#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.

P2Rx seeking authors for GreenBiz’s P2 Impact Column

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P2Rx hosts P2 Impact, a monthly P2 column for the GreenBiz newsletter. We are seeking authors to write articles according to our guidelines. Articles need to be exclusive to P2Rx and GreenBiz among green-focused websites, with the exception of summaries appearing on your own company or personal site.

What We Want: Current topics relevant to P2 and sustainability program managers and to the green business community. We will accept both shorter (400-600 word) and longer (800-1,200 word) pieces across a range of topics. Examples include (but are not limited to):

  • Stories of companies or initiatives
  • Insights into business process, operations, or technologies
  • Profiles or Q&A with business leaders or thought leaders
  • Case studies and best business practices with respect to P2
  • Advice and how-to pieces

What We Don’t Want: Technical or scientific debates; politics, except to the extent it directly affects business strategy; reviews of consumer products; rants; or repurposed press releases.

Visit the P2 Impact archive to read past columns.

Send article proposals to l-barnes@illinois.edu by Friday, February 5 to have it considered for publication in calendar year 2016. Include a brief paragraph of the planned article theme, length, focus, topics covered and possible arguments. Include a short biography of the author including P2 experience.

For more information on the process and detailed guidelines, visit http://wp.istc.illinois.edu/glrppr/guidelines-instructions-for-submitting-articles-to-p2rx-greenbiz-column/.

Celebrating P2 Week and the 25th Anniversary of the Pollution Prevention Act

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Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed the Pollution Prevention Act. Pollution Prevention (P2) Week, celebrated during the third week of September each year (September 21-27, 2015),  highlights the efforts of EPA, its state partners, industry, and the public in preventing pollution right from the start.

How can your organization tell the P2 story all year long? Here are some ideas.

  • Buy greener products for your home or office.
  • Develop and implement a green purchasing policy for your organization. There are links to model policies here.
  • If you’re a public agency (including a public school or a library), join the State Electronics Challenge.
  • Give tours of your green business to showcase your efforts.
  • Organize a green business fair.
  • Host a workshop, brown bag lunch, or seminar related to pollution prevention.
  • Share stories about successfully implemented pollution prevention projects. For example, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center has developed a series of case studies that highlight organizations that have won the Governor’s Sustainability Awards.
  • Designate a place in your organization for people to share office supplies that they no longer need.
  • Organize a contest to reward employees for sharing ideas to prevent pollution.
  • Visit a local classroom to talk with kids about things that they can do to waste less stuff. Resources, including suggested picture books and craft ideas, are available here.
  • Use reusable utensils, lunch bags, and cups/mugs for meals.
  • Make your meetings, conferences, and workshops more sustainable. EPA’s green meetings guide has excellent tips.
  • Host a “Bike to Work” day. Looking ahead, encourage your staff to participate in National Bike to Work Week.
  • Make your home and office more energy efficient. The ENERGY Star web site has many suggestions.
  • Add the 25th Anniversary of the P2 Act logo (at the top of the post) to your web site. Use it as a button to link to your organization’s or GLRPPR’s P2 resources. Or simply use the logo on your agency or program pages to identify and promote P2.
  • Use the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable’s P2 Week Toolkit to add P2 to your social media strategy. Use #P2Week on Twitter when promoting P2 during P2 Week. Use #25YearsofP2 to raise awareness all year long.

This is a small sample of things that you can do. Have other suggestions? Share them in the comments!

 

Report Demonstrates Over $5.4 Billion in Economic Benefits from Pollution Prevention

P2ResultsforCongress_April 2015The Clear Choice for Environmental Sustainability: Pollution Prevention Results from 2010 to 2012 presents available information on the achievements of state and local P2 programs for the calendar years 2010 to 2012. The Report was produced by the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) based upon the results shared by 90 pollution prevention (P2) programs in the United States.

The Report shows that P2 projects yielded about $5.4 billion in economic benefits during the three year period. During this three-year period, waste was reduced by 8.9 billion pounds, which is the amount of waste produced by 5.5 million people annually. 8.8 billion gallons of water and 1.4 billion kWh of electricity were also conserved.  This study affirms that pollution prevention results in conservation of valuable resources and significant waste reductions.

