food Rescue Landscape Analysis
Recent research by NRDC explored the potential to expand food rescue from consumer-facing businesses (such as institutional foodservice, restaurants, caterers, convenience stores and retail grocery) located in Nashville, Denver and New York City. The analysis for Nashville found that the equivalent of 9.3 million additional meals could, hypothetically, be rescued from these business sectors per year under optimal conditions. This includes the potential for an additional 2.4 million meals from restaurants, 1.8 million meals from institutions including hospitality (mainly hotels), healthcare, colleges, universities and K-12 and an estimated 200,000 meals from caterers. Much of the potential from these foodservice sectors would likely be in the form of prepared foods. If the potential from institutions, restaurants and caterers could be realized, it would meet an additional 23% of the meal gap in Davidson County. The possibility of expanding donation of high quality prepared food thus resents a significant opportunity in Nashville.

GLRPPR Sector Resources

Journal articles

Contact your local library to obtain the full-text of these articles.

Policy incentives to minimize generation of municipal solid waste (Waste Management Research, 2000)
Municipal solid waste minimization involves decisions by product manufacturers, government institutions, private businesses, and householders to reduce the amount of waste placed in the waste stream (‘source‐reduction’) and to divert waste entering the waste stream toward benign purposes (‘waste diversion’) – rather than toward disposal through incineration or landfilling. Three basic types of policy incentives can be used to prompt waste generators, handlers, and managers to minimize waste generation: command‐and‐control regulations, social‐psychological incentives, and economic incentives. The likelihood of command‐and‐control regulations being successfully implemented depends importantly on the social‐psychological and economic incentives for waste minimization provided in the regulations. Experience from various parts of the world shows that, when such incentives are provided, agencies and individual householders can learn to change their attitudes and behavior toward generation and disposal of waste. However, fully achieving this result will require considerable time and much purposeful attention to the wide array of interrelated matters required in minimizing waste generation.

Effectiveness of state pollution prevention programs and policies (Contemporary Economic Policy, 2013)
States are using regulatory-, information-, and management-based policies to encourage the adoption of pollution prevention (P2) and reduce pollution. Using a sample of facilities of S&P 500 firms which report to the Toxic Releases Inventory from 1991 to 2001, this study employs dynamic panel data models to examine the effectiveness of state legislations and policies in increasing P2 and reducing toxic releases. I find that toxic waste legislations are effective in reducing toxic releases and in promoting P2, but the effect of policy instruments differ. Facilities in states with reporting requirement and mandatory planning adopt more P2 even in states that do not emphasize toxic waste reduction. The effectiveness of reporting is stronger among facilities with good environmental performance, while the potency of mandatory planning is greater among facilities with past P2 experience. In contrast, numerical goals reduce toxic pollution levels only among those which have been subjected to high levels of enforcement action. These suggest that reporting requirement and mandatory planning may be promoting the P2 practices which can improve public image and which benefit from enhanced technical know-how, but they are not causing meaningful pollution reductions, implying that the existing policies must be complemented by other approaches to achieve higher reductions in toxic pollution levels.

Wasteful waste-reducing policies? The impact of waste reduction policy instruments on collection and processing costs of municipal solid waste (Waste Management, 2011)
We study the impact of some local policies aimed at municipal solid waste (MSW) reduction on the cost efficiency of MSW collection and disposal. We explicitly account for differences between municipalities in background conditions by using a bootstrapped version of the Data Envelopment Analysis methodology in combination with a matching technique. Using data on 299 municipalities in Flanders, Belgium, for the year 2003, our results indicate that municipalities that are member of a waste collection joint venture, or that subscribe to a voluntary agreement to reduce MSW at the highest ambition level, collect and process MSW more efficiently than other municipalities. Weekly instead of two-weekly waste collection, or using a weight-based pricing system appears to have no impact on efficiency. Our results show that aiming at MSW reduction does not lead to lower efficiency of public service provision, even on the contrary.

Direct and indirect effects of waste management policies on household waste behaviour: The case of Sweden (Waste Management, 2018)
Swedish legislation makes municipalities responsible for recycling or disposing of household waste. Municipalities therefore play an important role in achieving Sweden’s increased levels of ambition in the waste management area and in achieving the goal of a more circular economy. This paper studies how two municipal policy instruments – weight-based waste tariffs and special systems for the collection of food waste – affect the collected volumes of different types of waste. We find that a system of collecting food waste separately is more effective overall than imposing weight-based waste tariffs in respect not only of reducing the amounts of waste destined for incineration, but also of increasing materials recycling and biological recovery, despite the fact that the direct incentive effects of these two systems should be similar. Separate food waste collection was associated with increased recycling not only of food waste but also of other waste. Introducing separate food waste collection indirectly signals to households that recycling is important and desirable, and our results suggest that this signalling effect may be as important as direct incentive effects.

Waste policies gone soft: An analysis of European and Swedish waste prevention plans (Waste Management, 2018)
This paper presents an analysis of European and Swedish national and municipal waste prevention plans to determine their capability of preventing the generation of waste. An analysis of the stated objectives in these waste prevention plans and the measures they propose to realize them exposes six problematic features: (1) These plans ignore what drives waste generation, such as consumption, and (2) rely as much on conventional waste management goals as they do on goals with the aim of preventing the generation of waste at the source. The Swedish national and local plans (3) focus on small waste streams, such as food waste, rather than large ones, such as industrial and commercial waste. Suggested waste prevention measures at all levels are (4) soft rather than constraining, for example, these plans focus on information campaigns rather than taxes and bans, and (5) not clearly connected to incentives and consequences for the actors involved. The responsibility for waste prevention has been (6) entrusted to non-governmental actors in the market such as companies that are then free to define which proposals suit them best rather than their being guided by planners. For improved waste prevention regulation, two strategies are proposed. First, focus primarily not on household-related waste, but on consumption and production of products with high environmental impact and toxicity as waste. Second, remove waste prevention from the waste hierarchy to make clear that, by definition, waste prevention is not about the management of waste.

