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NOTICE
This report was prepared by the Office of Environmental Engineering and Technology Demonstration of the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the management of Gregory G. Ondich (Director, Program
Development Staff). Production of this document was facilitated under Contract No. 68-02-4297. It has
been subjected to the Agency's peer and administrative review and it has been approved for publication as
a USEPA document.
Individuals and organizations throughout EPA contributed material that formed the basis for much of this
report. Without their contribution the production of this document would not have been possible.
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Foreword
The Office of Research and Development has been involved in minimization (a precursor to
pollution prevention) of hazardous waste since 1987. The program has achieved early success in
demonstrating the potential benefits of pollution prevention in solving environmental problems.
Over the past several years the importance of pollution prevention as a cost effective
alternative to "end of pipe" pollution control has been recognized. Pollution prevention as a valid
approach to environmental protection was promoted by the EPA Science Advisory Board in their
Report Future Risk: Research Strategies for the 1990's. It is also becoming clear that progress in
managing many of the newer environmental problems can be more readily achieved using a pollution
prevention approach. As a result the Congress requested EPA to prepare and submit a multi-year,
multi-media pollution prevention research plan.
This report was prepared in response to this request. It should be noted that the plan is part
of a much broader EPA effort to develop a comprehensive pollution prevention program that
addresses all of the Agency's programs including media specific and cross-media issues.
The plan builds on the current EPA pollution prevention efforts and the needs of the various
organizations that will be instrumental in implementing pollution prevention techniques and programs.
The six research program areas include: product, process, recycling/reuse, socioeconomic and
institutional, anticipatory and technology transfer research.
The research program goals are designed to meet the identified organizational needs, and
the objectives within each program area are intended to facilitate achievement of these goals.
Example research projects under each research objective illustrate the types of research that could
be conducted to achieve these objectives. These example projects do not necessarily represent the
highest priority projects, but are included for illustrative purposes only.
Additional copies of this report may be obtained at no charge from EPA's Center for
Environmental Research Information, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45268, using
the EPA document number found on the report's front cover. Once this supply is exhausted, copies
can be purchased from the National Technical Information Service, Ravensworth Bldg., Springfield,
VA, 22161, (702) 487-4600. Reference copies will be available at EPA libraries in their Pollution
Prevention Collection. You can also call the Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse Technical
Assistance Line at 703-821-4800 in McLean, VA, to inquire about the availability of this and other
pollution prevention reports.
Alfretf W. Lindsey^Acting Director
Office of Environmental Engineering
and Technology Demonstration
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1-1
Need for Pollution Prevention 1-2
Benefits of Pollution Prevention 1-6
EPA's Pollution Prevention Initiative 1-11
EPA's Role in Pollution Prevention Research 1-14
Goals of the Pollution Prevention Research Plan 1-18
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH PLAN 2-1
Product Research 2-5
Process Research 2-7
Recycling and Reuse Research 2-9
Socioeconomic and Institutional Research 2-11
Anticipatory Research 2-14
Technology Transfer and Technical Assistance 2-15
CHAPTER 3: RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS AND IMPLEMENTATION
MECHANISMS 3-1
Resource Requirements 3-1
Priorities Among Program Areas 3-1
Priorities Within Program Areas 3-3
Implementation Mechanisms 3-7
Intramural Research 3-7
Extramural Research 3-8
Business and Industry 3-8
University and Academia 3-9
State and Local Government 3-9
Other Agencies 3-9
Public Interest Groups 3-10
APPENDIX: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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LIST OF EXHIBITS
Page
Exhibit 1-1 Priorities for Risk-Reduction Research 1-3
Exhibit 1-2 Examples of Pollution Prevention Successes 1-7
Exhibit 1-3 Waste Management Hierarchy 1-12
Exhibit 1-4 Pollution Prevention Information Needs 1-16
Exhibit 1-5 Framework for the Pollution
Prevention Research Program 1-20
Exhibit 2-1 Pollution Prevention Research Program Areas 2-2
Exhibit 2-2 Common Technological Research Objectives 2-3
Exhibit 2-3 Product Research Program
Potential Research Topics and Specific
Project Examples 2-18
Exhibit 2-4 Process Research Program
Potential Research Topics and Specific
Project Examples 2-21
Exhibit 2-5 Recycling and Reuse Research Program
Potential Research Topics and Specific
Project Examples 2-23
Exhibit 2-6 Socioeconomic and Institutional Research Program
Potential Research Topics and Specific
Project Examples 2-25
Exhibit 2-7 Anticipatory Research Program
Potential Research Topics and Specific
Project Examples 2-28
Exhibit 2-8 Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse 2-30
Exhibit 2-9 Technology Transfer and Technical Assistance Program
Potential Activities and Specific
Project Examples 2-31
Exhibit 3-1 Initial Priorities for Initiating Research in
Pollution Prevention Research Program Areas 3-2
Exhibit 3-2 Resources Estimates for Pollution Prevention
Research Plan 3-4
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Fiscal Year 1989 Appropriations Act for
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
required the Agency to submit a multi-year,
multi- media pollution prevention research plan
to Congress. The research plan contained in this
report was prepared in response to this
requirement, and the plan is part of a broader
EPA effort to develop a comprehensive
pollution prevention initiative that concerns all
of the Agency's programs in air, water, toxics,
and solid waste.
In the past two decades, EPA's environmental
protection efforts have primarily focused on
media-specific pollution controls. These "end-
of-pipe" approaches have achieved significant
reductions in discharge of pollutants, but further
gains in treatment and control will, in most
cases, be much more costly and difficult to
achieve. Furthermore, many of the pollution
problems facing our nation- -such as global
warming, ozone depletion, and non-point source
pollution are not totally amenable to traditional
pollution control regulation and enforcement.
Further strides in protecting the environment
will require preventing environmental problems
by reducing or eliminating the generation of
pollutants. The reduction or elimination of
pollution is not a new concept for the EPA in
reducing health and environmental risks.
"PoUution prevention," as used in
r^
jj]^
of
It does not include treatment and disposal
methods. Pollution prevention holds the key to
future gains in environmental protection, and
offers significant benefits to many sectors of
society that are not available through traditional
pollution control approaches. These benefits fall
into two major categories:
Reduced health and ecological risks
- Avoiding the shift of pollutants among
environmental media
- Reducing the need for transportation and
disposal of wastes
- Reducing the total waste and pollutant
burden
- Reducing risks of exposure to toxic
substances.
Economic benefits
- Reducing waste management, compliance,
liability, and remediation costs
- Increasing operating efficiencies
- Creating markets for sale or reuse of
wastes.
EPA recognizes that it will take a concerted
effort by all sectors of our society to realize the
full potential of the benefits of pollution pre-
vention. Although these benefits are recognized
by many organizations, lack of information and
knowledge have been a barrier to implementing
pollution prevention programs. Organizations
often lack the capabilities, resources, or moti-
vation to conduct the research necessary to fill
these information gaps. Therefore, EPA has a
crucial role to play, as a leader in pollution
prevention, in forging partnerships with these
organizations to conduct research and dissemi-
nate the information. As the SAB noted in
Research Strategies for the 1990s, EPA is the
only entity that is likely to exert leadership in
conducting the basic environmental research
needed to address future environmental issues
and cross-media problems.
This research plan is the first step in
developing the research component of EPA's
pollution prevention initiative. This plan builds
on the current EPA pollution prevention efforts,
and identifies six research goals that broaden the
scope of the Agency's pollution prevention
efforts. The six fundamental goals of the
research program are to:
(1) Stimulate private sector development and
use of products that result in reduced
pollution.
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(2) Stimulate private sector development and
implementation of technologies and pro-
cesses that result in reduced pollution.
(3) Expand the reusability and recyclability of
wastes and products and the demand for
recycled materials.
(4) Identify and promote the implementation
of effective socioeconomic and institu-
tional approaches to pollution prevention.
(5) Establish a program of research that will
anticipate and address future environ-
mental problems and pollution prevention
opportunities.
(6) Conduct a vigorous technology transfer
assistance program that facilitates pollution
prevention strategies and technologies.
Achievement of these goals requires a
research program that covers six major program
areas: (1) product research, (2) process research,
(3) recycling and reuse research, (4) socioeco-
nomic and institutional research, (5) anticipa-
tory research, and (6) technology transfer and
technical assistance. Each of the six research
goals corresponds to a research program area,
and each program area has a number of
objectives that support achievement of the
research goal.
Product Research
The product research program area is oriented
toward studying the polluting characteristics and
life-long pollution generating attributes of types
of products, and facilitating private sector
development of environmentally preferable
types of products. The objectives of the product
research program area are to:
(1) Establish standardized methods for
evaluating the environmental impacts of
specific types of products.
(2) Identify and evaluate the pollution
generation characteristics of both existing
and new types of products and of changing
product-use patterns.
(3) Encourage private sector development of
environmentally preferable types of prod-
ucts.
(4) Demonstrate and evaluate uses of cost
effective and environmentally preferable
types of products.
Process Research
The process research program area focuses On
identifying and evaluating those aspects of
production, use, maintenance, repair, and
disposal processes that generate pollutants and
excessive amounts of waste, and facilitating
private sector development of environmentally
preferable processes. The objectives of the
process research program area are to:
(1) Develop industry-specific standardized
methods for conducting process-oriented
pollution prevention opportunity assess-
ments.
(2) Conduct pollution prevention opportunity
assessments in a variety of industries.
(3) Identify, demonstrate, and evaluate the
effectiveness of pollution prevention tech-
niques associated with existing and new
processes.
(4) Identify and stimulate cross-industry
applications of cost effective innovative
production and processing technologies.
Recycling and Reuse Research
The recycling and reuse research program
area focuses on evaluating waste streams,
production feedstocks, capacities for inclusion
of reclaimed materials in production processes
and products, and the effectiveness of recyc-
ling/reuse programs. The recycling and reuse
research program area objectives are to:
(1) Identify and evaluate new and innovative
uses for materials that would otherwise be
disposed of as waste.
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(2) Identify, demonstrate, and evaluate
strategies to increase the use of recycled
materials in products.
(3) Stimulate the development and installation
of additional capacity for utilizing recycled
materials.
(4) Evaluate existing recycling and reuse
programs and facilitate the development of
cost effective model programs.
Socioeconomic and Institutional Research
The socioeconomic and institutional research
program area focuses on identifying and evalu-
ating non-technological factors that affect
pollution prevention opportunities. The objec-
tives of the socioeconomic and institutional
research program area are to:
(1) Understand consumer behavior and identify
effective approaches to modifying it in
consumption decisions!
(2) Identify and assess incentives that may
increase and obstacles that may inhibit
implementation of pollution prevention
measures.
(3) Identify and assess the effectiveness of
existing and new pollution prevention
approaches.
(4) Identify and assess trends in consumption
and use patterns and pollution generation.
(5) Quantify the potential of pollution preven-
tion practices for maximizing pollution
reduction.
Anticipatory Research
The anticipatory research program area
concentrates on emerging technologies that could
be utilized to prevent or address future
environmental problems, as well as changes in
non-technological factors that could contribute
to or prevent future problems. The objectives
of the anticipatory research program area are to:
(1) Identify and explore emerging technologies
and patterns in resource use and disposal
that have long-term implications for the
nation's programs in pollution prevention.
(2) Evaluate the effectiveness of the Agency's
research program in meeting changing user
information needs.
Technology Transfer and Technical Assistance
The technology transfer and technical assist-
ance program area supports each of the other
five research program areas by providing the
mechanism for rapid and broad dissemination of
information to potential users. This program
area focuses on expanding the availability of
information from the pollution prevention
research initiative and other sources to acceler-
ate the adoption of effective pollution preven-
tion programs throughout the public and private
sectors. It compliments similar pollution pre-
vention outreach programs throughout the
Agency. The technology transfer and technical
assistance program area objectives are to:
(1) Stimulate the use of pollution prevention
opportunity assessments in all pollution-
generating activities.
(2) Expand the Pollution Prevention Informa-
tion Clearinghouse to encompass additional,
multi-media pollution prevention functions.
(3) Provide technical assistance to other federal
agencies, states, local governments,
industries, and citizens in implementing
pollution prevention efforts.
(4) Support general and industry-specific
information exchange via conferences and
seminars in international, national, and
regional settings.
The information needs of the various
organizations that could be instrumental in
implementing pollution prevention techniques
and programs are the driving force for the
research program. These needs lead to
individual research projects through a linear
111
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path that is illustrated by the flowchart exhibit
on the following page. The flowchart depicts
the logical design of the research plan by using
an example within a particular program area.
Information needs are the foundation upon
which all the research is based. The goals of the
research plan are designed to meet these
information needs, and the objectives within
each program area are intended to facilitate
achievement of these goals. The research topics
under the objectives are the types of research
that could be conducted to achieve these
objectives. Finally, example research projects
under each research topic illustrate the types of
projects the Agency might undertake for each
program area. This design applies to all six of
the research program areas presented in the
research plan in Chapter 2. Seventeen example
projects, several for each of the program areas,
illustrate the variety of research that can be
undertaken as part of this program. These
example projects do not necessarily represent
high priority research projects, but are included
in the research plan to illustrate the types of
studies envisioned by the Agency for each of the
six program areas.
Implementation of the Research Plan
Over the past five years, the Agency has
progressively expanded its efforts in source
reduction and recycling. Passage of the
Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984
marked a significant milestone in refocusing the
Agency's strategy from traditional regulatory
control approaches toward pollution prevention.
In 1986, EPA's Office of Solid Waste (OSW)
published the Report to Congress on the Mini-
mization of Hazardous Waste, which promoted
source reduction and recycling as the nation's
highest priorities over treatment and disposal.
In 1987, EPA launched the Waste Minimization
Research (WMR) program which focused on
preventing or reducing the generation of
hazardous wastes as regulated under the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Another milestone for the Agency's pollution
prevention initiative was publication in 1988 of
the Science Advisory Board's report, Future
Risk: Research Strategies for the 1990s. In this
same year, EPA created an Agencywide
Pollution Prevention Office (PPO) to promote
an integrated pollution prevention approach
across all media. In 1989, the PPO issued a
pollution prevention policy statement that
promotes pollution prevention as the highest
priority to reduce health and environmental risk,
followed by recycling and reuse of wastes to
reduce pollution. The PPO is also developing a
comprehensive Agencywide pollution prevention
strategy. The strategy will attempt to integrate
program, research, and regional office activities
into a comprehensive pollution prevention plan
for the Agency. Also in 1989, OSW published
The Solid Waste Dilemma: An Agenda for
Action which is a national strategy for managing
the nation's garbage problem.
OSW's activities, the WMR program, and the
establishment of PPO signify EPA's commitment
to achieving significant reductions in the
generation of pollution. These Agency efforts
provide the framework for the multi-media,
multi-year pollution prevention research plan
presented in this report. This research plan is an
adjunct to the broader Agencywide pollution
prevention strategy being prepared by the PPO.
The pollution prevention research program
outlined in this report will support Agencywide
research efforts. A number of EPA program,
research, and regional offices will be responsible
for implementing the proposed research plan.
During the first year of the research plan, the
Agency's highest priorities are to initiate
research in the product and socioeconomic and
institutional program areas. Although the
priorities for initiating research activities that
are presented in this plan reflect EPA's
commitment to beginning effective research
activities, funding levels in each program area
may not be indicative of these priorities. This
is due to the need to continue support for
ongoing projects and the disproportionate costs
of planning, initiating, and implementing
specific projects in different program areas.
EPA estimates that the pollution prevention
research program described in this plan would
cost approximately $14.5 million from Research
and Development funds in FY90 and FY91.
During this time, product research is expected
IV
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PRODUCT RESEARCH PROGRAM EXAMPLE
INFORMATION NEEDS
EPA
Product assessment methods
New products
Product substitutes
Trends in product-use patterns
INDUSTRY
Product substitutes
New products
Product applicability
OTHER AGENCIES
New products
Product assessment
methods
CONSUMERS
New products
Product substitutes
1 ) Stimulate the development and
use of products that result in
reduced pollution
2 ) Stimulate development and implementation of
technologies and processes ...
3 ) Expand reusability, recydability, and demand ...
4 ) Identify and promote non-technological
approaches...
5 ) Conduct technology transfer and technical
assistance...
6 ) Identify and address future environmental
problems...
PRODUCT RESEARCH
PROGRAM
RESEARCH GOALS
Objectives
Establish standard methods
Evaluate products
Facilitate product development
Demonstrate production and use
RESEARCH
TOPIC AREA
Evaluate substitutes for
toxic materials in consumer I
products
SPECIFIC RESEARCH PROJECT
Identification and Evaluation of Lead and
Cadmium Substitutes in Plastics
1) Identify possible substitutes for Pb and Cd in plastics
and pigments
2) Determine if substitutes are environmentally preferable
3) Evaluate the impact of substitutes on product
performance and cost.
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to cost around $3.9 million, socioeconomic and
institutional research about $3.4 million, process
research $3.7 million, recycling and reuse
research $0.7 million, anticipatory research $0.4
million, and technology transfer $2.4 million.
Although all six of the research program areas
are of critical importance to the nation's
pollution prevention initiative, EPA recognizes
that immediate implementation of all six areas
may not be practical. Therefore, the research
plan addresses both the Agency's present
priorities for initiating research activities and a
mechanism for prioritizing future projects based
on the effectiveness of the program and
changing information needs. The priorities for
the research program areas are based on the
following factors:
Overall impact on environmental results.