Other achievements between 2010 and 2012 include 1.7 billion pounds of greenhouse gases (GHG) no longer being released into the earth’s atmosphere. There were also 30,000 attendees at P2-themed training events, more than 10,000 site visits conducted, and more than 240 environmental management systems development.

The Report is a product of the P2 Results Task Force, whose membership includes representatives from State P2 programs, EPA Headquarters and Regions, Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange Centers (P2Rx), as well as NPPR. The Task Force has developed a National Pollution Prevention Results Data System, (the System). The System aggregates data that is collected, managed, and synthesized by state and local P2 programs, non-profits, companies, and other organizations. It is a collaborative and ambitious effort to grow and maintain a national database of P2 results, with reduction efforts including behavior changes by industry; reductions in waste, energy consumption, and water usage; and economic gains achieved through these activities. P2 results data collection, reporting and analysis help P2 programs to ensure that they understand their impacts and can chart an effective course for the future.

Proven Results from Pollution Prevention

General Motors’ Toledo transmission manufacturing facility has committed to making pollution prevention and recycling a facility-wide priority. The plant’s effective energy conservation program was implemented as part of its “drive to zero” program. The program was recognized by the U.S. EPA for lowering greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30 percent and subsequently avoiding nearly 40,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. GM Toledo hosts the largest rooftop solar array in the state of Ohio and uses landfill gas, which combined provide 19% of the facility’s energy use from renewable energy sources.  GM Toledo is also a landfill free facility, sending no waste from daily operations to landfill – all waste is reused, recycled or converted to energy. “Our reductions in carbon emissions from improved energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives at the Toledo facility are made possible through the ongoing collaborative work with local utilities, state and local environmental service organizations and other private businesses,” said Laura Bartling, GM’s Midwest environmental group manager. “They’ve demonstrated what can be achieved through a holistic and community-engaging approach at reducing our environmental footprint.”

Jeffrey Burke, Executive Director for NPPR said, “We have been measuring environmental outcomes since 1990 when the Pollution Prevention Act was signed by Congress.  The collective reduction of pollutants reduced into the air, water and land in the last 25 years is just astounding.  We believe that focusing on preventing pollution at its source rather than clean-up was the right choice from the start.”

To view the Report, go to http://www.p2.org/news/ .

About

The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is the largest membership organization in the United States devoted solely to pollution prevention (P2). The mission of the Roundtable is to provide a national forum for promoting the development, implementation, and evaluation of efforts to avoid, eliminate, or reduce pollution at the source.

P2Rx is a national partnership of regional pollution prevention information centers funded in part through grants from EPA.  They build networks, deliver P2 information, and measure P2 program results.  The strength of the network lies in the expertise and diversity among the regional centers and the variety of audiences served including government and state environmental agencies, technical assistance providers, businesses, educators, nonprofit organizations, and the general public.  For more information, visit: www.p2rx.org.

Two upcoming webinars in the P2Rx Behavior Change Webinar Series

View archived webinars in the P2Rx Behavior Change Webinar Series.

Tools for Successfully Deploying and Measuring Behavior Change for the Littering Public
Tuesday, May 13, 2014 1:30-2:30 pm CDT
Register at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/378905274

Donna Walden will begin by presenting a step-by-step model on community based social marketing (CBSM) to help P2 programs properly selecting behaviors, establish a baseline, and develop strategies that can successfully measure behavior change.

Then UC Santa Barbara Masters candidates Jessica Midbust, Michael Mori, Paula Richter, and Bill Vosti will present a Master’s group thesis undertaken for the Algalita Marine Research Institute on reducing plastic debris in the Los Angeles and San Gabriel River Watersheds using some CBSM techniques.

Participants will learn some valuable behavior change techniques and hear recommendations made from the graduate students on how to change the behavior of the littering public.

