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NPPR News
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Message from the Chair
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Laura Henne at this month's P2 Grantee Meeting |
by Laura Henne
New Year, New NPPR
A new year is a time to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. NPPR welcomed new Board members Kathy Black of NH DES and Chad Rogers of MDARD this year. They are working hard breathing new life into the Food and Beverage workgroup, and we appreciate their efforts! Thank you to all our other board members, who do such a great job volunteering their efforts and advocating for this forum for pollution prevention practitioners. We also are thrilled with former board member Michelle Spitznagel’s contractual work as NPPR’s Communications Coordinator. Michelle is responsible for our renewed presence in social media, as well as assisting with workgroups and P2U, and many other tasks. It is with her help that we were able to take this newsletter from quarterly to bimonthly.
Looking forward, we want to hear from you, our members. What do you appreciate the most about NPPR? What new workgroups would you like to see? How would you like to get more involved? We will be sending out a survey for you to let us know! Of course, you are welcome to provide feedback to me anytime at laura.henne@dep.nj.gov.
Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, holiday season and a great new year!
Laura Henne NPPR Chair |
Romac Industries 2022 MVP2 Multimedia Award Celebration
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Hugh O'Neill (NPPR & Ecology), Bob Gilmore (EHS Mgr.), Joshua Larkin (President), Frank Caddy (Maintenance Manager), Thomas Lochmann (VP Operations), Kim Howard (Maintenance Supervisor) |
Thanks to their efforts, Romac Industries, Inc. received the MVP2 (Most Valuable Pollution Prevention) 2022 Multimedia Award from the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) last week presented by Hugh O'Neill!
Romac Industries, Inc. operates a steel fittings manufacturing facility in Bothell, Washington. As part of its production line, workers surface-finish stainless steel parts using a process called passivation, a chemical treatment for stainless steel and other alloys that helps treated surfaces resist corrosion. Unfortunately, this process generated about 32 tons of waste annually, so Romac Industries decided to find a better way.
Between spring and fall of 2021, Romac Industries collaborated with Washington Department of Ecology, Impact Washington, and Lean Environmental Inc. (LEI) to train on lean and green principles.
As a result, Romac set up a counter-current flow where acidic rinse tank water could circulate back into a process tank, effectively transferring reusable acidic plating solution back into the passivation process while ensuring rinse tank acid concentrations stayed low. This allowed process tank solutions to last longer and reduce the generation of spent acid waste.
But, establishing counter-current flow was just the first step!
Achievements to date
- About a 50% reduction in waste (64,000 to 30,000 lbs) the first year
- $50,000 per year in real savings
- Product quality improvement
- Greater process control
Upcoming changes will result in an estimated:
- 98% reduction in dangerous waste generation
- 200% increase in line capacity
- $100,000 per year in savings
- 50% reduction in labor costs
- Improved safety and ease-of-work procedures for operators
To learn more about Ecology’s Toxic Reduction Assistance Program, please contact Toxics Reduction Specialist Paul Fabiniak at 425-457-3712 or paul.fabiniak@ecy.wa.gov. |
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Pollution Prevention Jobs Available Across the U.S.
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Since there are so many pollution prevention job postings on our website, this article is a new standard announcement in our newsletter! Now New York State P2I (NYSP2I) has several new positions and Washington Department of Ecology has a couple of new positions as well. Feel free to check these and several other P2 positions with information on where to apply at the P2 Job Opportunities page on our website: |
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Workgroup Updates
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About NPPR Workgroups
NPPR's workgroups
bring together P2 professionals from across the country to share ideas, information, and deliverables. The topical areas coincide with EPA national emphasis areas and other areas of interest to the P2 community.
NPPR currently hosts six active workgroups. They are:
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Upcoming Food & Beverage Workgroup Meeting in January
Please join us on January 11 for our first NPPR Food & Beverage Workgroup meeting of 2023!
We welcome BarTrack to speak about reducing wasted beverages. There will be time for Q&A and discussion. Additional information and registration is available at the NPPR website.
Hope to see you then!