Potential cost effectiveness of proposed
activities.
Degree of need for the information.
Importance of EPA's contribution in this area.
Ability to achieve near-term results.
Number of organizations that could benefit
from the information.
Need to support the pollution prevention
efforts of EPA program and regional offices.
Need to continue efforts in ongoing pollution
prevention research programs.
The pollution prevention research plan
described in this report is a comprehensive
program that includes both technological and
non-technological research to address a broad
range of pollution prevention issues. The
Agency's efforts could be directed toward
identifying pollution reduction and prevention
potentials, meeting information needs, estab-
lishing an awareness of opportunities, stimula-
ting investigation of alternatives, and adopting
workable approaches for pollution prevention in
both the public and private sectors. Because
pollution prevention is not the responsibility of
EPA alone, the pollution prevention research
program requires the cooperation and partner-
ship of government agencies, business, industry,
academia, and public interest groups in con-
ducting the necessary pollution prevention
research, and transferring the results of this
research to those who need the information in
order to implement pollution prevention pro-
grams and take advantage of pollution preven-
tion opportunities. The development of this
research plan is a major step toward imple-
menting a comprehensive risk reduction research
program that has as its first priority the
prevention of pollution. Such a research
program holds tremendous potential for fur-
thering the progress EPA has achieved in pro-
tecting human health and the environment from
the risks posed by pollution.
VI
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This document is an Agencywide pollution
prevention research plan submitted to Congress
in response to the Fiscal Year 1989 Housing and
Urban Development and Independent Agencies
Appropriations Act, Public Law 100-404, which
states:
"...a multi-year plan addressing the critical
research elements to support an Agencywide
multi-media pollution prevention initiative
should be submitted by May 1, 1989."
The research plan contained in this report was
prepared in response to this requirement, and
the plan is part of a broader EPA effort to
develop a comprehensive pollution prevention
initiative that concerns all of the Agency's
programs in air, water, toxics, and solid waste.
The reduction or elimination of pollution is
not a new concept for EPA in reducing the
health and environmental risks associated with
pollution. Since the passage of the Hazardous
and Solid Waste Amendments in 1984, the
Agency has been refocusing its environmental
protection strategy from traditional regulatory
control approaches toward pollution prevention.
The term "pollution prevention," as used in this
report, refers to the reduction or elimination of
pollutant discharges to the air, water, or land.
Pollution prevention approaches to environmen-
tal protection include:
Eliminating pollutants by substituting non-
polluting chemicals or products (e.g., material
substitution, changes in product speci-
fications), or altering product use
Reducing the quantity and/or toxicity of
pollutants generated by production processes
through source reduction, waste minimization,
and process modifications
Recycling of waste materials (e.g., reuse,
reclamation).
Pollution prevention approaches do not include
treatment and disposal methods.
Pollution prevention must be an essential
component of EPA's environmental protection
strategy if the Agency is to fulfill its mission of
protecting human health and the environment
from the risks associated with pollution.
Pollution prevention holds the key to future
gains in environmental protection, partially
because past pollution control approaches have
focused primarily on reducing environmental
discharges in a particular medium or cleaning up
contaminated sites by employing engineering
controls. These "end-of-pipe" approaches have
achieved significant reductions in environmental
discharge of pollutants, but further gains in
treatment and control will, in most cases, be
much more costly and difficult to achieve.
Furthermore, many of the environmental
pollution problems facing our nation--such as
global warming, ozone depletion, and non-
point source pollution--are not amenable to
traditional pollution control regulation and
enforcement. Pollution prevention offers EPA
a means of attacking these environmental
problems from a multi-media perspective that
will eliminate approaches that merely transfer
pollutants from one medium to another. Most
important, pollution prevention will reduce the
risks to both human health and the environment
by reducing or eliminating the generation of
pollutants that are detrimental to biological
organisms, ecosystems, and global physical
processes.
In a recent report to EPA, Future Risk:
Research Strategies for the 1990s, the Science
Advisory Board (SAB) recommended that a
primary long-term goal for the Agency should
be prevention or reduction of environmental
risk. The report recommended that EPA shift
the focus of its environmental protection
strategy from command and control measures to
preventing the generation of pollution. The
1-1
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SAB defined a hierarchy for risk reduction
research (see Exhibit 1-1) to help in setting
research priorities and in achieving the Agency's
overall goal of protecting human health and the
environment. The first priority of the research
hierarchy clearly emphasizes the importance of
pollution prevention:
Whenever possible environmental protection
efforts first should be aimed at minimizing
the amount of wastes or pollutants generated.
Thus, waste reduction at its source--for
example, through product design changes,
industrial process changes, or material
substitution--should be a primary objective.
The second priority of the research hierarchy
focuses on the prevention or reduction of
pollutants by recycling or reuse:
For those wastes or pollutants that are
generated, every effort should then be made
to recycle or reuse them in an environ-
mentally sound manner. For example,
community recycling programs should be an
important feature of the nation's solid waste
disposal efforts, and industry should be
encouraged to reuse as much of its process
wastes as possible.
The SAB also recommended that EPA plan,
implement, and sustain a long-term research
program to support the new strategy of
preventing the generation of pollution. In
addition, EPA should expand its efforts to assist
all of the parts of society that must act to
prevent or reduce environmental risk.
In response to the SAB recommendation and
the request for a research plan in the
Appropriations Act, EPA's Office of Research
and Development (ORD) held a workshop on
November 9-10, 1988, to identify major
research elements that would support an
Agencywide pollution prevention initiative.
Workshop participants included representatives
from industry, academia, state and local
governments, public interest groups, various
offices within EPA, and other federal agencies.
(A list of participants is included in the
Appendix.) The workshop participants identi-
fied six major pollution prevention research
goals and six research program areas. The
results of this workshop and the efforts of an
Agencywide work group form the basis of the
research plan presented in this report. The
Pollution Prevention Subcommittee of the SAB
was invited to review and comment on the draft
research plan. The subcommittee met on
March 9 and 10, 1989 to discuss the report and
submit their comments to EPA.
The remainder of Chapter 1 outlines the need
for pollution prevention, the benefits of
pollution prevention, the Agency's pollution
prevention initiative, EPA's role in pollution
prevention research, and the pollution pre-
vention research goals. Chapter 2 presents
EPA's pollution prevention research plan, and
Chapter 3 discusses the resource and implemen-
tation requirements for the research plan,
methods for establishing priorities for the
research projects, and mechanisms for imple-
menting the research plan.
NEED FOR POLLUTION PREVENTION
When EPA was established, Congress gave the
Agency specific responsibilities based on the
most visible polluters and pollutants--soot and
smoke from motor vehicles and smokestacks,
and raw sewage and chemicals from municipal
and industrial wastewater. Over the next 10
years Congress enacted a dozen major laws
affecting air quality, water quality, endangered
species, pesticides, drinking water, toxic
substances, hazardous and solid wastes, coastal
zones, and ocean pollution. EPA assumed its
role as a regulatory agency responsible for
setting and enforcing environmental standards
called for in these statutes. Response to this
legislation set in motion the regulatory
machinery in operation today.
In the past two decades, EPA's environmental
protection efforts have been successful in
improving the air quality in most cities, cleaning
up thousands of miles of rivers and streams, and
restoring thousands of acres of lakes. In
1-2
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EXHIBIT 1-1
PRIORITIES FOR RISK-REDUCTION RESEARCH
Potential
wastes and
contaminants
generated
Prevent
Generation
Actual
wastes and
contaminants
generated
Reuse/
Recycle
_l^r
Wastes and
contaminants
after
recycling/
reuse
Treat/
Control
Residual
wastes and
contaminants
Minimize
Exposure
1-3
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addition, significant progress has been made in
improving the management of hazardous wastes,
toxic chemicals, and pesticides. Command and
control approaches have been effective tools in
the reduction of health and environmental risk
since the inception of EPA. Numerous examples
of the successes of these approaches can be
documented in each of EPA's program areas,
some of which are described below.
All 50 states have adopted water quality
standards, and all publicly owned municipal
sewage treatment systems provide at least
secondary levels of treatment. Through use of
the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES), industrial dischargers have
been required to meet discharge standards, often
including pretreatment requirements that ensure
the proper operation of municipal treatment
facilities receiving the industrial discharge.
Implementation of air quality standards
authorized by the Clean Air Act has resulted in
steady improvement in air quality. Since the
Clean Air Act was amended in 1977, the
ambient levels of the six criteria pollutants,
carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, lead, sulfur
dioxides, ozone, and particulates, have decreased
by amounts ranging from 13 to 87 percent from
the 1977 levels.
Prior to the enactment of the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in 1976
and the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments
(HSWA) of 1984, most waste generators, trans-
porters, and treatment, storage, and disposal
facilities were not covered under federal
regulations. These laws promoted "cradle-to-
grave" management of hazardous waste, from
point of generation to final disposal location,
and required EPA to focus on permitting land
disposal facilities and eventually phasing out
land disposal of some wastes. Under RCRA and
HSWA, EPA has implemented a waste manage-
ment program that includes permitting and
inspection procedures to ensure that wastes are
managed properly.
Before the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA) provided funding for cleanup of the
worst abandoned or inactive waste sites in the
U.S., no law addressed the cleanup of hazardous
waste releases on land, and only one-third of the
3,383 waste disposal sites used since 1950 by the
53 largest U.S. chemical companies were covered
by federal regulations. CERCLA, along with
the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization
Act (SARA), has allowed EPA to begin cleaning
up sites where the results of past disposal
practices now threaten surrounding communities
and the environment.
Controls on the production, use, and disposal
of toxic substances such as persistent pesticides
have resulted in dramatic recoveries of numer-
ous species of birds, especially birds of prey,
that were nearly decimated by bioaccumulation
of pesticides in the years between World War II
and the mid-1970s.
Although these past regulatory control
approaches have been successful, there are three
factors which limit the applicability of these
approaches to address certain environmental
problems. First, the nation's legal, organiza-
tional, and conceptual approaches have been
problem and medium specific, with environ-
mental controls oriented toward a single
medium, often with insufficient regard for the
impact of the approach on other media. Ad-
ditionally, the interconnectedness of environ-
mental media (e.g., acid rain impacts on aquatic
life) and even the connection of all elements of
a single medium (e.g., surface and groundwater)
were insufficiently evaluated. EPA now
administers nine separate statutes and parts of
four others. Each statute has given rise to a
virtually independent regulatory program, and
each program focuses on a particular
environmental problem. The "end-of-pipe"
controls used to comply to the regulatory
standards often result not in the eradication of
a waste or pollutant, but in its transfer from.one
environmental medium to another.
The past lack of attention to cross-media
effects of pollution control is understandable
considering the media-specific nature of
environmental laws like the Clean Air Act and
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the Clean Water Act. Even though EPA was
established explicitly to address the cross-media
effects of pollutants, their sources, and their
control technologies, the Agency's media-
specific program structure, developed to imple-
ment media-specific legislation, has found it
difficult to integrate cross-media concerns. A
1987 National Academy of Sciences report en-
titled Multi-media Approach to Pollution Con-
trol, indicated that the transfer of pollutants
from one medium to another is a major problem
and that it is essential for EPA to take a multi-
media approach to managing pollution. Unlike
past approaches, pollution prevention has a
multi-media focus which takes into consider-
ation its impact on all media.
The second factor is that past approaches have
largely focused on reducing environmental
discharges or cleaning up contamination by
employing engineering controls such as waste-
water treatment plants, air pollution scrubbers,
and chemically secure landfills. Although these
"end-of-pipe" strategies have been somewhat
successful in controlling pollution once it is
generated, further gains through technological
treatment and control will be much more costly
and difficult to achieve. Preventing pollution
before it is created is the most promising means
of eliminating the need for some "end-of-pipe"
treatment and control technologies.
The third limiting factor is that EPA's past
environmental protection efforts have relied
almost exclusively on command and control--
enforcing regulatory standards through
inspection. Since it is virtually impossible for
EPA to ensure compliance of every generator,
there are inevitably some violators that are
discharging pollutants in excess of the Agency's
permissible limits. Enforcement is further
complicated when there are numerous dispersed
sources or non-point sources, such as farmers
and homeowners. The only incentives for gen-
erators to comply with regulatory requirements
are good will and the fear of an EPA inspection
and subsequent punishment for violations. Un-
like command-and-control approaches, pollution
prevention offers a number of health, environ-
mental, and economic benefits that would
encourage voluntary action in the public and
private sectors to reduce or eliminate the
generation of pollutants.
While "end-of-pipe" oriented command-and-
control programs have been successful in
addressing a number of environmental problems,
significant environmental problems still exist
despite efforts to control them. These problems,
some of which are described below, span all
environmental media--air, water, and land.
Ambient air quality standards for ozone have
been met in only one major U.S. city. Despite
extensive air pollution control efforts, including
controls on refineries and cars, no major urban
area in the United States, with the exception of
Minneapolis, is in attainment with the national
health-based air quality standards for ozone. In
addition, the standards for carbon monoxide
levels are still exceeded in 142 cities and
counties in the U.S.
EPA's drinking water standards for inorganic
substances have been exceeded over the past
decade for approximately 1,500 to 3,000 U.S.
public water supplies using groundwater. EPA's
1980 Groundwater Supply Survey showed that
20 percent of all public water supply wells and
29 percent of those in urban areas had
detectable levels of at least one volatile organic
chemical. Additionally, a 1986 survey indicated
that 30 states had wells contaminated with one
or more of 60 different pesticides.
Beyond media-specific environmental
problems, over the past 20 years there has been
an unprecedented increase in the number and
volume of complex chemicals introduced into
the environment, and the volume of pesticide
use and municipal waste has grown substantially.
Since World War II, annual production of
synthetic chemicals in the United States has
risen from 6.7 million to over 100 million tons.
Some 70,000 chemicals are in everyday use
worldwide with 500 to 1,000 new chemicals
introduced each year. Pesticide use in agri-
culture tripled in the U.S. between 1965 and
1985. Currently, about three billion pounds of
pesticides are used each year in this country.
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Over six billion tons of agricultural,
commercial, industrial, and domestic waste are
generated in the U.S. each year. As a nation, we
currently produce about 160 million tons of
municipal solid waste per year (approximately
four pounds of refuse per person per day
compared to 2.7 pounds per day in 1960) and
approximately 275 million metric tons of
hazardous waste each year. Complicating the
municipal and hazardous waste problem is the
fact that nearly 70 percent of the operating
landfills in the U.S. are expected to reach
capacity in 15 years and siting new facilities has
received strenuous public opposition.
As evidenced by these statistics, the enormity
of the increase in the release of pollutants to all
media and the difficulty in fully achieving air
and water pollution standards emphasize the
need for pollution prevention. Many of these
environmental problems cannot be alleviated by
more stringent regulatory standards and
technological controls. Treatment and control
approaches have not been effective in achieving
compliance and other approaches are needed.
For some problems, such as hazardous and
municipal wastes, traditional approaches are
becoming too costly or less readily available. As
the nation approaches the last decade of the 20th
century, our strategy for reducing environmental
and health risks must evolve in response to these
changing circumstances. We are facing a num-
ber of environmental problemslike municipal
and hazardous waste disposal, ocean pollution,
acid rain, global warming, stratospheric ozone
depletion, and radon infiltration--that are not
attributable to individual sources of pollution
and are not totally amenable to end-of-pipe,
command-and-control solutions alone. In some
cases, such as ground-level ozone, treatment and
control measures have already been applied, but
have not solved the problem.
Clearly, solutions used in the past are not
likely to be as effective as they have been on the
challenges of the future. Our future environ-
mental protection strategies must recognize the
interconnectedness of the environment and
emphasize multi-media and cross-media
approaches that focus first on pollution
prevention, second on recycling and reuse, and
then on treatment and control. EPA must adopt
a more integrated and systematic approach to
environmental protection and focus on
preventing environmental problems as the
highest priority of the Agency's strategy.
Realistically, pollution prevention approaches
will not completely eliminate the need for
pollution treatment and control, nor will they rid
the environment of all pollution problems.
However, pollution prevention does offer a
tremendous tool to make further strides in
reducing pollution burdens and reducing the
health and environmental risks associated with
pollution.
BENEFITS OF POLLUTION PREVENTION
Pollution prevention not only offers an
approach to reducing the risks associated with
most of the serious environmental problems
facing this country, it also makes good economic
sense. As stated in the Agency's 1986 Report to
Congress on the Minimization of Hazardous
Waste:
"Aggressive action in favor of waste
minimization is clearly needed... Incentives
for waste minimization are already strong,
so EPA must capitalize on them."
There are benefits of pollution prevention, as
well as incentives for preventing pollution, that
affect many sectors of society. The benefits of
pollution prevention can be significant, and can
serve to encourage voluntary action to
implement pollution prevention approaches in
both the public and private sectors. The
practical examples presented in Exhibit 1-2
illustrate how pollution prevention approaches
can be utilized to reduce pollution and often
save money, and how pollution prevention
approaches can protect human health and the
environment by eliminating or reducing the use
and subsequent disposal of pollutants. In
addition to publicizing successful pollution
prevention applications, there is much to be
learned from those applications which have
proven less than fully successful. Pollution
prevention approaches sometimes create product
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EXHIBIT 1-2
EXAMPLES OF POLLUTION PREVENTION SUCCESSES
Product Substitution
The Department of Defense has developed a process in which small plastic beads are air
blasted at the surface of an airplane to remove paint. This eliminates the need for hazardous
solvents to remove the paint. The Department estimates that this process has decreased the
amount of hazardous waste from 10,000 pounds of wet sludge to 320 pounds of dry paint chips
and decomposed plastic material per aircraft. In addition, the amount of work required per
aircraft to remove the paint by air blasting is eight times less than by traditional methods.