Waste management regulation: policy solutions and policy shortcomings (Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 2018)
A model of packaging waste management is presented to explore the policy options available to governments to implement waste regulation in light of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Our model endogenizes the packaging design as an additional determinant for the overall amount of waste jointly with consumers’ sorting effort and producers’ output decisions. The model shows that the policies that yield the first‐best allocation may not find public support. Furthermore, if the set of available policy instruments is limited, production and consumption of the good is likely to settle on a sub‐optimal level even though the optimal allocation may be achievable. Finally, the model demonstrates that a landfill tax may actually increase landfill waste in the presence of tradable credits for recycling activities. The results shed light on some shortcomings of existing regulatory schemes such as the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations of the UK.

Food Policies to Tackle Food Waste: A Classification (in Food Waste at the Consumer Level: A Comprehensive Literature Review, 2018)
Food waste definitely represents a threat for the sustainability of our food systems. Recently governments are starting to be aware of it and are implementing promising food policies. Indeed, in this chapter we will seek to highlight the most relevant international policies put forward to curb the phenomenon and to classify them, according to the most effective food policy measures.

Food waste matters – A systematic review of household food waste practices and their policy implications (Journal of Cleaner Production, 2018)
In recent years, food waste has received growing interest from local, national and European policymakers, international organisations, NGOs as well as academics from various disciplinary fields. Increasing concerns about food security and environmental impacts, such as resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions attributed to food waste, have intensified attention to the topic. While food waste occurs in all stages of the food supply chain, private households have been identified as key actors in food waste generation. However, the evidence on why food waste occurs remains scattered. This paper maps the still small but expanding academic territory of consumer food waste by systematically reviewing empirical studies on food waste practices as well as distilling factors that foster and impede the generation of food waste on the household level. Moreover, we briefly discuss the contributions of different social ontologies, more particularly psychology-related approaches and social practice theory. The analysis reveals food waste as a complex and multi-faceted issue that cannot be attributed to single variables; this also calls for a stronger integration of different disciplinary perspectives. Mapping the determinants of waste generation deepens the understanding of household practices and helps design food waste prevention strategies. Finally, we link the identified factors with a set of policy, business, and retailer options.

Spray Paint Efficiency Training to be offered in Indianapolis on August 23

This training will help painters and managers in any kind of paint shop save money and protect worker health.

This hands-on training will help participants reduce paint material costs, save money, improve air quality, and meet environmental standards. Participants also receive a five year 6H Certification as well as an understanding of NESHAP and 6H surface coating regulations.

A virtual paint booth will be utilized to improve technique.

The training is for painters and paint shop managers of all kinds and sizes—from collision repair and auto shops to industrial paint shops and fleet management facilities. The training is in English, but Spanish language services are available.

Upon completing the training, painters improve their spray efficiency by an average of 20 percent. For most shops, this improvement makes a significant difference. In 2014 PPRC’s spray efficiency program saved businesses over one million dollars in material and other costs as well as preventing over 18,000 pounds of air emissions. An average shop of 10 painters can expect VOC reductions of about 2600 pounds and annual savings of 5,000 to 50,000 dollars.

The head trainer, Ken Grimm, has provided train-the-trainer courses to more than two dozen Community and Technical Colleges in the Pacific Northwest, as well as training to more than 150 collision repair shops and industrial facilities.

Two sessions are offered: an afternoon session from noon to 4:00 p.m. EDT (registration and lunch at 11:30 a.m.); and an evening session from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. EDT (registration at 4:00 p.m and dinner at 6:00 p.m.)

Both sessions will be held at:

Speak Easy Downtown
47 South Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN

Website: https://speakeasyindy.com/

Registration fee is $130 per person for each session. Registration deadline is August 20, 2018.

This training event is being offered through funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) through the collaboration of P2Rx centers facilitated by the Environmental Sustainability Resource Center (ESRC) and the Great Lakes Region Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR), presented by the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center (PPRC), and hosted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM).

Upcoming National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) Briefing webinars

Is there going to be National P2 Conference? Does NPPR still have workgroups? Are there plans for P2 Week? What kind of advocacy is NPPR doing at the federal level?

WHAT:  The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) is hosting a webinar this summer to highlight current activities and future plans for the organization.

WHO:  The FREE webinar is open to anyone interested in learning more about the organization and how all stakeholders can work together to better advance and share our pollution prevention (P2) knowledge, successes and opportunities.

WHEN:  There are two separate occasions to participate. Join us on one of the following interactive sessions to learn more:

NPPR:  As the only membership organization in the United States devoted solely to Pollution Prevention (P2), NPPR acts as a window on the P2 community and offers a national forum for promoting the development, implementation, and evaluation of efforts to avoid, eliminate, or reduce pollution at the source.

NPPR’s members are comprised of the country’s preeminent P2 experts from state and local government programs, small business assistance networks, non-profit groups, industry associations, federal agencies and academia, along with representatives from industrial and commercial facilities and interested individuals. There’s a membership level for everyone!

Visit www.p2.org to learn more about NPPR.