Kathy, Ben, and Chad Food & Beverage Workgroup Chairs
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From the States
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If your state will have news in the coming months, feel free to have NPPR help you get the word out by sending your information to admin@p2.org. |
Region 2
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Top 50 Ranking of Green College at RIT in New York Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has been named one of the "greenest" universities in the United States for the 12th consecutive year. RIT is home to the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) and to Golisano Institute for Sustainability (GIS). |
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NYSP2I Tapped to Build Roadmap for Reducing WasteThe New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) was tapped by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Port Authority to develop a "zero waste to landfill" sustainability plan for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. The NYSP2I team is currently led by Gillian Griffin who manages NYSP2I's sustainable supply chain program. Over the course of a year Patricia Donohue and Gillian Griffin along with Kim Bawden, a senior pollution prevention engineer at NYSP2I, assessed the hub's waste generation and handling practices. The results of the initial evaluation now serve as a baseline for measuring the zero-waste-to-landfill strategy's success over time. Looking ahead, Griffin and Bawden are working with Port Authority to leverage the pilot study learnings to create a zero-waste-to-landfill roadmap that will address each of the agency's five business lines, a total of 43 operations. |
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Region 5
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MnTAP's Publication Highlights Work of 2022 P2 Interns
The 2022 MnTAP Solutions magazine highlights the projects led by 16 talented interns and the companies that supported their recommendations to reduce waste, water, energy. These projects resulted in proposed solutions that could save the companies $3,068,000 annually as well as significant environmental impacts. |
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All Regions
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2022 P2 Grantee Meeting
The 2022 P2 Grantee Meeting provided 3 days this month to focus on Grant Management and Technical Training. And some attendees were happy to have some fun as well! |
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U.S. EPA News
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EPA Adds 12 More Chemicals Requested by TURI to Toxics Release Inventory
In November 2022, EPA finalized a rule adding 12 chemicals requested by the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) to the list of toxic chemicals subject to Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements. Available data show these chemicals have moderately high to high human health toxicity and/or are highly toxic to aquatic organisms. EPA has classified one of the chemicals as a persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemical and designated it as a chemical of special concern with a 100-pound reporting threshold: 1,3,4,6,7,8-Hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylcyclopenta[g]-2-benzopyran, or HHCB. This rule provides communities with important information about how these chemicals are being managed in their communities.
The chemicals now subject to TRI reporting requirements are:
- Dibutyltin dichloride; 683-18-1
- 1,3-Dichloro-2-propanol; 96-23-1
- Formamide; 75-12-7
- 1,3,4,6,7,8-Hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylcyclopenta[g]-2-benzopyran; 1222-05-5
- N-Hydroxyethylethylenediamine; 111-41-1
- Nitrilotriacetic acid trisodium salt; 5064-31-3
- p-(1,1,3,3-Tetramethylbutyl)phenol; 140-66-9
- 1,2,3-Trichlorobenzene; 87-61-6
- Triglycidyl isocyanurate; 2451-62-9
- Tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate; 115-96-8
- Tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate; 13674-87-8
- Tris(dimethylphenol) phosphate; 25155-23-1
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EPA Finds Methylene Chloride Poses an Unreasonable Risk to Human Health
U.S. EPA recently finalized a revision to the risk determination for methylene chloride, finding that methylene chloride, as a whole chemical substance, presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health when evaluated under its conditions of use. The next step in the process is to develop a risk management rulemaking to identify and apply measures that will manage these risks.
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EPA Proposes Rule to Enhance Reporting of PFAS Data to the Toxics Release Inventory
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a rule that would improve reporting on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) by, among other proposed changes, eliminating an exemption that allows facilities to avoid reporting information on PFAS when those chemicals are used in small, or de minimis, concentrations.
Because PFAS are used at low concentrations in many products, this rule would ensure that covered industry sectors and federal facilities that make or use TRI-listed PFAS will no longer be able to rely on the de minimis exemption to avoid disclosing their PFAS releases and other waste management quantities for these chemicals.
EPA is accepting comments on the proposed rule through Feb. 3, 2023.
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New Publication
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Honeywell Environmental Sustainability Index
Honeywell recently announced the launch of its Environmental Sustainability Index. The index is the first quarterly indicator of key trends pertaining to global efforts in climate change mitigation and other sustainability initiatives, including pollution prevention.
In its first quarterly release, the index tracks sentiment data on corporate climate priorities and approaches to environmental sustainability. The global study, which surveyed over 600 business leaders who are involved in the sustainability process, revealed that 90% of respondents are generally optimistic about overall success with prior twelve-month goals across sustainability categories including energy evolution and efficiency, emissions reduction, pollution prevention and circularity/recycling.
However, forward-looking perceptions are less confident, with just 67% of respondents being optimistic about achieving goals for the coming twelve months. Additionally, only 63% are optimistic about achieving their goals by 2030, an anchor deadline year for numerous commitments. |
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Submit a story
Do you have a new project, publication, or event you want to promote to your NPPR colleagues? Share it in the newsletter! |
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Upcoming Events
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First NPPR Food & Beverage Workgroup of 2023 - discussing beverages
January 11, 2023
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Chemical Footprint Project with Clean Production Action Mark Rossi
January 27, 2023
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