Process Modification
After analysis of the contribution of cleaning activities to its waste stream, a California
chemical plant changed the reactor rinse and cleaning procedures to segregate and recapture
phenol wastes from its sanitary wastes in its resin manufacturing operations. This allowed
the company to recover the water-phenol mixture for reuse and reduced the use of organics
by 93 percent.
Product Substitution
Riker Laboratories in California replaced an organic solvent with a water-based solvent
for coating medicine tablets. As a result of this substitution, Riker realized a one-time savings
of $180,000 in pollution control equipment that was deemed unnecessary once the switch to
the water-based solvent dramatically reduced air pollution emissions. In addition, Riker is
saving $15,000 each year by replacing the organic solvent.
Resource Recovery
An assessment of a steel-making facility showed that calcium fluoride (fluorspar) in the
sludge generated during neutralization of the pickling line wastewater could be recovered. By
recycling the fluorspar, the company will save the substantial amount of money spent to buy
it, and also reduce by 30 percent the volume of sludge requiring disposal.
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EXHIBIT 1-2 (continued)
Product Substitution
EPA initiated an investigation of four ethylene glycol ethers because of the potentially
toxic effects of these substances. The Agency determined that the most likely substitutes were
propylene glycol ethers (much less toxic than ethylene glycol ethers). As a result of EPA's
investigation and fear of possible regulatory action, companies voluntarily reduced their use
of ethylene glycol ethers in coatings by 50 percent over a period of four years.
Process Substitution
Control of cockroaches has become increasingly difficult, due to their increased resistence
to pesticides. Integrated pest management (IPM) has been used successfully to provide
acceptable levels of control for cockroaches by using a range of techniques, such as lowering
temperature, removing food, eliminating moisture, reducing clutter, and filling hiding places,
in addition to limited use of pesticides. IPM approaches are being demonstrated by EPA, in
cooperation with other federal and state agencies, pesticide user groups, universities, and the
agricultural chemical industry, for a variety of other pests, such as termites, turf pests,
grasshoppers, and aquatic weeds. IPM is an effective alternative to the use of pesticides in
managing pests, resulting in reduced pesticide use, disposal, and runoff.
Refrigerant Recycling
Automotive air conditioner refrigerant is the largest source of ozone depleting chloro-
fluorocarbons in the United States. EPA sampled and analyzed refrigerant from over 200
automobile air conditioners to develop a standard of purity for recycled refrigerant. In 1988,
a committee that included representatives of the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association
(MVMA), the Mobile Air Conditioner Society, and the Society of Automotive Engineers
reviewed and approved this standard and recommended it to the MVMA. A program for
certification of refrigerant recovery devices has subsequently been initiated. When fully
implemented, this research could represent an important milestone in reducing the effects of
automotive air conditioner refrigerant in depleting the earth's stratospheric ozone layer.
1-f
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quality or productivity problems or are simply
not cost effective. For example, in one case, a
paper mill attempted to use recycled fiber in the
manufacture of high quality specialty paper.
After trying several grades of waste paper, the
project was abandoned when it became clear
that the recycled fiber interfered with the
parchmentizing process practiced in that mill.
Examples such as this should be made available
to others so that past mistakes are not repeated
and alternative approaches can be considered.
Industry, state and local governments, and the
public are recognizing the need for pollution
prevention and the potential benefits that can
result from such approaches. These benefits fall
into two major categories: (1) reduced health
and ecological risks, and (2) economic benefits.
The health and ecological risks associated with
exposure will be reduced as a result of pre-
venting or reducing the generation of pollution
or the use of toxic substances, especially when
the impacts cannot be managed by treatment and
control approaches. A pollution prevention
approach can reduce risk in a number of ways.
Pollution prevention can reduce the total waste
and pollution burden, reduce the amount of
waste requiring disposal, and prevent the need
for remediating improperly managed disposal
sites. Regulatory controls have often resulted in
removing a waste from one environmental
medium by introducing it into another. Pol-
lution prevention will decrease this media shift
problem by reducing the generation of pollut-
ants. Reduced use of toxic substances and
generation of less waste also will reduce the
need to handle and transport these substances,
resulting in decreased risk of accidental releases
and the risk of human and environmental ex-
posure. Furthermore, generation of less waste
will reduce demand for additional waste storage
and disposal facilities. Thus, pollution pre-
vention is expected to reduce the health and
environmental risks of exposures resulting from
manufacturing, use, transportation, storage, and
disposal.
Economic benefits of pollution prevention
apply to federal, state, and local government, all
sectors of commerce and industry, and the
public. Preventing pollution allows the gov-
ernment to avoid some of the costs of enforcing
regulations and ensuring compliance. For
example, new federal requirements issued since
1970 under the Clean Air Act are projected to
cost federal, state, and local government,
industry, and the public about $256 billion from
1981 to 1990. Pollution prevention would also
relieve the tremendous costs of remediating
contaminated sites, such as Superfund sites,
from federal and state agencies, potentially
responsible parties, as well as the taxpayers.
The average uncontrolled hazardous waste site
on the U.S. National Priority List of 1,175 sites
will cost between $21 and $30 million to clean
up and take approximately six to eight years to
complete. Pollution prevention could also save
the government indemnification costs. For
instance, the indemnification costs incurred by
the federal government to purchase three
pesticides whose uses had been banned exceeded
$63 million, excluding the costs of treatment and
disposal.
Pollution prevention approaches can
economically benefit companies by increasing
operating efficiency which reduces demand for
feedstocks and energy; lowering costs associated
with the treatment, storage, transportation, and
disposal of wastes; and reducing compliance
costs including permits, monitoring, and
enforcement. EPA estimates that capital
investment by industry for air pollution control
equipment necessary to meet the requirements of
the Clean Air Act will be about $102 billion
from 1981 to 1990. Other economic benefits of
pollution prevention for companies include
reducing effluent and assessments for local
wastewater plants, and generating income
derived through the sale or reuse of waste.
Probably foremost in motivating pollution
prevention are cost incentives, especially as
traditional forms of waste management are
becoming increasingly more expensive. U.S.
industry currently spends $70-80 billion
annually on pollution control. Costs of land
disposal, while still the least expensive method
of disposing of waste, have skyrocketed in some
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urban areas from as little as $10 per ton of waste
in 1978 to well over $250 per ton in 1988.
Budgets for some municipal solid waste
management agencies have quadrupled during
the 1980s. Prices for alternative waste treatment
are expected to rise as generators compete for
scarce treatment capacity (such as incineration
or chemical detoxification). Currently, incin-
eration costs can be as high as $1,500 per ton.
Moreover, these escalating disposal costs are
only part of the bill that generators^ waste are
incurring. They must also pay for administra-
tive and reporting procedures imposed by
stringent regulatory controls and for insurance
coverage against a host of liabilities that are
associated with accidents and/or the mismanage-
ment of wastes. These increasing waste
management costs, combined with the cost
savings associated with improved management of
raw materials and pollution prevention
production processes, are significant economic
incentives.
Federal and state regulations have been the
primary cause of increased costs in treatment,
storage, and disposal of wastes, especially in
relation to landfills, surface impoundments, and
storage and accumulation tanks. The current
series of land disposal restrictions under HSWA
will limit the number of untreated hazardous
wastes that can be disposed of on land and thus,
are likely to increase the cost of disposal.
HSWA also imposes more stringent standards on
surface impoundments and storage and
accumulation tanks. The recently promulgated
underground storage tank rules will also increase
waste management costs. Some of these rising
costs can be avoided by reducing or eliminating
the wastes.
Waste managers are seeking new treatment,
storage, and disposal sites and planning to
expand existing ones, but in the process they are
encountering the familiar problem of "not in my
backyard." While there are some instances
where states have been successful in helping to
site new waste management facilities, local
resistance tends to be extremely hard to
overcome. This local resistance is not limited to
hazardous waste facilities, but extends to
municipal solid waste landfills, incinerators,
sewage treatment plants, and even to recycling
facilities. This intense public opposition to the
siting of many types of waste management
facilities causes shortages to persist even when
market demand is strong. The number of
municipal solid waste landfills in operation has
declined drastically from about 30,000 in 1976
to 6,584 in 1987. In many cases, therefore, the
only alternative generators may have is reliance
on source reduction and on recycling to reduce
the amount of waste they would otherwise send
to offsite management and disposal facilities.
Additionally, even though the demand for new
treatment and disposal capacity will be high,
permitting procedures will tend to delay the
availability of that new capacity, temporarily
driving up the costs of all forms of treatment
and disposal even further.
The liability of waste generators using offsite
treatment, storage, or disposal is another
incentive for pollution prevention. These
generators face liability for two reasons:
(1) there is a potential for mismanagement of
wastes by facility operators, and (2) there is the
possibility of improper design of the disposal
facility itself. Even careful facility management
cannot reduce these risks to zero. A generator
risks incurring liability when the facility owner
or operator cannot or will not pay for remedial
or corrective actions made necessary by
migration of wastes. In these situations,
generators can be held liable under the
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act for absolute,
strict, joint, and several liability. The
traditional means for obtaining coverage for
potential hazardous waste management liability
is through insurance, but, for many generators
and facility owners or operators, liability
insurance is no longer available or is available
only at extremely high cost. In recent years,
premiums have increased 50 to 300 percent,
policies have been cancelled even where loss
ratios have been excellent, and many companies
have difficulty obtaining coverage at any price.
When less waste is generated, it reduces potential
liability for future disposal, and thus, is an
incentive for pollution prevention.
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The American public, in general, has become
increasingly aware -of risks posed by
environmental pollution. The information
reporting requirements of Title III of the
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization
Act of 1986 have made the public more aware
of the risks associated with pollutants in their
communities. Citizens have organized to combat
water and air pollution, and more recently, to
protest the use of styrofoam packaging by fast
food outlets and overpackaging of fruits and
vegetables by grocery stores. Citizen groups
have also been instrumental in establishing
community recycling programs. While some of
the strongest incentives for implementing
pollution prevention techniques are probably
economic, many companies are establishing
pollution prevention programs out of sensitivity
to public concern. This type of corporate good
citizenship is felt to produce good relations
between industry and the public.
EPA'S POLLUTION PREVENTION
INITIATIVE
Over the past five years, EPA has attempted
to redirect the nation's pollution control strategy
toward pollution prevention by adopting a waste
management hierarchy that placed priority on
pollution prevention. The first two elements in
the hierarchy, depicted in Exhibit 1-3, focus on
source reduction and recycling. A milestone in
the evolution of EPA's pollution prevention
strategy was the passage of HSWA in 1984. In
addition to authorizing very stringent treatment
and disposal regulations, HSWA also contained
as the nation's highest waste management pri-
ority a redirection towards "waste minimization"
as a preferential strategy for protecting human
health and improving environmental quality.
In 1986, EPA's Office of Solid Waste (OSW)
published its Report to Congress on the
Minimization of Hazardous Waste. This report
reiterated the Agency's promotion of the waste
management hierarchy, with source reduction as
the highest priority, followed by recycling,
treatment, and disposal. The report also
committed EPA to collecting better data and
other information for measuring EPA's progress
in hazardous waste minimization. Furthermore,
it emphasized a waste minimization technical
information transfer program. The report
concluded that mandatory standards of
performance and required waste minimization
management practices were not feasible or
desirable at the present time. The term "waste
minimization" has been used by the Agency to
refer to reducing the generation of hazardous
waste at the source or recycling of hazardous
waste to reduce pollution. In 1990, an update on
national progress in waste minimization and the
need for further incentives and disincentives
will be provided to Congress. Also published in
1986, the Office of Technology Assessment's
Report on Serious Reduction of Hazardous Waste
indicated that technology was not the only
limiting factor in reducing the generation of
hazardous pollutants. The report cited non-
technological factors, such as sociological,
economical, and institutional, as important
contributors to reducing hazardous wastes.
In 1987, the Office of Research and
Development (ORD) initiated a waste minimi-
zation research effort that was coordinated with
OSW's efforts on the reduction and elimination
of hazardous waste. This research effort, called
the Waste Minimization Research (WMR)
program, was designed to encourage the
identification, development, and demonstration
of processes and techniques that result in a
reduction or prevention of pollution or in the
recycling of hazardous wastes. This program has
not yet been expanded to address pollution
prevention issues for non-hazardous wastes or
on a multi-media basis.
In an effort to facilitate the task of redir-
ecting the Agency's environmental protection
strategy to pollution prevention, the Pollution
Prevention Office (PPO), in the Office of
Policy, Planning, and Evaluation, was created
in 1988. The PPO is charged with promoting
an integrated environmental ethic stressing the
prevention of pollution. This new office is the
focal point for the Agency's pollution preven-
tion activities and a major impetus behind an
integrated, cross-media approach to pollution
prevention.
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EXHIBIT 1-3
WASTE MANAGEMENT HIERARCHY
Source Reduction. The reduction or elimination of waste at the source.
Source reduction measures include product and process modifications,
feedstock substitution, improvements in feedstock purity, housekeeping
and management practice changes, increases in the efficiency of
equipment, and recycling within a process.
Recycling. The use or reuse of waste as an effective substitute for a
commercial product or as an ingredient or feedstock in an industrial
process. It includes the reclamation of useful constituent fractions within
a waste material or the removal of contaminants from a waste to allow it
to be reused.
Treatment. Any method, technique or process which changes the
physical, chemical, or biological character of any waste so as to
neutralize it, recover energy or material resources from it, or render it
non-hazardous, less hazardous, safer to manage, amenable for
recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume.
Disposal. The discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking,
or placing of waste into or on any land, water or the air.
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Another milestone for the pollution preven-
tion initiative was publication of the SAB's
report, Future Risk: Research Strategies for the
1990s, in 1988. This report clearly emphasized
the importance of pollution prevention, making
it EPA's highest research priority.
On January 26, 1989, the PPO issued a
Pollution Prevention Policy Statement for public
comment. This policy statement encouraged
organizations, facilities, and individuals to fully
utilize source reduction techniques in order to
reduce risk to public health, safety, welfare, and
the environment, and as a second preference to
use environmentally sound recycling to achieve
these same goals. The PPO will examine
existing legislation to eliminate obstacles to
pollution prevention, as well as future legislation
to incorporate pollution prevention. The PPO
has begun working with each of EPA's program,
research, and regional offices to develop a
comprehensive Agency wide pollution prevention
strategy. The strategy will form the basis for
identifying the specific ongoing and planned
activities for each of the EPA programs. The
pollution prevention research plan described in
this report is an adjunct to this broader
Agencywide pollution prevention strategy under
development by the PPO.
In February 1989, OSW published The Solid
Waste Dilemma: An Agenda for Action which is
a national strategy for managing the nation's
garbage problem. The Agenda for Action em-
phasizes the importance of pollution prevention
and recycling above treatment and disposal. It
recommends a number of voluntary activities
that can be undertaken by federal, state, and
local governments, as well as industry and
private citizens to reduce the amount of waste
generated and increase the amount of municipal
solid waste recycling. OSW has also recently
completed several hazardous waste minimization
initiatives including initiation of a technical
assistance clearinghouse.
OSW's activities, the WMR program, and
establishment of the PPO signify EPA's
commitment to achieving significant reductions
in the generation of harmful pollutants and
wastes. It acknowledges the Agency's under-
standing that pollution prevention is a major
avenue for achieving reduction in the pollutant
loadings that pose threats to human health and
the quality of the environment. The Agency has
established seven specific goals for its pollution
prevention initiative. They are:
(1) Promote a cross-media, preventive
approach across all EPA activities.
Examine existing legislative authorities
and current and planned regulations and
policies to determine when pollution
prevention can be incorporated.
(2) Support the initiation and development of
state and local multi-media pollution
prevention programs. Encourage and
strengthen the states' ability to work
directly with companies and municipalities
to prevent pollution. Help make pollution
prevention integral to the implementation
of all state environmental programs.
(3) Supply industry and the public with the
tools they need to implement pollution
prevention measures, including information
and technical assistance on specific
pollution prevention techniques, training in
auditing facilities to determine potential
preventive measures, and guidance in
implementing pollution prevention
approaches.
(4) Identify and implement incentives for
pollution prevention, eliminate barriers to
pollution prevention, and target opportun-
ities for future progress, while acknow-
ledging the importance of maintaining a
stable regulatory environment.
(5) Make America aware of the need for
pollution prevention and achieve a cultural
and behavioral change at all levels of
government, industry, and the public.
(6) Develop reliable indicators of pollution
prevention, and implement a data collec-
tion and evaluation strategy to measure
and evaluate progress.
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(7) Identify, prioritize, and coordinate
research designed to increase pollution
prevention and implement a cooperative
program to conduct this research.
