SEATTLE – During Pollution Prevention (P2) Week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection of 42 organizations across 39 states to receive grant funding to support pollution prevention across the country, including four organizations here in the Pacific Northwest. These grants will fund local projects that provide businesses and other facilities with information, training and tools to help them develop cost-effective improvements in production, operation and use of materials to reduce costs and conserve water, energy and other natural resources.
P2 grants help businesses in communities protect the environment, increase sustainability and reduce waste and costs. The work done as a result of EPA’s P2 grants can help create best practices that other organizations can use to cut pollution and advance innovation and economic growth. EPA anticipates that it will award these individual grant projects once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.
2020 EPA P2 grant recipients in the Northwest:
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
Two-year $190,000 P2 grant will support DEQ’s pollution prevention technical assistance to businesses in Idaho. DEQ partners with TechHelp Idaho to expand the successful “green the green belt” program to include aerospace manufacturing. DEQ also conducts outreach to encourage the adoption of water-based coatings and less hazardous solvents in the automotive maintenance sector. The state works to promote the adoption of P2 practices by producing case studies on local companies that are actively practicing P2. Learn more: https://www.deq.idaho.gov/pollution-prevention/
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
Two-year $335,950 P2 grant will support the Oregon Applied Sustainability Experience (OASE) internship program, a partnership between DEQ and Oregon Sea Grant that places paid students with businesses to conduct on-site P2 research. DEQ also works with the Center for Environmental Health to train agency staff and businesses to assess and select safer alternatives, including EPA Safer Choice, and approaches to reduce toxics. The grant funding also supports Oregon’s EcoBiz Certification program that recognizes businesses who have adopted P2 practices. Learn more: http://www.oregon.gov/deq/Pollution-Prevention
Washington Department of Ecology
Two-year $305,742 P2 grant helps Ecology provide assistance to the food processing industry including finding safer refrigerants, optimizing Cleaning-In-Place systems, and managing acidic wastewater. Ecology provides energy audits, testing of alternative cleaning products, and green manufacturing consulting to industrial sectors throughout the state. The state is also developing a voucher program to pilot the use of alternative brake cleaners at repair facilities modeled after a successful Minnesota program MnTAP. Ecology promotes Green Chemistry and EPA Safer Choice to aid decision-makers in all industries to find safer alternatives. In partnership with the Pollution Prevention Resources Center, Ecology provides virtual reality spray paint efficiency training at industrial spray painting operations. Learn more: http://www.ecology.wa.gov/PollutionPrevention
Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center
Two-year $119,872 P2 Source Reduction Assistance grant will help PPRC provide pollution prevention technical assistance support to the aerospace, automotive, and food and beverage sectors. PPRC will work to reduce the use of chemicals and the generation of hazardous waste by small businesses and industrial facilities through training, meetings and roundtable conferences of key P2 stakeholders, industrial site assessments, and the development of case studies, checklists, and fact sheets. PPRC will conduct P2 technical assistance in Alaska and the Northwest in collaboration with Alaska Forum, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Washington Department of Ecology, local agencies and trade associations. Learn more: https://pprc.org/
Grant conditions
For these grants, EPA emphasizes the importance of grantees documenting and sharing P2 best practices that are identified and developed through these grants, so that others can replicate these practices and outcomes. Each grantee will be required to develop at least one case study during the grant period on P2 practices that are new or not widely known or adopted, or where detailed information on the P2 practices could benefit other businesses or P2 technical assistance providers. The work done under these grants will focus on at least one of the five P2 priority areas, also referred to as National Emphasis Areas and support several of the agency’s Smart Sectors. These areas include food and beverage manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, aerospace product/part manufacturing, and metal manufacturing.
Grants support Pollution Prevention Act
This year marks 30 years since the passage of the Pollution Prevention Act, which focuses industry, government, and public attention on reducing the amount of pollution through cost-effective changes in production, operation, and raw materials use. This week is also P2 Week, a time to celebrate the diverse and creative ways businesses, academic institutes, local governments, and other organizations are working to prevent pollution. In support of the Pollution Prevention Act and P2 Week, these grant awards encourage businesses and other stakeholders to find ways to prevent pollution from entering any waste stream, furthering EPA’s mission to protect public health and the environment. Read more about P2 and the P2 Grant Program.
