Category: GLRPPR Website

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P2 for Winter Recreation

For those of us who live in the Great Lakes Region, it’s the time of year when snow and ice set the scene. Visions of a winter wonderland may be inspiring you to participate in any number of wintry recreational activities, including skiing, ice skating, snowmobiling, etc. Before you join in any reindeer games, however, you may want to take a moment to consider how P2 applies. Here are some resources to help you out.

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Technical Reviewers Needed for Two New GLRPPR Topic Hubs

P2Rx LogoGLRPPR has developed two new school-related Topic Hubs as part of the P2Rx Topic Hub project. Before any Topic Hub is published, topical experts review its narrative portions for accuracy and completeness.

“Energy Efficient Schools and Students” describes energy efficient practices and research available to schools and introduces resources that support changes in operations, maintenance, and behavior. Numerous ways exist to reduce escalating energy costs and this Topic Hub assembles guidelines and comprehensive energy programs, identifies educational efforts and case studies, and provides examples of best practices for schools.

“Sustainable School Design” addresses many areas, including: indoor air quality; energy consumption and options; construction materials; education materials; water use; waste management; transportation; community interaction; landscaping and the building envelope. It draws upon the myriad resources available to school administrators, school boards, and community planners with the hope that these tools will guide the design of more optimally sustainable schools. The Topic Hub deals with the big issues of construction and retrofitting, siting and commissioning, and actual design of new and remodeled schools. Pollution prevention opportunities and alternative technologies that include lighting, acoustics, air quality, and well-being needs for students and school staff for a healthy and safe learning environment, are presented.

If you’re interested in reading the narrative portions of these hubs and providing some voluntary feedback, please contact Joy Scrogum or Bob Iverson. We’re looking for 2-4 experts to evaluate each of these new hubs; one person may evaluate both hubs if they desire. If you are selected to review the hubs, we’ll contact you with a link to the information you’ll need to read and further instructions. Your name will be included in the “Acknowledgments” section of the final published Topic Hub as a “Technical Reviewer.” See the Acknowledgments section of the Pollution Prevention for Arts Education Topic Hub for an example.

Our greatest asset is the technical expertise of our members and their willingness to share their knowledge with colleagues throughout the region. We appreciate your input and look forward to working with those selected to review these new resources.

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Submit Suggestions for GLRPPR Organizational Plan Revision

The latest edition of the LINK newsletter included a note from Bob Iverson, GLRPPR Executive Director regarding the need to revise the organization plan and encouraging GLRPPR members to review the plan and send him suggestions for consideration. The current plan is available at http://www.glrppr.org/OrgPlan/. The story in LINK provides some issues to consider when reviewing the current plan (see page 7 of the newsletter at the link above.) If you have any thoughts or comments, contact Bob at biverson@wmrc.uiuc.edu or 217-333-8946.

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National Pollution Prevention Week, Sept. 17-23; Share Your Celebrations!

National Pollution Prevention (P2) Week is the third full week in September each year, making it September 17-23 for 2007. Pollution prevention is reduction or elimination of pollution at the source, and involves more efficient use of resources, the substitution of less harmful substances for hazardous ones, and the elimination of toxic substances from production processes. The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable offers tips for preventing pollution at home, work, and school on its web site.

If you’re planning an activity or celebration in honor of P2 Week, or if your organization offers information on its web site promoting P2 Week, tell us about it by using the “Comments” area for this blog post. The comments will serve as a way to promote your events and share ideas and experiences with the rest of the P2 community.

To leave a comment, click on the word “Comments” (proceeded by a number or the word “No” indicating the number of comments currently associated with a post) or “leave a response” that appears at the bottom of this post after the list of categories the entry was posted to. This will take you to a form in which to type your comment. You must be logged in to WordPress (the blog publishing system used to produce the GLRPPR Blog) in order to leave a comment; if you have not commented on a post before, you’ll need to register (It’s free and easy–it just requires filling out an online form to establish a user name and password. You’ll need those to log in anytime you want to submit a comment.).