The pollution prevention research plan
presented in this report is designed to achieve
the seventh goal of the Agency's pollution
prevention initiative, and support the other six
goals. EPA envisions an extensive extramural
pollution prevention research program
supplemented by a small intramural program to
achieve this goal. EPA recognizes the impor-
tance of working with industry on technological
research (products, processes, recycling/reuse),
and the significant contribution of industry,
academia, and public interest groups in con-
ducting non-technological research (socio-
economic and institutional).
EPA'S ROLE IN POLLUTION PREVENTION
RESEARCH
Our ability to protect human health and the
quality of the environment in the future will
depend directly on our understanding of and
ability to manage activities that affect the
environment. Research is the primary vehicle
for enhancing our knowledge base in these areas.
Past investments in research and development
efforts have provided excellent returns. EPA
research into air pollution controls, wastewater
treatment systems, and the safe disposal of
hazardous wastes has made significant contri-
butions to cutting the cost and increasing the
efficiency of controlling pollution. The
"capacity to do research" was included in the
Presidential directive that established the EPA
in 1970, and still remains a fundamental func-
tion in a comprehensive environmental protec-
tion strategy. Without a substantial investment
in R&D, we would not understand the processes
and practices that cause pollution, the means by
which it is transported, the mechanisms of
human exposure, the risks posed by pollution, or
ways to potentially reduce those risks. If we are
to continue to enjoy the enormous health,
environmental, and economic benefits of
environmental research, then our research
investments must be guided by a comprehensive
strategy that focuses on the most efficient and
cost effective approaches to reducing
environmental risk in the future.
Over time EPA's research program has
become primarily a support for the Agency's
near-term regulatory responsibilities. While
there are some incentives for pollution pre-
vention (e.g., cost of waste management, lack of
disposal capacity, liability, risk reduction) a
fundamental change in the mindset of indi-
viduals and institutions is necessary to
implement effective pollution prevention
measures. Furthermore, regulatory programs
often encourage the use of off-the-shelf
technology instead of fundamental changes in
products or processes which lead to pollution
prevention. A rigorous pollution prevention
research program is required to bring about
these changes, and research focused on near-
term regulatory needs will not be adequate for
protecting environmental quality in the future.
Program, research, and regional offices will have
to work together to identify specific research
needs, and future research efforts must be
targeted at environmental problems posing the
greatest risk to human health and the
environment, with emphasis on pollution
prevention.
Although the benefits of pollution prevention
are recognized by many organizations, lack of
information and knowledge have been a barrier
to implementing pollution prevention programs.
Designing pollution prevention techniques and
identifying opportunities can require resources,
R&D, and specialized engineering knowledge
that many small- or medium-sized companies do
not have and may not be able to obtain inde-
pendently. In addition, information is needed
by other organizations, such as state and local
governments, EPA and other federal agencies,
large businesses, regional and local agencies,
consumers, and public interest groups in order
to facilitate wide-scale implementation of
pollution prevention techniques and approaches.
Some of the pollution prevention information
needs of these various groups responsible for
implementing and contributing to pollution
prevention programs are identified in
1-14
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Exhibit 1-4. Awareness of such needs is
fundamental to the design of a successful
research program, since the goals, objectives,
topic areas for investigation, and specific
projects all must address the basic needs of the
potential users of the information.
The pollution prevention research plan
presented in Chapter 2 is intended to meet these
information needs and to promote the
identification, development, and implementation
of successful pollution prevention approaches.
Closing the information gaps identified in
Exhibit 1-4, will require research in five major
program areasproduct, process, recycling and
reuse, socioeconomic and institutional, and
anticipatory research. A sixth major component
of the research program is technology transfer
and technical assistance to ensure that the
information produced by the research efforts in
each of the five program areas is disseminated in
the most effective manner to those groups that
require the information. It is essential that the
research program also include an evaluation
component that assesses the effectiveness of past
and ongoing research projects, as well as the
changing needs of the information users in
society. These evaluations will enable EPA to
refocus its research efforts and will assist the
Agency in prioritizing future research projects.
In many cases, potential users of the
information indicated in Exhibit 1-4 may lack
the capabilities, resources, or motivation to
conduct the research necessary to produce it. In
these cases, EPA has a crucial role to play as a
leader in pollution prevention, in forging
partnerships with these users to conduct research
and disseminate the information. For example,
large industries can be expected to perform the
process and product research needed to modify
their own systems, and several large corporations
have initiated pollution prevention programs
which are already showing results. However,
industry management and investors will target
research to those areas that will improve their
profits and enhance their company's competi-
tiveness. As industry and academic repre-
sentatives to the Science Advisory Board noted,
no one company or industry is likely to generate
broadly applicable research findings that will
address future environmental issues and cross-
media problems. EPA, often in collaboration
with academia and industry, is the only entity
that is likely to exert leadership in conducting
the basic environmental research needed in these
areas.
While large private companies will invest in
finding ways to minimize or recycle the waste
generated by their production processes to the
extent that it makes economic sense, smaller
firms may not have the resources or technical
capability to conduct such research. For those
industries composed of numerous, dispersed
small facilities, EPA can play a valuable role in
conducting research into processes, products,
and recycling/reuse and then transferring the
new technology widely within the industry.
EPA can also play a useful role in discovering
and promoting linkages between industries, since
one industry's waste could become another
industry's feedstock.
Local and state governments and regional
agenciesimportant users of pollution preven-
tion researchtraditionally have not invested in
such research since most of their resources are
devoted to providing local services, such as
health, transportation, solid waste management,
sanitation, and drinking water supply. EPA re-
search on recycling technologies, for example,
could have an enormous beneficial impact on
municipalities and other local entities nation-
wide, since these organizations need ways to
reduce their rising costs of solid waste disposal.
EPA research and technology transfer efforts
could also assist states and local governments in
developing and implementing consumer aware-
ness campaigns, creating local incentives, and
promoting pollution prevention to all sectors.
States and localities are anxious to learn from
one another and share information on what
techniques have been effective, how much such
programs cost, and what steps must be taken to
implement these programs. EPA can facilitate
these exchanges by conducting research on the
costs and benefits of the programs, and then
disseminating the results of this research. In
addition to coordinating and conducting techno-
logical research, EPA has a critical role to play
1-15
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Exhibit 1-4
Pollution Prevention Information Needs
Information
Users
EPA Program
and
Regional Offices
Other Federal
Agencies
States
Regional and
Local Agencies
All Government
Agencies as
Consumers
Industry:
Large Business
Industry:
Small Business
Individual
Consumers and
Public Interest
Groups
Types of Information Needed by Various Users
Product
Ufe cycle analysis methods
Trends In use patterns
New products
Product life-span data
Slate program strategies
Ufe cycle analysis methods
New products
Product life-span data
State program strategies
Product substitution
Ufe cycle analysis methods
Product life-span data
New products
Neighboring state strategies
New products
Product substitution
Ufe cycle analysis methods
Product life-span data
State program strategies
New products
Product applicability
Safe handling, storage, and
disposal
Product substitution
Product substitution
Ute cycle assessment
methods
Product substitution
New products
Product applicability
Safe handling, storage, and
disposal
New products
Product applicability
Safe handling, storage, and
disposal
Process
Feedstock substitution
Waste minimization assessment
procedures
Basic unit process data
Waste minimization assessment
procedures
State program strategies
Feedstock substitution
Basic unit process data
Waste minimization assessment
procedures
Neighboring state strategies
Feedstock substitution
Basic unit process data
Waste minimization assessment
procedures
State program strategies
Basic unit process data
Cleaning, maintenance, and repair
Feedstock substitution
Unit process waste generation
assessment methods
Feedstock substitution
Optimization methods
Unit process waste generation
assessment methods
Feedstock substitution
Process change options
Cleaning, maintenance, and repair
Materials handling
Unit process waste generation
assessment methods
Cleaning, maintenance and repair
Product substitution
Recycling
and Reuse
National and regional market availability
National and regional Infrastructure
capabilities
Stale program strategies
New process and product technologies
National and regional market availability
National and regional Infrastructure
capabilities
State program strategies
Regional and local market capacity
Regional and local infrastructure
capabilities
Automated equipment and process
Neighboring state strategies
Distribution and marketing
Management strategies
Automation
State program strategies
Distribution and marketing
Waste stream segregation
Recycling and reusability of waste
stream components
Automation
Automation
By-product recovery methods
Closed loop methods
Waste stream segregation
On-site and off-site reuse opportunities
Waste exchange opportunities
Closed loop methods
Waste stream segregation
Waste recapture and reuse
On-sfte and off-she reuse opportunities
Automation
By-product recovery methods
Waste exchange opportunities
Collection and distribution
Waste stream segregation
Readability and reusability of products
On-site (in-home) and off-site reuse
opportunities
Socioeconomic
and Institutional
Incentives and disincentives
Environmental effects
Economic costs and benefits
Consumer behavior trends
Management strategies
Incentives and disincentives
Environmental effects
Economic costs and benefits
Management strategies
Incentives and disincentives
Environmental effects
Economic costs and benefits
Consumer behavior trends
Management strategies
Incentives and disincentives
Environmental effects
Economic costs and benefits
Consumer behavior trends
Management strategies
Incentives and disincentives
Economic costs and benefits
Management practices
Incentives and disincentives
Economic costs and benefits
Management practices
Incentives and disincentives
Economic costs and benefits
Management practices
Incentives and disincentives
Environmental effects
Economic costs and benefits
Future
Environmental
Problems
Environmental trends
Emerging technologies
Life style change trends
Emerging environmental problems
Effectiveness of prevention strategies
Emerging environmental problems
Emerging technologies
Environmental trends
Effectiveness of prevention strategies
Environmental trends
Emerging environmental problems
Emerging technologies
Effectiveness of prevention strategies
Environmental trends
Emerging environmental problems
Emerging technologies
Environmental trends
Emerging technologies
Environmental trends
Emerging environmental problems
Emerging technologies
Emerging environmental trends
-------
in coordinating and conducting non-techno-
logical research. This research would be useful
to EPA, other federal agencies, state and local
agencies, industry, and public interest groups in
identifying and overcoming barriers to pollution
prevention. Research could be conducted to
help understand behavior modification and the
link between incentives and the desired
behavioral change. Socioeconomic and institu-
tional research could be useful in assessing
existing and new pollution prevention strategies
and ways to improve them. Most importantly,
socioeconomic and institutional research is
essential to bringing about the fundamental
change in the mindset of individuals and
institutions that is necessary to achieve the
benefits of pollution prevention.
EPA also has a significant role in educating
and training the public and private sectors
concerning the importance and the "how to" of
pollution prevention. An additional role for the
Agency is to provide technical assistance to
small- and medium-sized companies, state and
local governments, other federal agencies, and
public interest groups in overcoming barriers to
pollution prevention and promoting it in all
sectors of society.
EPA has a leadership role among federal
agencies for promoting pollution prevention.
EPA cooperates with other agencies to shoulder
a portion of the total U.S. pollution prevention
effort. For example, the Departments of
Energy, Agriculture, Interior, Commerce,
Defense, and Transportation, among others, all
engage in activities and have responsibilities in
this arena. Federal agencies are also major
consumers in our society, and therefore, have a
responsibility to incorporate pollution prevention
into their procurement specifications and waste
management procedures. In addition, a number
of federal, civilian, and defense agencies also
control lands and facilities on which are located
wastes that pose potentially serious environ-
mental and health risks. EPA, as the only
federal agency with a clear mandate to conduct
research on pollution prevention, as well as to
implement pollution prevention methods, needs
to work closely with these other agencies to
ensure that adequate, effective pollution
prevention methods are . employed for all
available opportunities. The Science Advisory
Board summarized EPA's role in pollution
prevention research as follows:
EPA is the only entity that has a clear
mandate to conduct research to gather
information on effective approaches and to
transfer that information to all who could
use it nationwide. This information collec-
tion, evaluation, and dissemination role is a
key component of the research function and
one that EPA is uniquely suited to serve. In
short, no individual local government or
private business is likely to fund research
needed by many local governments and pri-
vate businesses to help reduce their waste
streams. Yet, as more and more elements of
our society become directly involved in the
business of risk reduction, such research
clearly is needed.
EPA has already initiated a number of
pollution prevention research projects under the
WMR program. These projects are primarily
extramural research efforts which have focused
on the minimization of hazardous wastes. EPA
intends to expand these projects to include not
only non-hazardous wastes, but a multi-media
focus as well. The research projects of the
WMR, OSW's Agenda for Action, and PPO's
Pollution Prevention Policy Statement form the
cornerstone of the Agency's future pollution
prevention research efforts. The WMR projects,
outlined below, will provide much needed data
on pollution prevention technologies and
techniques to federal agencies, state and local
governments, industry, academia, public interest
groups, and communities.
The Waste Reduction Innovative Technology
Evaluation (WRITE) Program -- a program
to identify, evaluate, and/or demonstrate new
ideas and technologies that lead to waste
reduction. WRITE is a program that unites
EPA with private industry and other organi-
zations to encourage the development and/or
demonstration of effective techniques and
technologies for hazardous waste minimi-
zation. Usually EPA conducts an evaluation
and industry builds and operates the
1-17
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equipment. Concept or equipment develop-
ment costs may be shared for some businesses.
The Waste Reduction Assessments Program
(WRAP) --a program to demonstrate EPA's
Waste Minimization Opportunity Assessment
Procedure and encourage the use of waste
minimization assessments. WRAP is designed
to encourage the use of waste minimization
assessment as a tool for identifying options
for reducing waste. It supports activities to
demonstrate the procedure in various indus-
trial and manufacturing settings. Individual
subprograms will be developed for each of the
major hazardous waste generating sectors.
The Waste Reduction Evaluations at Federal
Sites (WREAFS) --a program to develop
cooperative waste minimization technology
demonstration projects with other federal
agencies. WREAFS provides a structure for
involving EPA in a wide variety of projects
already being funded by other federal
agencies, including the Department of
Defense and Department of State. EPA's role
is to conduct the initial evaluation and to
provide technology transfer.
The Waste Reduction Institute for Senior
Executives (WRISE) a joint University/
EPA-sponsored institute composed of senior
individuals knowledgeable in the principles
and practices of waste minimization. These
individuals counsel EPA with respect to its
waste minimization activities and serve as
liaisons to private industry generators that the
Agency wishes to encourage to adopt and
demonstrate waste reduction techniques.
GOALS OF THE POLLUTION PREVENTION
RESEARCH PLAN
EPA is the agency charged with the
responsibility of protecting human health and
the environment. Its basic mission is to reduce
the level of risk to human health and the
environment posed by pollution. EPA is
expected to be, and needs to be, the leader in
the area of environmental risk reduction.
Therefore, it is essential that EPA plan and
implement a risk reduction research effort
whose first priority is the prevention of
pollution. The health, environmental, and
economic benefits of risk reduction research can
be substantial. As the SAB noted in Future
Risk: Research Strategies for the 1990s, suc-
cessful risk reduction technologies developed
through EPA research have saved the nation
from $30 to over $1,000 for every research
dollar spent on these projects.
In response to pollution prevention research
needs and EPA's role in meeting these needs,
ORD has defined six fundamental goals for the
proposed pollution prevention research program.
These goals build upon existing Agency pollu-
tion prevention efforts, and broaden the
research scope to enable the Agency to identify,
develop, demonstrate, and transfer effective
pollution prevention technologies and tech-
niques. These goals are to:
(1) Stimulate the development and use of
products that result in reduced pollution.
This goal focuses on the pollution
prevention problems related to the use and
disposal of specific products. Although
products are often considered to include
only manufactured items, as used here, the
term also includes chemicals used in
manufacturing processes and service indus-
tries; packaging for parts, commodities,
and manufactured items; and fluids and
gases used as solvents, carriers, refrig-
erants, coatings, and lubricants, and
additional items of commerce. These
materials often are not viewed as wastes or
industrial discharges, but do in fact impact
the environment and pose a risk to health.
(2) Stimulate the development and implemen-
tation of technologies and processes that
result in reduced pollution.
Numerous pollution prevention opportun-
ities exist in manufacturing, mining,
agricultural, and service processes. This
goal addresses the need to focus research
activities on these processes to enable
broad-scale reduction in pollution gener-
ation.
1-18
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(3) Expand the reusability and recyclability
of wastes and products and the demand
for recycled materials.
Research is needed to improve the
reusability and recyclability of wastes and
products, and to increase the capacity and
demand for recycled materials in produc-
tion processes. Such improvements will
prolong the useful life of materials and
reduce the environmental impacts of
wastes and pollutants from all waste
streams.
(4) Identify and promote the implementation
of effective non-technological approaches
to pollution prevention.
This research area should include
socioeconomic and institutional factors that
motivate behavior and foster changes in
behavior as they relate to incentives for
adopting pollution prevention techniques.
Research is needed to understand the roles
of non-technological factors in imple-
menting pollution prevention approaches
and their impact on the effectiveness of
pollution prevention programs.
(5) Establish a program of research that will
anticipate and address future
environmental problems and pollution
prevention opportunities.
Research is needed to assist EPA in
anticipating and responding to emerging
environmental issues and to evaluate new
technologies that may significantly alter
the status of pollution prevention programs
in the future. A flexible program is
needed for conducting research that may
impact long-term pollution prevention
program directions and objectives. This
research program will enable EPA to
anticipate and potentially prevent future
environmental problems. In addition, this
program provides the Agency with the
ability to address emerging issues which
will shorten the time between detection of
a new environmental problem and EPA's
ability to respond with an effective
program.