Designing Employee Engagement Programs that Impact a Company’s Triple Bottom Line
Wednesday, June 4, 2014 1-2 pm CDT
Register at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/752485802

BAE Systems is a $14.4 billion multinational corporation that reduced its total utility costs by 48% over a three year period with a utility cost takeout (UCT) energy efficiency program.  This would not have been possible without first enrolling BAE’s 43,000 employees across the globe in its sustainability plan.

Morgan Rooney, Sustainability Communications Specialist for BAE Systems was responsible for initiating and running the employee engagement program to support BAE Sustainability goals.  Morgan will share her strategies and successes for getting employees to buy into a corporate sustainability mandate for the long haul and how this affected and continues to affect BAE’s triple bottom line.

Webinar attendees will learn education tactics, how to set up a task force or green team, employee challenges, and awards and recognition programs that work towards initiating and sustaining behavior change for large communities.

Seeking Articles for P2Rx P2 Impact Column for 2014 – Respond by January 27

P2Rx has a successful monthly column called P2 Impact (currently Pathways) running in GreenBiz.com.

We are looking for article contributors for the calendar year 2014.  If you have a unique article idea that promotes the virtues of source reduction to a general business audience, please forward to dwalden@unr.edu by January 27 to be considered for our 2014 lineup. The article ideas will be evaluated by the P2Rx review committee and accepted articles will be published this year.  Article and submission guidelines for the GreenBiz column appear below.

Here is the link to the articles published to date: http://www.greenbiz.com/business/engage/enterprise-blogs/p2-pathways.

Guidelines & Instructions for Submitting Articles to P2Rx GreenBiz Column

P2Rx hosts a monthly P2 column for the GreenBiz newsletter and a landing page on their website. We are seeking authors to write articles according to our guidelines. Articles need to be exclusive to P2Rx and GreenBiz among green-focused websites, with the exception of summaries appearing on your own company or personal site.

What We Want: Current topics relevant to P2 and sustainability program managers and to the green business community. We will accept both shorter (400-600 word) and longer (800-1,200 word) pieces across a range of topics. Examples include (but are not limited to):

  • Stories of companies or initiatives
  • Insights into business process, operations, or technologies
  • Profiles or Q&A with business leaders or thought leaders
  • Case studies and best business practices with respect to P2
  • Advice and how-to pieces

What We Don’t Want: Technical or scientific debates; politics, except to the extent it directly affects business strategy; reviews of consumer products; rants; or repurposed press releases.

Article Content and Messaging

Articles need to be practical and P2 relevant. A good example is a case study where people can see how P2 programs were implemented. What are the barriers and what are challenges? Are there areas that require more work? Behavioral change is an important element. Article should revolve around a business interest and not necessarily a public agency need. Articles need to be timely, current and unique. Articles should be source reduction oriented and ideally focused on priority programs or projects that align with EPA’s strategic goals. Topics need to have transferability and relevance across sectors. For example, “how a company changed cleaning processes in order to reduce VOC use.”

Please include a quote, testimonial or case study in your article for better readership.

General Guidelines: Articles need to have a human interest element to better address the GreenBiz.com business focused audience. Do not use P2 jargon; rather use language that’s being used in the general environmental and business community. We want to keep on point about the merits of pollution prevention. Must be original content (not repurposed articles). Articles must address the general business community.

How to Submit an Article Proposal

Send article proposals to dwalden@unr.edu. Include a brief paragraph of the planned article theme, length, focus, topics covered and possible arguments. Include a short biography of the author including P2 experience.

Article Acceptance Process

Article proposals will be judged by a review committee and you will be notified if your proposal is selected. Once accepted, you will be approved to write a professional article according to P2Rx guidelines and timelines. Generally, the article is due three (3) weeks prior to the publish date and accepted any-time after approved concept. Include author biography and digital photo with submission. Once article is finished, the P2Rx article review committee will give you suggestions for improvement if applicable. We may change the order of publishing of articles depending upon timeliness of submittal and content in the article. Any articles that do not meet the author guidelines and acceptable writing standards will be rejected.

