United States Office of Pollution
Environmental Protection Prevention, and Toxics July 2002
Agency Washington, DC 20460 EPA-742-F-02-008
Pollution Prevention Programs at EPA
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW (7409M) Washington, DC 20460
Phone: 202-564-8800; Fax: 202-564-8899
www.epa.gov/p2
POLLUTION PREVENTION, or P2, was established as the national environmental policy of the United
States in the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. At EPA, pollution prevention means source reduction -
preventing or reducing waste where it originates, at the source. By practicing P2, the amount of end-of-
pipe control, treatment, and disposal can be greatly reduced.
The Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) works to promote pollution prevention both inside
and outside the Agency. This is done in several ways, such as using voluntary pollution reduction
programs, engaging in partnerships, providing technical assistance, funding demonstration projects, and
incorporating cost-effective pollution prevention alternatives into regulations and other initiatives.
PARTNERSHIPS
""*• The Design for the Environment Program partners with industry to compare health and
environmental risks, cost, and performance of current and alternative technologies. DfE
partnerships have promoted the design and adoption of safer products, processes, and
management systems in areas such as auto-refinishing, cleaning products, foam manufacture
dry cleaning, printing, and electronics, http://www.epa.gov/dfe
''•*• Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) is an effort led by the American Hospital
Association and the US EPA to advance pollution prevention efforts in our nation's hospitals.
Through activities, such as the development of best practices, model plans for total waste
management, resource directories, and case studies, the project hopes to provide hospitals and
healthcare systems with enhanced tools for minimizing the volumes of waste generated and the
production of persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic pollutants.
http://www.h2e-online.org
GREEN CHEMISTRY AND ENGINEERING
'"*• Green Chemistry is the design, manufacture, and use of environmentally benign chemical
products and processes that prevent pollution and reduce environmental and human health risks
http://www.epa.aov/oppt/areenchemistry
»*• The goal of the Green Engineering Program is to incorporate environmental and health risk
related concepts into chemical engineering processes and products.
http://www.epa.qov/oppt/oreenengineering
"GREEN" PRODUCTS AND LABELING
'"•»• EPA's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Program has developed tools and
resources to help you "do" EPP, including: a database of environmental information on products
stories of successful EPP pilots, and discussion areas for sharing ideas and experiences.
http://www.epa.gov/oppt/epp
»•*• The Consumer Labeling Initiative (CLI) is a government, industry and public partnership
working to provide consumers with better and clearer information on household product labels.
CLI is currently leading a nationwide education campaign encouraging consumers to "Read the
Label Firstr http://www.epa.gov/oppt/labelina
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»•»• The Environmental Labeling area of the EPP site offers information about environmental
labeling issues, policies and practices worldwide. It provides access to reports as well as links to
other environmental labeling resources. http://www.epa.qov/oppt/eDD/documents/labelinq.htm
PERSISTENT, BIOACCUMULATIVE, AND Toxic POLLUTANTS
-»• EPA's cross-program Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic (PBT) Pollutants Program is
working to further reduce risks to human health and the environment from existing and future
exposure to priority PBT pollutants. While the Program emphasizes prevention as a means to
stop the transfer of PBT pollutants across environmental media, it is designed to utilize all of the
Agency's tools, http://www.epa.gov/pbt ;
P2 INFORMATION RESOURCES
i
<>*• The Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx) is a national collaborative effort to
reduce redundant efforts, establish information standards, and develop a larger vision for a
national network that serves all regional programs. Its web site maintains info on P2 topics
ranging from household waste to autobody arid aerospace industries, http://www.p2rx.org
The Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse (PPIC) is a free, nonregulatory service of
the US EPA dedicated to reducing or eliminating industrial pollutants through technology transfer,
education, and public awareness, http://wwwtepa.gov/oppt/librarv/ppicindex.htm
The Environmental Justice through Pollution Prevention (EJP2) grant program was initiated
in FY 1995. Through 2001, OPPT, in cooperation with EPA's regional offices, has awarded more
than 85 grants to economically-disadvantaged and minority communities for training, research
surveys, demonstration projects, and development of non-regulatory pollution prevention
strategies. Due to budgetary constraints, grant awards will not be available for FY '02; however,
visit the website for many valuable success stories and resources, http://www.epa.gov/oppt/eip2
«*•
STATE AND LOCAL GRANTS
While it is the policy of the Agency to encourage pollution prevention in all of the grant programs
sponsored by EPA offices, the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances is responsible for
the following grant program: :'
™» The Pollution Prevention Grants (PPG), formerly known as Pollution Prevention Incentives for
States grants, are announced each year in the Federal Register. EPA provides about $5 million
annually through this program to help develop and sustain state P2 activities and pioneer new P2
approaches in the states. http://www.epa.aoV/p2/grants/ppis/ppis.htm
EPA REGIONAL AND STATE P2 ACTIVITIES
»+• Pollution Prevention Regional Contacts - http://www.epa.gov/p2/resources/reqions.htm
»•»• State Pollution Prevention Technical Assistance - http://www.epa.gov/p2/assist/state.htm
PKEVMON
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