(6) Conduct a vigorous technology transfer
and technical assistance program that
facilitates pollution prevention strategies
and technologies.
It is imperative that the results of research
investigations conducted under this pro-
gram or by industry and academic research
programs are communicated to appropriate
audiences. This goal addresses the need to
ensure that new information can be
evaluated and incorporated into pollution
prevention programs rapidly.
The research plan presented in Chapter 2 of
this report is designed to address these six
pollution prevention goals and to build on the
foundation established by program, research,
and regional office activities. It identifies six
research program areas and objectives for each
program area, lists numerous topic areas
of potential research, and provides
selected examples of specific potential research
projects. The information needs of the various
organizations that could be instrumental in
implementing pollution prevention techniques
and programs, identified in Exhibit 1-4, are the
foundation for the framework of the research
plan presented in Exhibit 1-5. The goals of the
research plan are designed to meet these
information needs, and the objectives of the six
research program areas are intended to facilitate
achievement of these goals. The research topics
within each program area and the individual
research projects conducted within each topic
are required to accomplish the program objec-
tives.
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EXHIBIT 1-5
FRAMEWORK FOR THE POLLUTION PREVENTION
RESEARCH PROGRAM
Specific
Research
Projects
Potential Research
Topic Areas Within
Each Program Area
Objectives of
Research Program Areas
Goals of the Research Program
Information Needs of Various Users
1-20
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CHAPTER 2
RESEARCH PLAN
To achieve the research goals stated in
Chapter 1, EPA will assume a leadership and
coordinating role in both research and imple-
mentation of pollution prevention. Ongoing and
future pollution prevention research conducted
or sponsored by EPA will be focused on
achieving these goals. The development of this
research plan is a major step toward imple-
menting a comprehensive risk reduction research
program that has as its first priority the
prevention or reduction of pollution.
In recent years, research activities in both the
private and public sectors have begun to address
pollution prevention issues. As a result, progress
has been made in identifying opportunities and
developing technologies for limiting pollution
generation. These efforts must be expanded.
Some of the research activities described in the
following sections are logical extensions of
programs that were initiated under several
Agency programs, such as ORD's WMR
program, OSW's Agenda for Action, and PPO's
grant program. For example, ORD's Waste
Reduction Innovative Technology Evaluation
(WRITE) program was initiated to demonstrate
and evaluate new technologies and schemes for
reducing hazardous wastes. This program is
being implemented via cooperative agreements
with six states--California, Washington,
Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and
Illinois. In each of these states, five industrial
projects are targeted for waste minimization
opportunity assessments over a three year
period. Four primary industries that will be
evaluated include chemicals, fabricated metals,
electroplating, and printed circuit boards. As
part of the process research program area
discussed in this research plan, the WRITE
program will be expanded to a multi-media
focus and to include non-hazardous wastes and
pollutants.
This research plan is intended to build on the
existing knowledge and program, research, and
regional office efforts, by providing structured
research programs for gathering and evaluating
data on major topics of concern, and stimulating
progress in adopting pollution prevention
technologies and strategies. Research to identify
the current impact of pollution prevention
practices and opportunities and to identify
impediments to progress will play a principal
role in helping to shape the nation's efforts to
reduce pollution.
The research plan identifies six major pro-
gram areas of pollution prevention research.
These are:
Product Research
Process Research
Recycling and Reuse Research
Socioeconomic and Institutional Research
Anticipatory Research
Technology Transfer and Technical
Assistance.
These program areas organize the pollution
prevention research program into discrete
subject areas of related activities. Exhibit 2-1
depicts the six program areas of the pollution
prevention research plan and their associated
goals.
As depicted in Exhibit 2-2, the research
efforts in the first three research program areas
(product, process, and recycling/reuse) will
focus on the following three types of activi-
ties:
Assessing current conditions and pollution
prevention opportunities
Identifying and evaluating existing and new
technologies with regard to their effects on
pollution generation
2-1
-------
EXHIBIT 2-1
POLLUTION PREVENTION RESEARCH PROGRAM AREAS
PRODUCT RESEARCH
GOAL: Stimulate private sector
development and use of products
that result in reduced pollution.
ro
I
PROCESS RESEARCH
GOAL: Stimulate private
sector development and
implementation of technologies
and processes that result in
reduced pollution.
RECYCLING AND REUSE
RESEARCH
GOAL: Expand the reusability
and recyclability of wastes and
products and the demand for
recycled materials.
SOCIOECONOMIC
AND INSTITUTIONAL
RESEARCH
GOAL: Identify and promote
the implementation of effective
non-technological approaches
to pollution prevention.
ANTICIPATORY
RESEARCH
GOAL: Establish a program of
research that will anticipate and
address future environmental
problems and pollution prevention
opportunities.
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
AND
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
GOAL: Conduct a vigorous
technology transfer and technical
assistance program that facilitates
pollution prevention strategies
and technologies.
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EXHIBIT 2-2
COMMON TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
OBJECTIVES
Opportunity assessments
I
OJ
Technology demonstration
Technology evaluation
PRODUCT
RESEARCH
PROCESS
RESEARCH
RECYCLE
AND REUSE
RESEARCH
-------
Stimulating private sector development and
demonstration of model technologies and
programs designed to prevent pollution.
Product research is oriented toward
understanding the polluting characteristics and
life-long pollution generating attributes of
products. The product research program will
focus on establishing standardized methods for
assessing products and their use patterns, using
these standard methods to identify and evaluate
the pollution burdens that are represented by
various products, and stimulating private sector
development and use of environmentally
preferable products. Products addressed under
this program may range from simple chemical
compounds to complex manufactured items
comprising numerous potential sources of
pollution.
The process research program area is oriented
toward identifying and evaluating those aspects
of production, use, maintenance and repair, and
disposal processes that generate pollutants and
waste, and to facilitating and evaluating alter-
native, environmentally preferable processes.
Process research will focus on establishing
standardized methods for evaluating all types of
processes using these standard methods to
identify and assess pollution and waste gener-
ation, associated with these processes, and
encouraging private sector innovation in
adopting environmentally preferable processes
and technologies. By supporting such efforts,
EPA fosters the development of industry-
specific data and the establishment of state level
oversight and expertise in pollution prevention,
as well as affirms its leadership role in
promoting pollution prevention on a nationwide
basis.
Research is needed to identify high-potential
opportunities for further recycling and reuse
and to identify the most effective existing
recycling approaches. Research efforts in the
recycling and reuse research program area will
focus on evaluating waste streams, production
feedstocks, capacities for inclusion of reclaimed
materials in production processes and products,
and the effectiveness of recycling programs.
Most of the technological research efforts in
the areas of product, process and recycling/reuse
will be carried out by private industry. This
technological research should focus on the
development of environmentally preferable
products and processes, as well as recycling and
reuse techniques that reduce wastes and
pollutants. EPA will work with the private
sector to eliminate technological bottlenecks and
barriers, and identify pollution prevention
approaches that are not only affordable, but
improve the operating efficiency.
Socioeconomic and institutional research is an
essential component of an effective, comprehen-
sive research program that can identify the
barriers to and incentives for an integrated
program of efficient production, reuse, and
recycling. Efforts in socioeconomic and
institutional research will focus on identifying
and evaluating non-technological factors that
affect pollution prevention implementation
opportunities. The socioeconomic and insti-
tutional research program area involves non-
technological research to understand and
overcome institutional, social, and economic
obstacles to pollution prevention, and will
include research in sociology, economics, and
human behavior, as well as studies of institu-
tional conditions that favor or inhibit imple-
mentation of effective pollution prevention
programs. Much of the research in this program
area will be conducted in cooperation with
academia, industry, and public interest groups.
Anticipatory research is necessary to allow
the Agency to be able to detect and respond to
changing environmental, industrial, and con-
sumer conditions. The anticipatory research
program is intended to provide the ability to
pursue long-term research on emerging technol-
ogies or topics of concern, to enable EPA to
prevent future pollution problems. The antici-
patory research program area will include both
technological and non-technological research in
order to address all aspects of future environ-
mental problems, and will focus on emerging
technologies that could be utilized to prevent or
address future environmental problems, as well
as changes in non-technological factors that
2-4
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could contribute to or prevent future problems.
Projects in this area will focus on anticipating
and responding to emerging environmental
issues and evaluating the effectiveness of
emerging technologies and various pollution
prevention strategies for reducing pollution
related problems.
The technology transfer program area will
support each of the five research program areas
by providing the mechanism for rapid dissemi-
nation of information to potential users. It will
focus on expanding the availability of product,
process, technological, socioeconomic, institu-
tional, and environmental problem information
that can be used to accelerate the adoption of
pollution prevention programs throughout all
sectors of society. This program will also ensure
that users have a mechanism to communicate
their needs to the Agency.
Although significant achievements in pollu-
tion prevention can be attained in any one of the
six areas, progress must be made in each area to
achieve all of the pollution prevention research
goals. As research and implementation efforts
progress, new questions and opportunities for
research will arise that cannot now be
anticipated. This research plan has been
designed to allow EPA to incorporate these new
research topics into the overall research program
and to conduct long-term research focused on
approaches to anticipate, prevent, and manage
future environmental problems.
Included in the description of each of the
research program areas is a brief listing of some
potential research topics and some specific
examples of research projects that could be
supported by the program. These examples are
illustrative of research that could be conducted
in each research program area. They do not
necessarily represent high-priority topics, nor
are they scheduled for immediate initiation.
PRODUCT RESEARCH
The focus of research efforts in this program
area is specifically on products and their
pollution burdens, as opposed to the processes
by which products are manufactured. This
research will provide the methods for con-
ducting assessments, identifying opportunities
for reducing the content of substances of
concern in all classes of products, and
facilitating the development and use of
preferable products. These efforts will be
directed both at identifying the pollutants
generated in the course of manufacturing
products and at evaluating the manner in which
products may become pollutants in the course of
their life-span.
Many environmental problems are caused by
agricultural, industrial, or consumer products
that are either misplaced in use or are discarded
without proper concern for their environmental
impacts. Because of the harmful effects ensuing
from the use, exposure to, or disposal of some
products, they have received special regulatory
attention (e.g., the handling and disposal of
pesticides, carcinogens, asbestos, and poly-
chlorinated biphenyls, and the use of ozone-
depleting chlorofluorocarbons as aerosol
propellants). Several laws empower EPA to
control the manufacture, use, and release of
certain toxic compounds (Toxic Substances
Control Act; Federal Insectide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act), solid and hazardous wastes
(Resource Conservation and Recovery Act;
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act), aquatic
nutrients and toxicants (Clean Water Act), and
atmospheric pollutants (Clean Air Act).
However, not all products that can become
pollutants are regulated effectively (e.g.,
hazardous compounds in municipal wastes,
biomedical and infectious wastes, and nonpoint
sources). Still other products are not regulated
at the federal level (e.g., plastic wrappings, bags,
and containers; most paper products; and
household garbage). Essentially all products are
potential pollutants, and it is desirable to
develop methods that reduce the pollution
impacts associated with products by ensuring
that:
Unnecessary releases and disposal of toxic or
otherwise hazardous products are eliminated
2-5
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Products are not used or discarded unneces-
sarily or in inappropriate ways
Product designs that result in the release or
disposal of hazardous or toxic materials are
eliminated, whenever possible
Toxic or otherwise harmful components are
eliminated from product formulations, when-
ever possible
Product designs that result in the generation,
release, or disposal of excessive quantities of
aquatic or atmospheric pollutants or of
excessive amounts of solid waste are
discouraged in favor of less polluting designs.
Objectives
The product research program area has the
following four objectives:
Objective 1: To establish standardized methods
for evaluating the environmental impacts of
specific products.
Identification of pollution generation
characteristics and the opportunities for
pollution prevention associated with a
product will require analysis of the entire
life cycle of the product. (A product's life
cycle includes its design, manufacture, use,
maintenance and repair, and final disposi-
tion, including potential reuse or recycling
options.) Although such analyses have been
conducted in both government and indus-
trial settings, no standardized methods or
guidelines for conducting these analyses
exist. Standardized methods for conducting
such analyses will ensure that management
decisions based on product-specific data
can be made considering all relevant factors
on a consistent basis. This effort will
include the development and use of criteria
for evaluating the generation of pollutants
associated with the life cycle of individual
products. Such criteria must have general
applicability to a broad array of products,
and they must identify the pathways by
which pollutants associated with products
may enter the environment and the envi-
ronmental effects associated with specific
levels of the pollutants. They will be vital
in conducting waste reduction or pollution
prevention assessments, evaluating specific
products to determine the total load of
pollutants associated with them, developing
priorities for promoting pollution preven-
tion programs related to products, and
stimulating state and industry programs to
reduce the environmental impacts of
products.
Objective 2: To identify and evaluate the pol-
lution generation characteristics of both
existing and new products and of changing
product-use patterns.
Little data currently exist on the pollution
impacts associated with the manufacture,
use, maintenance, repair, and disposal of
both existing and new products and shifting
product-use patterns. Product-specific
information of this type is needed to
identify opportunities for pollution pre-
vention and to compare impacts between
products that can be utilized for the same
function or application. However, data also
are needed to allow comparison of the
effects of product changes on total pollu-
tion loads (e.g., a direct reduction in a
pollutant associated with a single product
is desirable, unless it should cause an
increase in the net pollution impacts; for
example, by altering a manufacturing
process in which it is used or if its
substitute would be a pollutant of greater
concern). This information will be
especially helpful in stimulating product
substitutions that would reduce total
pollution loads. Data could be gathered
from a number of sources within the
Agency (SARA Title III, RCRA, FIFRA,
TSCA, etc.) and outside the Agency to
assist in these evaluations.
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Objective 3: To encourage private sector devel-
opment of environmentally preferable products.
Evaluation of the life cycle pollution gen-
eration characteristics of individual pro-
ducts and comparison of these character-
istics among products is expected to reveal
opportunities for modifying existing
products and for developing new, environ-
mentally preferable products. EPA will
encourage these product development
efforts, and cooperate with other govern-
ment and industry research activities, as
appropriate. In particular, EPA will seek
to build upon existing relationships with
the Departments of Agriculture, Defense,
and Energy to ensure that their research
efforts support pollution prevention
objectives.
Objective 4: To demonstrate and evaluate uses
of cost effective and environmentally pre-
ferable products.
Demonstration and evaluation of the
production and use of newly developed
products, especially as they involve
industries dominated by small businesses,
are required to ensure that products
developed on an experimental basis can
actually be produced in an economical
manner while retaining their beneficial
characteristics in pollution prevention.
EPA could encourage demonstration pro-
jects and evaluate their results using
standard methods.
The product-oriented research program will
allow basic investigations into the characteristics
of chemicals that are used or may be used as
substitutes for other manufactured and consu-
mer products. This research will be used to
identify products that are environmentally
preferable and will also consider their impacts
on energy consumption and exposure of workers
and consumers. A listing of some potential
research topics and specific projects are
presented in Exhibit 2-3 (see page 2-18).
Information generated in this program will be
made available for use by EPA program and
regional offices, other federal agencies, states,
industries, public interest groups, and citizens
through activities conducted under the
technology transfer and technical assistance
research program.
PROCESS RESEARCH
Pollution prevention efforts in this program
area will focus on identifying opportunities for
preventing pollution in industrial processes, and
on stimulating industries to develop and imple-
ment new processes that generate less pollution.
Numerous processes can generate pollutants.
These processes include many of the day-to-
day operations associated with agriculture,
mining, construction, manufacturing, transpor-
tation, wholesale and retail trade, and service
industries. Almost any activity associated with
the production of a product or the delivery of a
service represents a process that could contribute
to environmental pollution. However, to ensure
progress in risk reduction, it is important that
research efforts are focused upon processes that
are associated with the use or release of
substances of concern, excessive resource
consumption, or the production of excessive
amounts of waste. Process-oriented pollution
prevention research efforts are needed in the
following areas:
Prevention of unnecessary releases of pol-
lution
Substitution of environmentally preferable
feedstocks that yield less pollution when used
in production processes, while maintaining the
desired quality of the products produced
Development of process design alternatives to
eliminate inherently polluting processes.
Objectives
Five objectives have been developed in
support of the process research program:
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Objective 1: To develop industry-specific stan-
dardized methods for conducting process-
oriented pollution prevention opportunity
assessments.
Existing waste minimization assessment
procedures do not address the specific
characteristics of different industries.
Further, they are one-dimensional, and do
not address the multi-media effects of
wastes and pollutants. Within specific
industries, methods must be developed to
identify the kinds of pollutants and the
degree of risk associated with different
processes, including those processes
associated with production, use, repair,
maintenance, recycling, reuse, and disposal
of products of all types. EPA will identify,
evaluate, and modify existing pollution
prevention and waste minimization oppor-
tunity assessment procedures to address the
unique characteristics of non-hazardous
and hazardous wastes and pollutants in
various industries identified by Standard
Industrial Classification division codes
(agriculture, forestry, and fishing; mining;
construction; manufacturing; transporta-
tion, communications, electric, gas, and
sanitary services; wholesale trade; retail
trade; finance, insurance, and real estate;
services; and public administration) and
will produce guidelines for conducting
industry-specific pollution prevention
assessments.
Objective 2: To conduct pollution prevention
opportunity assessments in a variety of
industries.