What to Submit with your Article Copy

Please send all this information along with your final revised article:

  • A headline (please keep it to 65 characters, including spaces)
  • A short summary (no more than 120 characters, including spaces)
  • Headshot photo and bio: If you or the person you are submitting does not have an profile on GreenBiz, please submit a headshot photo (heads and shoulders only) with a short bio (one paragraph is fine, more if you wish)
  • Photos (landscape orientation only) with photo credit: If you do not have permission to use it, please don’t send it and suggest that it should be used with the blog. Photos are optional, but real-life (and good quality!) photos accompanying the posts are invaluable additions. If you want to earn extra credit, you can resize them to 550×413 pixels.

About GreenBiz

GreenBiz is B-to-B, focusing on the greening of business. Their goal is to help environmental leaders in mainstream companies to be more effective in their jobs by better understanding how they can help their companies by cutting costs, improving reputation, tapping new business opportunities, and generally creating value.

GreenBiz Target Audience: Senior leaders in large corporations. Some have “environment” or “sustainability” in their titles, but many don’t. They come from operations, HR, marketing, purchasing, facilities, real estate, fleets, finance, etc. Their firms are driven by hardcore business goals as much as by environmental ones, and they’re seeking to align the two.

For more information on GreenBiz or the P2Rx P2 Impact column, visit the site: http://www.greenbiz.com/business/engage/enterprise-blogs/p2-pathways

Tribal Pollution Prevention (Tribal P2) Announces Enhanced Tools for Tribal Environmental Professionals

TP2 logoThe national Tribal Pollution Prevention Network (Tribal P2) is proud to announce the launch of the newly renovated TribalP2.org website. The website provides resources, current funding opportunities and events, and collaborative connection assistance in 19 different topic areas – from Solid Waste to Green Casinos to Climate Change.

One goal of the Network is to facilitate collaboration among peers, mentors, and experts in topics related to pollution prevention. To that end, the new website features an interactive member map that provides contact information for Network members across the nation. Many of the Network’s members have agreed to be collaborators – which means they are willing to share their expertise with you.

Visit the site to learn about pollution prevention (P2) opportunities and identify peers with expertise to share. Join the Network listserv to receive information on regularly scheduled webinars, news, announcements and funding opportunities pertaining to timely and relevant P2 topics.

“…it all looks great! I really like the way you set up the website […] it should be very beneficial for all the Tribes needing help on difficult issues.” Donna Marie Noel, Energy Project Manager Water Resources Department, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe

“…the listings are formatted in a user friendly way for communication and searching. It is a great tool!” Stan Belone, Environmental Engineer Air Quality Program, Environmental Protection & Natural Resources, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community

The Tribal P2 Network was formed in December 2003 from an EPA grant issued as a result of tribal requests for more specific tribal communication about Pollution Prevention (P2) efforts directly relating to tribes. Tribal P2 consists of environmental professionals from tribal entities, local, state and federal agencies, academia, and not-for-profit organizations around the nation. The major objective of Tribal P2 is to share information and identify solutions to address environmental issues affecting the tribal nations using pollution prevention methodologies. Membership in the Network now stands at over 250 individual participants, with over 90 Tribes participating.

Webinar: Environmental Sustainability and Behavioral Science: Meta-Analysis of Pro-environmental Behavior Experiments

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Tuesday, May 7, 1-2 pm CDT
Register at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6597474733924842752

There have been over 100 published psychological experiments that have attempted to get people to do the right thing for the environment. These experiments have covered many different kinds of behaviors (recycling, energy conservation, etc.) and have used many different ways of motivating people (incentives, information, feedback, etc.) What is the big picture that comes from all of this research? In this webinar, Dr. Richard Osbaldiston will discuss his recent meta-analysis of these studies, and he will share what we know—and what we don’t know—about promoting pro-environmental behaviors.

About the speaker: Richard Osbaldiston has been studying environmental issues for over 15 years as both an engineer and a psychologist. He is equally comfortable talking about kilowatt hours or intrinsic motivation. And in fact, it is the marriage of these disciplines that gives the greatest insight into we what need to do to change behavior and protect our environment.

This event is part of the P2Rx Social Media and Behavior Change webinar series.