Michigan DEQ has a section on P2 Week on its web site, including a P2 Week planner and sample resolution, an environmental calendar, and P2 Week posters. The Indiana Partners for Pollution Prevention are hosting the 10th Annual Pollution Prevention Conference and Trade Show during P2 Week, and IDEM will present the Indiana Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence during this event. Check the GLRPPR Calendar for other events that are taking place during P2 Week, and if you know of others, share them in the “Comments” section!

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New York State DEC to host REACH workshop

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently announced that it will host a workshop on the European Union’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical Substances (REACH). REACH is a recently adopted overhaul of the chemicals management system in the EU. REACH has important implications for United States firms exporting to EU member states and the rules became effective on June 1, 2007. The training session will take place on September 26, 2007 at DEC headquarters in Albany, NY.

An earlier post described a similar workshop that will be held in Lansing, MI on September 27.

For more upcoming events, check the GLRPPR online calendar and Sector Resources.

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New York: Pollution Prevention Institute RFP

New York State is seeking proposals to help establish a new pollution prevention institute that will promote innovative and cost effective methods for reducing or eliminating the use of toxic substances in manufacturing and other processes, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis announced recently. DEC is encouraging public or private universities, non-profit institutions, or a consortium of such organizations to submit proposals to develop and implement this pioneering project, first initiated by Governor Eliot Spitzer as part of his 2007-08 Executive Budget. When established, the institute will provide an unparalleled center for technology evaluation and development, as well as technology transfer, training, assistance and workforce development. The institute’s objective is to help make businesses more competitive by enabling them to be more efficient. The institute will foster partnerships among businesses, universities, state and local governments, health and environmental organizations to stimulate the research and development of cutting-edge environmental technologies that will focus on sustainability and toxic use reduction over the course of the product life cycle. Proposals are due by December 5, 2007.

For more information, see the RFP online at http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/37277.html. For more funding opportunities, be sure to check the GLRPPR Funding Opportunities page regularly.

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New GLRPPR Sector Resource: Pharmaceutical & Personal Care Product (PPCP) Wastes & Impacts

GLRPPR is pleased to announce the availability of a new compendium of resources on Pharmaceutical & Personal Care Product (PPCP) Wastes & Impacts. This compendium focuses on the environmental impacts of pharmaceutical and personal care product residues in the environment, as well as on how to properly dispose of such products to avoid environmental contamination. As with any Sector Resource, expert contact information and lists of relevant events and funding opportunities are provided, as well as relevant Help Desk questions and answers. An RSS feed is available. This sector resource includes a link to the recently released Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant guide Disposal of Unwanted Medicines: A Resource for Action in Your Community, which also happens to be the GLRPPR Site of the Month for September 2007.

This new Sector Resource is a work in progress, so subscribe to the RSS feed or check the web site frequently for updates. If you have suggestions for resources to include, please email them to Joy Scrogum.

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More Sites Added to GLRPPR’s P2 Search

In May, GLRPPR announced the new P2 Search tool, designed to search several different pollution prevention (P2) related web sites simultaneously. Now we’re pleased to report that the total number of sites currently included in this search engine is 45. GLRPPR Help Desk Librarian Laura Barnes has added the “GreenBiz” family of web sites (www.greenbiz.com, www.greenerbuildings.com, www.climatebiz.com and www.greenercomputing.com), as well as OSHA, CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to this customized Google search tool. The complete list of sites included in P2 Search is available at http://www.glrppr.org/search/p2_search_list.cfm. If you have suggestions for other web sites you think should be included in P2 Search, contact Laura Barnes.

We appreciate feedback on P2 Search. Our thanks go out to Harmony Madill of Environment Canada’s Canadian Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse (CPPIC), who contacted us recently after trying out P2 Search and noticing that some documents available on CPPIC weren’t showing up in the search results, even though they were showing up in the results of a standard Google search. Laura Barnes did some investigating and discovered that P2 Search was looking at the index of the English version of the CPPIC site (it’s available in English and French, of course), rather than the more generic http://www.ec.gc.ca/cppic (sometimes you can be too specific). Laura remedied the situation by broadening P2 Search to include the entire Environment Canada domain. Nice catch, Harmony!