Research is needed to identify the current
nature of both hazardous and non-
hazardous waste streams. (Data currently
available to EPA concerning the volume of
wastes and the specific content of these
wastes are from the 1981 and 1983 hazar-
dous waste surveys. These hazardous waste
data are outdated and of inconsistent qual-
ity due to differences in collection and
reporting methods. Useful data are also
contained in the SARA Toxic Release
Inventory.) Comprehensive data are
needed to assess the cumulative impacts of
pollution-generating processes on all media.
Pollution prevention assessments in a vari-
ety of industries will be used to update
data on major pollutants of concern, and
identify points in processes where these
pollutants are released or discharged, and
opportunities for reducing the loss of these
substances to the environment. These
assessments will be conducted in cooper-
ation with the industries assessed. After
assessment of several examples within an
industry, general rules for identifying the
primary pollution prevention opportunities
will be developed and made available to
businesses within the affected industry to
streamline and accelerate assessment
procedures.
Objective 3: To identify, demonstrate, and eval-
uate the effectiveness of pollution prevention
techniques associated with existing and new
processes.
Numerous businesses, industries, and gov-
ernment agencies have begun to utilize pro-
cesses designed to reduce pollution. Few
data exist to indicate the effectiveness of
these processes or their applicability to
other organizations. A comparative review
of alternative processes is needed to iden-
tify the least pollution generating of alter-
native processes that can be used to
produce, use, and maintain or manage
specific manufactured and chemical
products. In addition, as new processes for
reducing pollution are developed, it will be
necessary to demonstrate them and evaluate
their effectiveness. Promising pollution
prevention process alternatives will be
identified in various industries. Examples
could include: process modernization,
upgraded maintenance, feedstock product
substitution, spill and avoidable release
prevention, recycling and reuse options,
and waste stream concentration techniques.
In cooperation with participating states and
industries, these alternatives will be
demonstrated at plant-scale and the results
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of the demonstrations will be evaluated.
EPA also will cooperate with selected
industries to demonstrate and evaluate the
effectiveness of pilot-scale pollution
prevention processes or processes which
minimize pollution production to ensure
that they can be scaled up and still achieve
their pollution prevention objectives while
meeting requirements for product quality,
worker training, workplace safety,
production schedules, and costs. The
effectiveness of these processes and the
detailed methodologies employed will be
made available to interested industries,
government agencies, and the public.
Objective 4: To identify and stimulate cross-
industry applications of cost effective inno-
vative production and processing technologies.
A technology that is developed and utilized
effectively in one industry may have
potential pollution prevention applications
in another industry or in different sized
facilities within the same basic industry.
Retrofitting such technologies requires
identifying similarities among technologies,
modifying the technology as needed, and
implementing the transferred technology in
the recipient industry. EPA will facilitate
these activities through research to identify
cross-industry similarities and required
process modifications.
This research program will provide informa-
tion that will help identify existing low pollution
processes and will encourage private sector
development of improved pollution prevention
processes in the future. The majority of EPA's
efforts in this program will focus on identifying
process-related pollution prevention opportun-
ities, and demonstrating and evaluating
processes for reducing pollution generation.
Some potential research topics and projects are
presented in Exhibit 2-4 (see page 2-21).
RECYCLING AND REUSE RESEARCH
This program's major thrust will be in
stimulating the development of new recycling
and reuse opportunities when: (1) environmental
and health risks of toxic, hazardous, or other-
wise excessively polluting substances of concern
can be reduced, or (2) energy and material
conservation are possible.
Recovery, reuse, and recycling are important
options within the overall integrated pollution
prevention approach for reducing the volume of
wastes generated by communities, industries,
and governments, and for reducing demands on
non-renewable resources. Community recycling
programs usually involve segregation of recycl-
able municipal waste products for delivery to
regional or local recycling centers or curbside
pickup by contracted recyclers. Within industry,
recycling programs involve numerous methods
for reclaiming feedstock and waste materials for
direct reuse within production processes, recyc-
ling on-site, recycling for off-site resale or for
contribution to off-site recyclers, and exchange
of wastes as input stocks among different pro-
cesses or industries. Government recycling
opportunities include those of both communities
and of industries, in that large amounts of
recyclable paper can be made available to off-
site recycling centers, and internal reprocessing
and recycling of solvents, lubricants, and excess
feedstocks are important options for numerous
government installations.
This program will rely heavily on the results
of both the products and processes research
programs. Opportunities for capturing and
reusing or recycling waste stream materials that
are identified in the products and processes
programs will stimulate the testing and demon-
stration of new recycling and reuse technologies,
and identification of viable markets.
An integral part of the success of recycling
and reuse efforts is the availability of sustained
internal and external markets for the materials.
One of the most widespread recycling programs
in the nation, newsprint recycling, is currently
experiencing excess newsprint over the indus-
try's reprocessing capacity. Pollution prevention
research programs must therefore include
stimulation of both the supply and demand for
recycled materials.
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Objectives
Four objectives have been identified for the
recycling and reuse research program:
Objective 1: To identify and evaluate new and
innovative uses for materials that would
otherwise be disposed of as waste.
Product and process research program eval-
uations will identify numerous chemical
and manufactured substances that are
candidates for recycling or reuse. Environ-
mental and health risk analyses will be
conducted to determine the potential for
recycling or reuse of these substances in
light of product characteristics and process
requirements. It is expected that numerous
substances will be identified as candidates
for recycling or reuse. The recycling and
reuse research program will stimulate and
coordinate research into new and innova-
tive uses for these candidate substances.
This effort will have a multi-industry,
multi-product, multi-process focus, and
will not be limited to the industries that
generate the original substances of concern.
For example, options may include reusing
acid wastes from silicon processing opera-
tions as feedstocks for cleaning operations
in metal plating industries. This cross-
industry stimulation of recycling and reuse
will be intended to discover as many
alternative uses for waste products as
possible.
Objective 2: To identify, demonstrate, and
evaluate strategies to increase the use of
recycled materials in products.
Efforts will be focused upon identifying
feedstock type and quality requirements for
both existing and new products and manu-
facturing processes. This information will
be coupled with knowledge of materials
found in industrial and municipal waste
streams to identify possibilities for reusing
known waste stream substances as feed-
stocks. This program will include evalua-
ting the feedstock requirements of existing
products, stimulating the development of
new industrial or consumer products that
incorporate recycled materials, and
ensuring that newly developed products
have longer lives and enhanced recyclabil-
ity. A further emphasis of this program
will be the preparation of guidelines for
using recycled materials in production
processes.
Objective 3: To stimulate the development and
installation of additional capacity for utilizing
recycled materials.
Adequate market opportunities must exist
for recycled and previously used materials
if recycling and reuse are to thrive. This
program will include a major effort aimed
at stimulating market opportunities for
previously used materials, either for their
original purpose or as new products after
reprocessing and recycling. Mechanisms
for stimulating these market opportunities
will include support of research and
development of new product and process
designs and design modifications, use of
government/industry partnerships to test
potential products and processes, and use of
financial and technical assistance to develop
industrial processes and capacities for
manufacturing operations that employ
reused or recycled materials. Emphasis will
be placed on developing methods to over-
come barriers to expansion of existing
recycling industries (e.g., newsprint) and
developing opportunities for recycling in
industries where products are not currently
recycled (e.g., appliances).
Objective 4: To evaluate existing recycling and
reuse programs and facilitate the development
of cost effective model programs.
Community and industrial recycling
programs are vital links to increasing the
number of opportunities for use of
previously used materials in products and
processes. Such programs require planning,
coordination, and management of logistic
and financial activities to be successful.
EPA will stimulate the development of
model programs that demonstrate good
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environmental and business practices in the
collection, handling, storage, and marketing
of reusable and recyclable products. The
success of these model programs will be
evaluated and guidelines will be prepared
to assist other communities and industries
in establishing environmentally effective,
economically viable recycling and reuse
programs-
Recovery, reclamation, and reuse techniques
have been utilized for many years, and added
emphasis should be placed on these techniques
for pollution prevention. Exhibit 2-5 (see page
2-23) presents some potential research topics
and projects that could be investigated under
this program.
SOCIOECONOMIC AND INSTITUTIONAL
RESEARCH
This research includes sociology, economics,
human behavior, and the institutional conditions
that may act as incentives for or obstacles to
establishing pollution prevention programs.
Understanding in these areas is critical to the
effective nationwide implementation of pollu-
tion prevention programs.
Investigations in these areas are necessary
because waste generation and waste management
decisions are driven by numerous non-techno-
logical forces, including legal mandates, atti-
tudes, habits, incentives, and benefits. Beha-
viors represent complex patterns of activity that
are the result of numerous factors, including
habits, beliefs, knowledge, and economic pres-
sures. Behaviors may be altered when sufficient
incentive exists to change habits, abandon be-
liefs, investigate new ideas, or pursue improved
economic conditions. Perceived benefits to
individuals, groups, corporations, or industries
can motivate altered behavior in ways that
reduce waste generation or discharge. There-
fore, information about how attitudes, incen-
tives, and benefits affect behavior is a key tool
to be used in directing the development and
implementation of mechanisms for reducing the
generation of pollutants and improving the
management of waste.
The most prominent and common incentives
and disincentives affecting management
decisions are economics and regulations. The
relative economic costs and benefits of
competing options strongly influence decisions.
However, legislation or regulation may alter the
economics of decision making to promote dif-
ferent choices. For example, potential liability
for the results of waste management decisions is
a recent but powerful incentive that has fostered
pollution prevention to reduce future liability
risks.
In addition to economic costs and benefits, a
sense of public responsibility may be a factor
considered in corporate decision making, partic-
ularly as a force affecting decisions about waste
generation and management. To facilitate
socially responsible behavior, additional infor-
mation is needed to develop an understanding
of the effectiveness and potential for widespread
use of pollution prevention programs and the
public's acceptance of and expectations for these
programs. There is a need for research to sup-
port pollution prevention efforts by identifying
trends in industry, consumer behavior, market
characteristics, new product and process intro-
ductions, and changes in pollution management
conditions (e.g., landfill and recycling capacities,
air quality non-attainment, water pollution, and
disposal of hazardous wastes). Additionally,
there is a need to develop standardized tools
that allow comparative risk assessments in dif-
fering applications, quantification of all eco-
nomic costs and benefits of pollution prevention
efforts, and standardized assessments of envi-
ronmental costs and benefits of potential actions.
Objectives
Five objectives of the non-technological
research program area are presented below:
Objective 1: To understand consumer behavior
and identify effective approaches to modifying
it in consumption decisions.
Consumers (including individuals, busi-
nesses, industry, and government) make
choices about consumption and use based
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on a multitude of different inputs--infor-
mation, beliefs, and desires. Ultimately,
success of pollution prevention efforts
depends upon consumers altering their
behavior to select environmentally prefer-
able services and products that have been
manufactured in pollution prevention ori-
ented processes, using recycled or reused
materials wherever possible. In some
instances, lack of consumer information or
fear of inadequate quality may prevent
acceptance of products manufactured by
pollution prevention processes. Research
efforts are needed to ensure the applica-
bility and quality of pollution preventing
products and to stimulate their acceptance
by all types of consumers. This program
will support efforts to develop markets for
products through research directed at
information needs, consumer attitudes,
quality requirements, and market
acceptance.
Objective 2: To identify and assess incentives
that may increase and obstacles that may
inhibit implementation of pollution prevention
measures.
Under this program, EPA will sponsor and
conduct research to investigate the costs of
pollution prevention and identify the levels
of environmental and economic benefit that
can result from effective programs. Since
the economics of pollution prevention are
only beginning to be elucidated, the results
of this program will provide a means for
waste generators to make more informed,
voluntary choices about the kinds of pol-
lution prevention programs that are of the
greatest benefit for their specific situations.
EPA will analyze several industries of dif-
ferent sizes to determine the effect of
incentives on pollution prevention efforts.
As part of this effort, EPA could develop
model pollution prevention programs for
application in different industries and
different levels of government.
The costs of waste treatment and disposal
are well documented. However, with the
exception of some data from narrowly
focused programs, surprisingly few data
exist about the economic or environmental
costs or benefits of pollution prevention
and waste minimization as alternatives to
treatment and disposal. Few extensive
programs are in operation and few data are
available about actual gains that have been
achieved when pollution prevention is
practiced. In addition, little documenta-
tion exists as to the effectiveness of
existing regulations in promoting pollution
prevention. Although some pollution pre-
vention programs do exist, it has not been
determined what incentives have stimulated
the establishment of these programs or
which regulations have had significant
impacts on the design and success of estab-
lished programs. These issues must be
understood if future efforts are to be
successful in establishing effective
pollution prevention activities in the
consumer, manufacturing, and government
sectors.
Objective 3: To identify and assess the effec-
tiveness of existing and new pollution
prevention approaches.
A key to focusing EPA pollution preven-
tion efforts is understanding where pol-
lution prevention efforts have had an
impact and where they have failed. Analy-
ses of alternative pollution prevention
strategies have not been conducted in a
concerted, organized manner. There is a
need to identify and assess the effectiveness
of existing pollution prevention programs
and the characteristics of the institutions
where they are established. Research on
pollution prevention strategies is needed to
ensure that existing and newly planned
programs use financial and human
resources wisely in implementing success-
ful, momentum-building pollution preven-
tion programs. A need exists to establish
baseline criteria for effective pollution
prevention programs, identify character-
istics of effective programs, identify
unique characteristics of specific industrial,
legislative, and regulatory environments
that alter the effectiveness of pollution
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prevention programs, identify methods that
have been used to alter institutional inertia,
and document the overall effectiveness of
specific programs in achieving pollution
prevention objectives. The information
developed in these analyses will be useful
in planning new pollution prevention strat-
egies and improving existing pollution pre-
vention programs. In addition, research is
needed to determine the effectiveness of
various information and education pro-
grams conducted by state and local organi-
zations, industries, and public interest
groups to alter consumption and use pat-
terns. Some of this research could be
focused on determining the conditions that
favor successful outreach and education
programs and that develop positive com-
munity involvement in pollution prevention
activities.
Objective 4: To identify and assess trends in
consumption and use patterns and pollution
generation.
New analytical tools and supplemental data
are needed to identify trends in consump-
tion and use patterns. This research
program will support the development of
these tools and data, and attempt to identify
significant changes in economic conditions
and pollutant generation. These tools and
data will be developed in cooperation with
state and local governments and industries.
Consumption of industrial feedstocks, busi-
ness materials and supplies, and consumer
products and service materials respond to
changing availability of specific products
and evolving tastes and desires of the users.
For pollution prevention programs to
remain effective, a knowledge of national,
regional, and local trends in consumption
and usage of materials that may become
pollutants will be required. Changes in
regional economics and social conditions
(such as have occurred in the Silicon
Valley, or population growth and urbani-
zation that are occurring on both coasts) are
accompanied by changes in the need for
and availability of numerous technologies
and infrastructural capabilities for sup-
plying, handling, and using materials that
can become pollutants. However, existing
data are not readily useful in identifying
trends, due to lack of uniformity resulting
from the manner of their collection and the
purpose for which they were collected.
These data were collected under media-
specific programs and covered limited
substances of concern, which varied from
medium to medium.
Objective 5: To quantify the potential of pollu-
tion prevention practices for maximizing
pollution reduction.
To enable planners and managers to place
the evaluative information developed in
this program area in context and to assist
them further in targeting pollution preven-
tion efforts, EPA will conduct research to
quantify the potential for pollution preven-
tion in various sectors, including agricul-
tural, commercial, industrial, residential,
and governmental. These data are needed
to support efforts to manage and prioritize
research efforts, to determine the infor-
mation needs of potential users, and to
assess the effectiveness of pollution pre-
vention programs at meeting these needs.
Collection of these data will rely upon the
industry-specific procedures for assessing
pollution prevention opportunities that will
be developed in the product and process
research program areas. Additional meth-
ods will be designed to estimate the
potential impact of various technological,
operational, and regulatory approaches.
EPA's 1986 Report to Congress on the
Minimization of Hazardous Wastes
estimated that RCRA wastes could be
reduced by 33 percent. To refine this
estimate and develop estimates for other
areas, it will be necessary to compile
information on the best available practices
for use in various pollution prevention
applications. Additional research will be
needed to conduct detailed evaluations of
various industrial sectors to refine and
validate data collection and evaluation tools
prior to their release for widespread use.
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Socioeconomic and institutional research
program activities are essential elements of the
overall research program. They allow the
evaluation of information about social and
economic conditions that impact the effective-
ness of technological pollution prevention
programs. In addition, they will provide data
that can be used in planning and implementing
industry-specific pollution prevention programs
and to stimulate effective outreach and educa-
tion programs. Exhibit 2-6 (see page 2-25)
presents some potential research topics and some
example projects in socioeconomic and institu-
tional research.
ANTICIPATORY RESEARCH
Three major areas of long-term research that
are essential to a comprehensive pollution
prevention research program are:
Anticipating and responding to emerging
environmental issues and using pollution
prevention approaches to mitigate these issues.
Evaluating emerging technologies for their
potential contribution to pollution prevention
and stimulating those that are preferable to
existing technologies.
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Agency's
pollution prevention research in meeting
changing user information needs.