P2Rx™ Announces Behavioral Change Webinar Series for Technical Assistance Providers

The Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx™) will launch a comprehensive webinar training series in January 2013 to help pollution prevention technical assistance providers initiate, implement, and measure behavioral change resulting from their programs and initiatives.

There is a strong focus nationwide on being able to measure behavior change resulting from federal and state pollution prevention and sustainability initiatives.  There is also a lot of interest in how to use social media and social marketing to drive meaningful change in organizations.  To address these questions and help technical assistance providers expand their reach and better understand their effectiveness, the P2Rx centers have collaborated to develop a webinar training series featuring experts and specialists from around the country.  Five monthly webinar trainings are scheduled for January-May 2013.  A listing of these FREE webinars can be found at: www.P2Rx.org.

About P2Rx:

P2Rx is a national partnership of regional pollution prevention information centers funded in part through grants from EPA.  They build networks, deliver P2 information, and measure P2 program results.  The strength of the network lies in the expertise and diversity among the regional centers and the variety of audiences served including government and state environmental agencies, technical assistance providers, businesses, educators, nonprofit organizations, and the general public.  For more information, visit: www.p2rx.org.

Title: Beyond Energy Efficiency: Behavior Change Tactics for the Pollution Prevention Community
Date/Time:
Thursday, January 17, 2013 / 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM CST
Webinar link: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/833280647

Join Susan Mazur-Stommen, Director of Behavior and Human Dimensions Program at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), to discuss what behavior change research tells us about how people make decisions and what motivates them to make changes. She will also examine how pollution prevention technical assistance providers can use that research to influence behavior change and improve implementation rates at the companies they work with.

Title: Using Social Media Channels to Inspire Offline Action
Date/Time:
Wednesday,February 20, 2013 /11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST
Webinar link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/259888354

Zoey Kroll is an Internet Communications Coordinator at SF Environment and a Social Media Strategist at Hayes Valley Farm. She will talk about using social media channels to inspire offline action. In the webinar, we’ll interact with and discuss how apps (RecycleWhere), activity clubs (Photo Adventure Club), and social media tools can inspire people to move from clicks to compost.

Title: Embedding Sustainability In An Organizational Structure
Date/Time:
Thursday, March 7, 2013 / 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM CST
Webinar link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6242325881081454848

An Assistant Professor in Technology and Operations Management at SFU Surrey, Stephanie Bertels’ research interests include innovations related to sustainability, institutional change, inter-organizational collaboration, and resilience and reliability. Her current research bridges organization theory and the issues surrounding sustainable development to explore how organizations can develop and implement innovative strategies for a more sustainable future.

Title: Make People Do Good Things (Sometimes Via Social Media)
Date/Time:
Thursday, April 11, 2013 / 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PDT
Webinar link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/886701426

At San Francisco Dept. of Environment, Jessian Choy led the creation of SFApproved.org to make it easier for you to buy over 1,000 green products. And she uses fun scavenger hunts to engage 28,000 City staff with draconian laws to buy green. Jessian leads negotiation and role-play trainings to prevent good ideas from dying with bad storytelling and hecklers.

In this interactive event, get answers to these questions and more:

  • What are new, easy tips to make it fun for people to do good things?
  • How can you engage people if they unfollow or unlike you?
  • What should you do so your audience tweets about your event during and after?
  • How will it be easier for you to find less-toxic, green products with the improved SF Approved List coming in March 2013

Title: Environmental Sustainability and Behavioral Science: Meta-Analysis of Pro-environmental Behavior Experiments
Date/Time:
TBD
Webinar link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6597474733924842752

Richard Osbaldiston has been working as a research psychologist for over 15 years. He has found there is one fundamental cause-effect relationship: the motivation that comes from within a person is what causes that person to behave in certain ways. When the right situations and settings are created, people can achieve unbelievable things. Richard’s goal is taking his work in the field of motivation and applying it to the long-term care industry to ultimately change people’s lives for the better. Richard received his PhD in Psychology with a minor in statistics and research methods from the University of Missouri.