You can add P2 Search to your own web site or to your customized Google homepage (iGoogle) by following the links and instructions available in the lower right hand corner of the P2 Search homepage. Code is provided for adding the tool to your web site, so if you’re not technically savvy or not authorized to alter your organization’s web site, you’ll need to provide this to your webmaster. If you do this, tell us about it to help us get a feel for how many people are using this option. Happy searching!

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Lowell Center, MI DEQ Offer REACH Training

The Chemicals Policy Initiative of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) are offering a training on the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals) legislation in September 2007. The training, entitled Turning REACH into an Opportunity: A Training on Implementing The European Union’s New REACH Legislation, will be held September 27 at the Lansing Community College West Campus in Lansing, MI. The following press release from the DEQ describes the training:

“REACH— Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals— is the recently adopted overhaul of the chemicals management system in the European Union (EU). Entered into force June 1, 2007, REACH has important implications for US firms exporting to European Member States.

Attend this one-day training to learn from one of the few REACH authors and other experts about what you need to know to comply with REACH, stay competitive, and advance more sustainable chemicals management in your firm.

Why Should I Attend?
The new REACH system puts much more responsibility on companies to collect data on most chemicals on the market, assess the risk of these chemicals, and define safe use down the supply chain. It also requires companies to justify continued use of chemicals of very high concern. Any company exporting chemicals or chemical mixtures into the EU; competes in Europe, the US or elsewhere with products meeting European standards; or exports finished products to Europe has been effected by REACH.

This training session will help US companies prepare for REACH and turn it from a challenge into an opportunity. European companies have been preparing for the challenges and opportunities of REACH for several years— US companies must be prepared to remain competitive. Attendees will receive a database of tools and resources to help them make informed decisions about chemicals alternatives.

Complete conference agenda and registration information will be available on the Web by late July at www.chemicalspolicy.org. Registration fee is $100 and includes continental breakfast, lunch, and conference materials. Pre-registration and pre-payment is required. Registration and Information Contact: Yve Torrie, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, 978-934-3121.”

Note that this event has been posted to the GLRPPR calendar, and an electronic version of the registration brochure will be linked to that event record when it becomes available. As part of Michigan DEQ’s Green Meetings Initiative, all marketing of this training will be done electronically. For more information on DEQ trainings, see the Trainings and Workshops section of the DEQ web site.

Thanks to Jennifer Acevedo of Michigan DEQ for providing this information.

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New P2 Search Tool Available on GLRPPR Web Site

P2 Search Box

The Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) is pleased to announce the new “P2 Search” function available on the GLRPPR web site. Powered by Google, this search box allows you to search 37 web sites simultaneously for pollution prevention (P2) and related information. These sites include the U.S. EPA web site, each of the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) Center web sites, all of the national compliance assistance centers, the Department of Energy (Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy as well as the Office of Science and Technical Information), P2 Gems, the Canadian Centre for Pollution Prevention (C2P2), Environment Canada’s Canadian Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse (CPPIC), UNEP, Europa (European Union portal), and Australia’s environmental portal.

Note that when you type in a search phrase, the results page will feature links at the top allowing you to refine your search by limiting your search to the compliance assistance centers, energy efficiency-related sites, international sites, the P2Rx centers or to U.S. federal government sites.

Also, please be aware of the fact that unlike a standard Google search results page, the results page for this specialized Google search will not tell you the total number of results at the top of the page (e.g. “Results 1-XX of YYYY for your search phrase.”). Ten results are shown per page. Scroll to the bottom of the results page to advance to subsequent results pages and to get a feel for the total amount of information your search retrieved.

Take it for a test drive and let us know what you think. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for sites to add to the search, contact GLRPPR Help Desk Librarian Laura Barnes at lbarnes@wmrc.uiuc.edu.