The ability to anticipate emerging environ-
mental issues and respond quickly in an appro-
priate manner requires a well-developed
environmental research program that tracks
changes in major environmental conditions and
economic activity. This research program area
could represent a sustained commitment to a
small number of research efforts and groups that
are a vital infrastructure needed to respond to
emerging pollution prevention issues. Activities
in this area may include monitoring and evalua-
ting technologies, environmental conditions, and
business conditions to detect trends of impor-
tance in pollution prevention, and stimulating
research that has direct or indirect prevention
potential. Analysis of the implications of
emerging innovative technologies and investiga-
tions to enhance the benefits or broaden the use
of existing technologies promise substantial pol-
lution prevention benefits. For example, the
accelerated application of computers, process
control technology, and automation can greatly
reduce the overuse of chemicals, the production
of unwanted.toxic byproducts, and the genera-
tion of wastes. In textile dying, automated
systems to rapidly change textile patterns may
greatly reduce excess batch make-up dye wastes
that are associated with conventional manufac-
turing. Another example is represented by the
sustained research commitment that was success-
ful in developing a dry powder coating technol-
ogy that may reduce volatile emissions from
conventional paint operations. However, this
technology is beginning to emerge as a viable
alternative only after a many year effort to
develop this new technology for paint applica-
tion and curing. Such a long-term commitment
to pursuing wholely new approaches to pro-
viding specific products and services is essential
to a comprehensive pollution prevention pro-
gram.
Objectives
The innovative research for future environ-
mental problems program area has two objec-
tives:
Objective 1: To identify and explore emerging
technologies and patterns in resource use and
disposal that have long-term implications for
the nation's programs in pollution prevention.
EPA will establish a program that will
monitor major categories of resource con-
sumption, waste disposal, recycling expan-
sion, manufacturing technology innovation,
and emerging environmental issues. Exam-
ples of topics that may be included in this
program are: monitoring trends in consu-
mer behavior, evaluating the effects photo-
voltaic and fusion power generation
impacts may have on global and national
pollution loadings, developing integrated
systems of advanced pollution prevention
techniques that incorporate source reduc-
tion, recycling, and treatment processes
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into comprehensive pollution prevention
strategies for selected industries, and
developing methods to reduce the gener-
ation of biomedical and infectious wastes.
Included in this research program could
also be workshops that bring together
visionary researchers in appropriate dis-
ciplines to identify emerging trends in
resource consumption, use, and disposal
and to discuss the implications of these
trends for pollution prevention efforts.
Objective 2: To evaluate the effectiveness of the
Agency's research program in meeting chang-
ing user information needs.
To ensure that the Agency's research
program is meeting the needs of various
users, a long-term research area will be
created to identify and assess, on a con-
tinuing basis, user information needs and
the efficiency of EPA's research programs
in meeting these needs. This activity is
essential to ensure that research efforts
focus on important issues that may not be
addressed by other sectors of society. The
Agency will develop standard methods to
assess the effectiveness of current research
programs in meeting the information needs
they were intended to fulfill. The results
of these evaluations could be documented
to allow their use as educational or tech-
nology transfer source material. Addition-
ally, research activities could identify
changing needs of various users and
develop new strategies or approaches to
address these changing needs. Also, eval-
uations could be conducted on a continuing
basis to identify current and emerging
environmental problems and promising pol-
lution prevention research opportunities
that could ameliorate these problems.
This research program area provides for
investigation of emerging issues to ensure that
EPA's pollution prevention research program
remains comprehensive and capable of addres-
sing future pollution prevention challenges. It
gives EPA the opportunity to respond to
emerging topics of concern or to ideas that
promise to beneficially impact pollution
prevention programs, by enabling discretionary
investigation of topics that promise long-term
benefits. This research program also enables
EPA to determine the effectiveness of its pol-
lution prevention research efforts in meeting
user information needs, identifying changing
needs, and redirecting the Agency's research
efforts to better meet old needs and address new
needs. Exhibit 2-7 (see page 2-28) presents
some potential research topic areas, and some
example research projects for the innovative
research program area.
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
Technology transfer and technical assistance
are essential components of EPA's research
efforts in pollution prevention. To a great
extent, the success of a national program to
encourage the development and adoption of
new, more environmentally acceptable produc-
tion processes and products depends on the
quality and effectiveness of the information
dissemination programs utilized. Information
obtained as a result of the product, process, and
recycling and reuse research programs will be
assembled, summarized, and distributed in for-
mats designed to meet the specific needs of the
intended users as part of the technology transfer
and technical assistance program. An efficient
approach for collecting, organizing, and distrib-
uting data on substances of concern, production
processes, and pollution prevention programs is
needed. To do this job effectively requires
identification of the types of data needed about
specific industries, processes, and products, and
of the audiences that need the information.
Objectives
The technology transfer and technical
assistance program has the following four
objectives:
Objective 1: To stimulate the use of pollution
prevention opportunity assessments in all
pollution-generating activities.
An active outreach and technology transfer
program is needed to stimulate widespread
2-15
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use of pollution prevention opportunity
assessments of the production, release, or
disposal of potential pollutants and wastes.
Widespread use of these assessments will
foster development of new pollution pre-
vention activities in diverse industrial,
agricultural, and consumer-oriented
operation. This program will consist of two
major components:
Developing and disseminating "how to"
guidelines for conducting pollution
prevention assessments.
Providing training and technical assis-
tance in conducting pollution preven-
tion opportunity assessments and in
using the information generated to
develop pollution prevention programs.
Objective 2: To expand the Pollution Prevention
Information Clearinghouse to encompass
additional, multi-media pollution prevention
functions.
EPA is developing the Pollution Prevention
Information Clearinghouse (described in
greater detail in Exhibit 2-8 on page 2-30)
to collect and disseminate technical,
legislative, programmatic, and statistical
information on source reduction and recyc-
ling to various groups. In addition to the
Pollution Prevention Information Clearing-
house (PPIC), EPA is assessing the use of
other clearinghouse networks for specific
environmental problems. The PPIC was
originally intended to focus primarily on
hazardous materials, but it will be expand-
ed and broadened as part of this program
to include pollution prevention information
applicable to air pollutants, water pol-
lutants, and additional non-hazardous
substances of concern. Included will be
technical data, information sources, case
studies, program descriptions, guidelines
and procedures for conducting pollution
prevention opportunity assessments, trend
data, directories of personnel working in
pollution prevention, and waste exchange
and recycling information. Access to the
clearinghouse will be available to federal
and state agencies, as well as to industries
and trade associations, universities, public
interest groups, and community or citizen
organizations.
Objective 3: To provide technical assistance to
other federal agencies, states, local govern-
ments, industries, and citizens in implementing
pollution prevention efforts.
Technical assistance is needed by many
agencies, organizations, and individuals to
implement effective pollution prevention
programs. EPA will provide this assistance
by conducting training sessions in pollution
prevention strategies and approaches for
government, industry, and citizen group
representatives. These sessions will include
guidance in evaluating pollution generation,
identifying recycling markets for recovered
materials, and improving maintenance and
repair programs and operating efficiencies.
Information generated in each of the
research program areas will be made avail-
able to potential users, as appropriate, and
technical personnel will be made available
to assist in training programs and in evalu-
ating especially complex situations and
opportunities for cross-industry coopera-
tion in pollution prevention. Included in
this effort could be a program designed to
contact top-level managers from govern-
ment and industry to facilitate establishing
pollution prevention programs throughout
their organizations.
Objective 4: To support general and industry-
specific information exchange via conferences
and seminars in international, national, and
regional settings.
EPA will sponsor information exchange via
technical conferences, seminars, and work-
shops on pollution prevention. These
activities will range from supporting com-
munity-based workshops intended to stim-
ulate pollution prevention program devel-
lopment, to international colloquia on
detailed technical issues that address
advances in scientific and engineering
knowledge about pollution prevention.
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Technology transfer and technical assistance dissemination of these results to all sectors of
represent the most visible non-regulatory con- society. Several potential activities will
tact between EPA and most organizations that comprise this program. Some potential topic
can become involved in pollution prevention. areas and some example projects in technology
This program activity is vital to the effective transfer and technical assistance are presented
utilization of research results, in that it in Exhibit 2-9 (see page 2-31).
will form the primary pathway for broad-scale
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EXHIBIT 2-3
PRODUCT RESEARCH PROGRAM
POTENTIAL RESEARCH TOPICS AND SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLES
Establish standard methods for evaluating the pollution impacts of products
- develop criteria for product-related pollution assessments
develop a multi-industry model for conducting product-specific life cycle analyses
- develop methods for assessing the pollution loadings associated with complex
manufactured products (e.g., automobiles, appliances, computers)
develop criteria for evaluating the fundamental characteristics of chemical products to
predict pollution loads
develop methods for incorporating energy conservation, worker safety, and consumer
safety aspects of products into standard evaluation methods.
Identify and evaluate pollution impacts of existing and new products and of changing use
patterns
- assess specific products to determine their total pollution burdens and the means by which
these burdens are generated
- classify products, functions, and pollution management options (see Rating the Transfer
Efficiency of Paint Application Equipment example, following page)
evaluate alternative fuels for specific applications
evaluate the indoor air pollution impacts of various household products
evaluate the uncertainties of the use of biodegradable polymers for consumer products
evaluate substitutes for toxic materials in consumer products (see Identification and
Evaluation of Lead and Cadmium Substitutes in Plastics example, following page).
Encourage private sector development of environmentally preferable products
- .evaluate methods for eliminating polluting residuals from products prior to distribution
analyze methods to alter or substitute products to reduce their content of substances of
concern, such as: volatile organics, toxics, and aquatic nutrients (see Aerosol Evaluation
example, following page)
analyze fundamental properties of chemicals that may serve as desirable substitutes for
polluting chemicals
evaluate the use of bulk storage facilities to reduce the number of pesticide containers
requiring disposal
evaluate composite materials as substitutes for metals in products
- evaluate methods to overcome technological barriers to substitutes
- encourage the development of pesticide formulations that facilitate the removal of
pesticide residues from containers.
Demonstrate and evaluate uses of cost effective and environmentally preferable products
- demonstrate specific applications of biodegradable polymers
- demonstrate expanded uses for dry powder coatings
evaluate expanded use of low-CFC residual foam products as replacements for less
desirable insulation products.
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EXHIBIT 2-3 (continued)
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Rating the Transfer Efficiency of Paint Application Equipment
EPA has conducted research that permits the accurate measurement of the transfer efficiency
of painting systems. Transfer efficiency is defined as the ratio of the quantity of paint sprayed
from a paint gun to the amount adhering to the product surface. As transfer efficiency increases,
the quantity of VOC pollution decreases due to a decrease in paint overspray. The development
of this accurate measurement method for defining the painting efficiency of different systems has
created incentives to improve the efficiency of these systems. Based on these initial studies, EPA
could work cooperatively with industry to develop uniform criteria for rating paint application
equipment and in developing more efficient paint application products.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Identification and Evaluation of Lead and Cadmium
Substitutes in Plastics
Minimizing the amount of toxic materials, such as lead and cadmium, in the municipal solid
waste (MSW) stream enhances the safety of recycling and reduces the risk of exposure to these
chemicals. Both lead and cadmium are present in variable quantities in many common products
and have been found in high concentrations in municipal waste combustor ash and leachate from
municipal solid waste landfills. Lead and cadmium are added to plastics as stabilizers and pigments
in resins. In 1986, the MSW stream contained approximately 213,000 tons of lead and 1,800 tons
of cadmium. Of the combustibles in the MSW stream, 71 percent of the lead comes from plastics
and 24 percent from pigments; while 88 percent of the cadmium comes from plastics and 11
percent from pigments.
Research is needed to: (1) identify possible substitutes for lead and cadmium in plastics and
pigments, (2) determine if these substitutes are environmentally preferable to lead and cadmium,
and (3) evaluate the impact of these substitutes on product performance and cost. This research
project could contribute significantly to the reduction of lead and cadmium in the MSW stream,
thus reducing the concentrations of these toxic metals released into the environment.
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EXHIBIT 2-3 (continued)
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Aerosol Evaluation
A need exists to evaluate the continued contribution of aerosol products to stratospheric ozone
protection and ozone nonattainment problems. Integrated research could be conducted to identify
the chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and volatile organic compound (VOC) content of various aerosol
products. (CFCs contribute to stratospheric ozone depletion. They are found in certain aerosol
products that were exempted from a 1978 EPA ban, and are still used to a large extent in aerosols
made in other countries. VOCs, found in numerous aerosol products, contribute to ozone
formation in the troposphere.) Initial research activities could gather available information on the
present-day contents of various aerosol products. Follow-on work could investigate alternatives
to aerosol formulations and dispensing systems which may reduce the consumption and emissions
of both VOCs and CFCs. Exempted uses of CFC aerosol propellants could be reviewed to evaluate
whether or not they should remain exempt from the EPA ban. Successful completion of this effort
should generate information needed to reduce or eliminate problem CFC and VOC emissions to the
environment by replacing them in aerosol products and by providing information for use by
program offices, federal and state agencies, and other countries in reducing emissions of these
compounds. This can significantly contribute to alleviating two major environmental problems:
stratospheric ozone depletion and ozone nonattainment.
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EXHIBIT 2-4
PROCESS RESEARCH PROGRAM
POTENTIAL RESEARCH TOPICS AND SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLES
Develop standardized pollution prevention opportunity assessment procedures
identify and evaluate waste minimization assessment procedures for specific industries
evaluate various industries to identify similar pollution prevention opportunities
identify feedstock quality requirements for various processes
- develop guidelines for conducting pollution prevention assessments
expand the existing WRITE program's pollution prevention opportunity assessment
procedures to address non-hazardous waste and pollution generation processes
develop analytical and computerized analysis tools to identify a wide array of pollutants
in waste streams
investigate packaging alternatives and their impacts on pollution loading.
Conduct pollution prevention opportunity assessments in a variety of industries
inventory input streams to processes and streams where pollutants are generated
- identify fundamental characteristics of alternative feedstock products and their effects on
processes
inventory waste stream components and identify where each enters the waste stream
- evaluate leaks, drips, spills, and excess usage in liquid and gas streams
characterize biomedical wastes and identify opportunities to reduce the quantities of
contaminated and infectious waste requiring treatment and disposal.
Assess the effectiveness of pollution prevention methods associated with existing and new
processes
review patent literature to identify the least polluting of alternative production processes
for specific chemicals or manufactured products
evaluate in-process methods for collection and recovery of pollutants (see Technology
Research for Small Businesses in Metal Finishing example, following page)
evaluate methods for eliminating polluting residuals created during the manufacture of
products (see Still Bottoms Reprocessing example, following page)
evaluate models and control systems for cooling towers
evaluate alternatives to solvents for paint stripping and solids transport
evaluate microchip cleaning methods
evaluate increased automation of small scale processes, such as plating lines
evaluate low maintenance items such as gasketless magnetic pumps
investigate technologies to enhance emergency spill prevention methods and equipment
evaluate the use of soft abrasives (e.g., plastic beads, sodium bicarbonate) in paint and
coatings removal processes
evaluate processes for minimizing the use of volatile organic compounds in production of
insulating foam
- evaluate pilot-scale continuous feed processes for dying fabrics to reduce dye lot wastes
associated with batch processes.
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EXHIBIT 2-4 (continued)
Stimulate cross-industry applications of cost effective innovative technologies
assess the potential of pharmaceutical separation processes for applications in the
electroplating industry
- stimulate the use of unit operations analysis and management approaches in appropriate
industries
- evaluate precious metals cleaning processes for use in semiprecious metals and
semiconductor cleaning processes.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Technology Research for Small Businesses in Metal Finishing
The metal fabrication industry produces a significant percentage of hazardous wastes
generated by small manufacturers in this country, through such operations as metal cutting,
grinding, cleaning and degreasing, and painting. This research program would be designed to
encourage the industry to develop pollution prevention options in this sector. This would include
such areas as filtration to improve the life of cutting oils, material substitution of lime or borax
soaps for polluting lubricating oils, development of water based or greaseless binders, development
of water based rather than chlorinated solvents, substitution of high solids or dry powder coatings
for solvent based coating processes, and non-liquid technologies such as soft abrasives for paint
and enamel stripping. These process changes could substantially decrease the generation of
deleterious gaseous and liquid wastes.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Still Bottoms Reprocessing
"Still bottoms" from the manufacture of industrial chemicals is one of the major contributors
to contamination in the soil and water around existing and abandoned small and large
manufacturing facilities. Still bottoms are the complex tarry residues that remain in the reactors
in the manufacture of a wide variety of chemical products. A specific example would be still
bottoms waste from the manufacturing processes for vinyl chloride, chlorophenols, and
chlorobenzenes.
Rather than treating and discharging still bottoms, changes in the manufacturing process for
some chemicals could be modified to alter and use the waste within a closed-loop system. This
program would encourage private sector research on methods such as:
Chlorolysis, in which hyperchlorination of the still bottoms could be used to generate
products such as carbonyl chloride and hydrogen chloride.
Developing high efficiency resource recovery systems designed to recover heat and
hydrochloric acid from still bottoms.
Research results from this proposed project would develop basic data which small as well as
large manufacturers could employ to design and retrofit their manufacturing operations.
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EXHIBIT 2-5
RECYCLING AND REUSE RESEARCH PROGRAM
POTENTIAL RESEARCH TOPICS AND SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLES
Identify and evaluate new and innovative uses for materials that would otherwise be disposed
of as waste
identify opportunities to use waste acids and bases and volatile organic compounds as
feedstocks in products and processes
- identify opportunities to create new products or new processes for making existing
products using wastes from multiple sources (e.g., ammonia sulfate fertilizer from off-
gassing ammonia and sulfuric acid wastes)
evaluate mechanisms for recovering usable components of complex products (e.g.,
appliances, automobiles, computers, batteries)
evaluate the development of re-polymerized plastics for use in the manufacture of
insulating foams (see Chemical Recycling of Plastics example, following page)
evaluate new uses for incinerator ash, air pollution control device residues, and "bottoms"
from manufacturing and waste processing technologies.
Develop strategies to increase the use of recycled materials in products
compare materials in waste streams against feedstock needs and feedstock quality
requirements for product manufacturing operations
evaluate altering government procurement specifications to give preference to recycled
materials
investigate the effects of paper coatings and coating removal technologies on the
recyclability of paper products.
Stimulate the development of additional capacity for using recycled materials
evaluate improved waste stream segregation technologies in residential, corporate, and
industrial settings (e.g., compartmentalized bins, trucks, and storage facilities)
- investigate options to increase capacity for use of recyclable materials (see New Newsprint
Manufacturing Technologies example, following page)
investigate options to increase market opportunities for products containing recycled
materials
evaluate improved storage and supply stream management methods to provide constant,
reliable sources of recycled materials or feedstocks
evaluate new markets for waste streams currently considered to be too contaminated for
recycling (e.g., glossy paper, enameled steel)
evaluate new production technologies that use high percentages of recycled material as
feedstocks
examine options for returning and refilling pesticide containers for reuse.
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EXHIBIT 2-5 (continued)
Evaluate existing recycling and reuse programs and facilitate development of cost effective
model programs
- improve and demonstrate in-house waste segregation methods for domestic, office, and
industrial applications
establish broad-scale pilot programs to use waste materials in construction materials
evaluate alternative methods for applying municipal sludges as fertilizer, using adequate
monitoring to identify total impacts of sludge disposal
- evaluate risks associated with different recycling processes and programs
- demonstrate new and innovative equipment and techniques for separating recyclable
materials.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Chemical Recycling of Plastics
Seven and one-half percent of the volume of all municipal solid waste is now composed of
plastic material. In 1987, the U.S. public discarded over 22 billion pounds of plastics and the
figures are expected to rise to 38 billion pounds by the year 2000. The trend in industry to cope
with this problem is to emphasize the expansion of reclamation based on mechanical methods of
reusing plastics, such as molding and extrusion. Because the technology in mechanical recycling
of plastics is already well understood, there is no need for EPA research in this area. However,
research could be well warranted in the chemical recycling of plastic materials.
The concept of chemical recycling entails the use of chemical means to break plastics down
to their original components which are then re-polymerized to form new polymer compositions.
Recent scientific studies have indicated that through a catalytic reaction with diethylene glycol,
polyester resins are broken down into short-chain polyols. When these polyols are reacted with
polyisocyanates and other material, they can be converted into rigid polyurethane foam. This
example is just one indication of the range of possibilities for chemical recycling of the wide range
of plastics. There are many opportunities for EPA to encourage private sector research that would
significantly contribute to pollution prevention and material conservation.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
New Newsprint Manufacturing Technologies
In The Solid Waste Dilemma: An Agenda for Action, EPA indicated the need for improving
the nation's ability to recycle paper and paperboard to meet national solid waste reduction targets.
A perceived barrier to increasing the recycling rate for recovered paper is that new paper products
are made almost exclusively in very large mills that were designed to accommodate virgin pulp.
At the current time, the supply of newsprint and paperboard for recycling exceeds the capacity of
these paper mills to use recycled materials, resulting in a glut of recyclable paper on the market.
Additionally, very little construction of new paper making facilities is being undertaken, due to
numerous factors, including the difficulty of obtaining adequate water supplies, environmental
controls on emissions and water quality, and the massive scale of current paper making
technologies. Research could evaluate clean, small-scale paper making processes that are designed
to utilize recycled paper as the primary feedstock. Such paper making technologies could have a
significant effect on increasing the recycling rate for recovered newsprint by reducing problems
currently besetting the newsprint recycling industry: limited capacity for utilizing reclaimed
newsprint, and lack of construction of increased capacity.
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EXHIBIT 2-6
SOCIOECONOMIC AND INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAM
POTENTIAL RESEARCH TOPICS AND SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLES
Understand consumer behavior and identify effective approaches to modifying it in
consumption decisions
establish a system for ranking the qualities (e.g., life span, life cycle pollution load) of
alternative products
evaluate marketing approaches for products produced through pollution prevention
processes
identify consumer attitudes, beliefs, and needs related to environmentally preferable
products and services.
identify current market forces that effect pollution related decisions
assess methods to develop public support for pollution prevention.
Identify and assess incentives that may increase and obstacles that may inhibit implementation
of pollution prevention measures
investigate resource management strategies and their impacts on pollution generating
activities
analyze incentives associated with state agency directed pollution prevention programs
develop industry-specific environmental and economic cost benefit analysis procedures
and guidelines
evaluate model corporate pollution prevention programs that utilize comprehensive
pollution and waste accounting procedures, training, and internal publicity
analyze incentives that have stimulated specific pollution prevention programs in selected
industries
identify and evaluate economic, legal, regulatory, and institutional conditions that restrict
the development of new or innovative products, processes, or recycling technologies and
programs (see Identification of Institutional and Regulatory Barriers to Increasing
Recycling and Reuse of Materials, and Identification and Resolution of Military
Specifications to Reduce Pollution Generation examples, following pages)
investigate methods to increase the willingness of consumers to use recycled products and
products that require less disposal of packaging materials
investigate methods to increase the willingness of industry, government, and consumers
to participate in source separation and recycling programs
evaluate the effect of "cradle-to-grave" liability on the implementation of effective waste
exchange programs.
Assess the effectiveness of pollution prevention approaches
develop a consensus based agency-wide standardized risk assessment methodology for use
in comparative risk evaluations in all industrial, government, and consumer applications
evaluate the effectiveness of state-wide pollution prevention programs (e.g., the
Minnesota Technical Assistance Program, North Carolina's Pollution Prevention Pays
program)
- evaluate corporate management and infrastructure characteristics in industries where
effective pollution programs exist
- evaluate the effectiveness of EPA's pollution prevention programs
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EXHIBIT 2-6 (continued)
- evaluate the effectiveness of pollution prevention programs in other countries to identify
successful practices and approaches
- develop industry-specific standardized criteria for evaluating pollution prevention
effectiveness
evaluate the effectiveness of corporate pollution prevention programs (e.g., 3M
Corporation's Pollution Prevention Pays program)
- identify and evaluate consumer-oriented pollution prevention programs
- identify and assess pollution prevention programs that are designed to reduce non-point
sources of pollution (e.g., watershed and aquifier management programs, agricultural non-
point runoff control programs).
Assess trends in consumption/use patterns and pollution generation
- identify and evaluate trends in water use and energy consumption
- develop statistical trend detection tools to be used with EPA data and data from the
Departments of Commerce, Interior, Labor, and Agriculture, and the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration, and from industrial, state, and local sources
assess data collected under RCRA, CERCLA, TSCA, FIFRA, CWA, and CAA to
determine trends in use of specific substances
consolidate and assess existing data on pollution generation to determine the effectiveness
of pollution prevention approaches.
Quantify the potential of pollution prevention practices for maximizing pollution reduction
- evaluate current levels of pollution generation
design methodologies to assess pollution prevention by the industrial sector
quantify the potential for effective pollution prevention practices (see Quantifying the
Potential of Pollution Prevention example, following page).
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Identification of Institutional and Regulatory Barriers
to Increasing Recycling and Reuse of Materials
Awareness of recycling and reuse opportunities for many commonly used products (e.g.,
newspaper, glass, scrap metal) has existed for several decades. However, the industrial
infrastructures have not been developed to support large-scale, high-volume recycling. Although
some studies were conducted in the 1970s to evaluate the role of incentives in recycling,
contemporary research is needed to determine the degree to which economic factors (e.g., tax
inequities that favor virgin materials), regulatory constraints (e.g., unfavorable permitting or safety
standards), and economic conditions (e.g., market uncertainty) continue to limit growth in this
field. Successful identification of these barriers may lead to changes that will attract venture
capital and stimulate growth in this industry. Specific investigations in this project could include
evaluations of the effects of barriers and incentives at both micro- and macro-scales. For
example, a micro-scale analysis of the effectiveness of user charges and "bottle bills" could be
conducted for definable geographic areas (e.g., cities, states). Macro-scale analysis could include
evaluations of the approaches taken in other countries to identify and overcome barriers to
effective recycling and reuse. This project could significantly increase recycling and reuse of
materials by both the public and private sectors.
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EXHIBIT 2-6 (continued)
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Identification and Resolution of Military
Specifications to Reduce Pollution Generation
Military specifications often become defacto world standards. This is due to the enormity of
usage by the military, the regard of U.S. military procedures as state-of-the-art, and the use by
foreign agencies of military specifications for civilian applications. This influence can be utilized
to improve environmental conditions by rewriting military specifications to allow development and
use of environmentally superior alternatives. For example, CFC-113 is widely used by the military
and some industries as a cleaning solvent. The Department of Defense has agreed to change from
prescriptive specifications to specifications based on performance, which will allow the use of any
cleaning process that provides acceptable cleaning effectiveness. As a result, expanded use of
ozone-safe aqueous cleaners and other no-clean solutions are allowed. Other military
specifications that also need to be changed include the use of virgin solvents, specifications for
corrosion-proofing agents, paint type and quality for specific applications, and numerous other
specifications related to cleaning products, processes, and machinery maintenance. EPA could
work with the DOD to identify and alter military specifications that unnecessarily require the use
of toxic, hazardous, or high volume wastes. Military specifications that take into account pollution
prevention could significantly reduce the amount of solid and hazardous wastes generated.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Quantifying the Potential of Pollution Prevention
In the process of setting industry-specific environmental standards, EPA has developed a
substantial body of procedures for assessing waste generating processes and setting discharge limits
for them. This same type of expertise can be used to evaluate the current level of pollution
generation both within industry and elsewhere, and quantify the potential impact of "best available
pollution reduction practices" under a variety of scenarios that would take into account resource
availability, standard industry operating procedures, regulatory settings, the degree of hazard posed
by particular waste streams, and state-of-the-art of current technologies. This research could
benefit EPA and other entities concerned with preventing pollution by identifying those industries
and other sectors of the economy with the greatest potential for achieving significant reductions
in pollution generation.
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EXHIBIT 2-7
ANTICIPATORY RESEARCH PROGRAM
POTENTIAL RESEARCH TOPICS AND SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLES
Identify and explore emerging technologies and patterns in resource use and disposal
investigate implications of increasing computerization on waste production
- conduct a top-down analysis of the technical feasibility of fuel reallocation options (see
Hydrogen-Rich Volatile Shift example, following page)
- evaluate the pollution prevention implications of alternative energy sources, such as solar
space heating, solar photovoltaics, and fusion
- evaluate new strategies for integrated pollution prevention and advanced treatment (e.g.,
incineration) for municipal waste management
evaluate alternative strategies for reducing the generation of medical and infectious
wastes
- evaluate the use of robotic manufacturing as a potential new technology and understand
its pollution generation implications
evaluate on a multi-industry basis the overall or net pollution reduction which occurs
with individual plant changes
monitor the development of new composites as structural materials for products (e.g.,
carbon filters) to instill pollution prevention alternatives
examine biotechnology alternatives for chemical synthesis as an alternative to existing
chemical manufacturing processes
assess waste reduction in new specialty steel and other mature industries as they find areas
in which future growth can be internationally competitive
evaluate diamond surfaces as an alternative for lubrication and as a new electronics
material in which wastes might be low
sponsor workshops among researchers in specific disciplines to explore the pollution
prevention implications of identified trends in industrial, economic, and environmental
issues.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the research program in meeting changing user information
needs
- consolidate existing data on pollution generation and pollution prevention to document
progress to date as fully as possible
identify gaps in existing data that must be filled to achieve a comprehensive picture of
progress in pollution prevention
determine the effectiveness of current research in meeting user information needs (see
Survey Protocol for Industrial Waste Generators example, following page)
identify changes in user information needs
identify information gaps that are not addressed by existing research projects
modify research strategies to address new user information needs
evaluate current and emerging environmental problem areas with the aim of identifying
promising pollution prevention research opportunities.
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EXHIBIT 2-7 (continued)
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Hydrogen-Rich Volatile Shift
A Top-Down Pollution Prevention Strategy Using Alternative Fuels
A very large portion of atmospheric volatile organic emissions result from the storage,
transportation, marketing, and use of gasoline in motor vehicles and small engines. Additionally,
NOX, SOX, and PM 10 emissions result from combustion of dirty fuels in stationary sources (e.g.,
industrial boilers), which requires application of control measures to reduce these emissions. An
emission prevention strategy that involves shifting hydrogen-rich volatile fuels to non-emitting
uses has the potential to reduce several major local and global air pollution problems. This top-
down strategy is aimed at optimizing emission prevention by shifting hydrogen-rich volatiles from
gasoline to high-efficiency stationary combustion sources that need clean fuels to reduce emissions.
This hydrogen-rich volatile shift (HRVS) will also reduce carbon dioxide emissions where heavier
carbonaceous fuels are displaced. The HRVS prevention strategy includes reducing volatiles and
incorporating oxygenate extenders (such as methyl tertiary butyl ether) in gasoline, using methanol
in heavy duty vehicles, and using non-polluting hydrocarbons and/or oxygenates (such as natural
gas and methanol) in stationary combustion sources. The use of low-volatile gasoline to power
automobiles, buses, trucks, and small mobile and stationary engines will help prevent numerous
area source problems. The use of oxygenates in gasoline ensures improved combustion, which
reduces emissions of carbon monoxide from area combustion sources. Prevention research is
needed to review and assess integrated, top-down strategies that may employ numerous technical
options. This research could help establish how multiple benefits can be achieved and
implementation problems resolved. For example, implementation problems might exist in the
following areas:
control of volatiles from the storage, transportation and marketing of the modified fuels
infrastructural requirements needed to facilitate shifts of displaced fuel fractions
control systems for containment and recycling of volatiles
minimizing aldehyde emissions.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Survey Protocol for Industrial Waste Generators
Many companies have initiated pollution prevention programs, some of which have been
highly publicized. It is clear from available information that these programs aim at very different
targets and achieve very different results -- some focus only on RCRA wastes while others are
multi-media, some use EPA's definition of pollution prevention while others include treatment and
disposal. EPA could examine these programs to document, in a consistent and comparable fashion,
the impact these programs have had on waste generation at individual companies. Data will come
from many existing sources (e.g., permits, regulatory documents, industrial databases, published
information on industry pollution prevention efforts), as well as new data gleaned through industry
surveys, and actual site visits to facilities that have implemented pollution prevention practices.
The results would clarify where pollution prevention programs are currently having an impact, and
the success of these programs in reducing multi-media waste generation.
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AWBERC LIBRARY U.S. EPA
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EXHIBIT 2-8
POLLUTION PREVENTION INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE
A program plan has been developed for a Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse,
co-sponsored by the Office of Research and Development and the Pollution Prevention Office.
This clearinghouse is intended to fulfill three purposes: collecting and disseminating technical,
legislative, programmatic, and statistical information on source reduction and recycling; providing
guidance and information transfer services to Regional Offices, states, local governments, industry,
academia, and public interest groups; and fulfilling commitments made by EPA and requirements
of Congress. The clearinghouse will include a staff, telephone hotline, electronic information
exchange network, repository of documents, and system for providing copies of information on
request. Currently, this clearinghouse focuses primarily on hazardous wastes. However, it will be
expanded and broadened to include pollution prevention information related to industrial,
municipal, agricultural, and bio-medical wastes. To enhance the clearinghouse in this way will
require work in five areas:
Obtaining much additional technical and program information for the clearinghouse
database
Procuring references and creating a repository, including establishing a method for
disseminating information on request
Publishing and distributing summaries, fact sheets, bulletins, reports, and bibliographies
of information in the database, both to market the availability of the service and respond
to requests
Establishing and supporting a telephone hotline to handle requests for published
information and access technical staff
Developing and pilot testing an electronic bulletin board system and maintaining,
monitoring, updating, expanding, and assuring the quality of its information files.
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EXHIBIT 2-9
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
POTENTIAL ACTIVITIES AND SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLES
Stimulate the use of pollution prevention opportunity assessments
promote the use of industry-specific assessments (see Training of Waste Minimization
Trainers example, following page)
publish pollution prevention assessment guidelines
provide technical assistance in conducting assessments in industries dominated by small
businesses.
Expand the Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse
incorporate multi-media pollution prevention assessment guidelines
include pollution prevention success stories and case studies
provide access to other federal agencies, states, industries, trade associations, public
interest groups, communities, and citizen organizations
conduct a thorough search of pollution prevention information sources and include them
in the clearinghouse
develop a national network for waste information exchange (see Development of a
National Recycling and Waste Exchange Network example, following page)
provide fact sheets and summaries for specific industries
establish a link to the National Technical Information Service to share data and increase
information dissemination.
Provide technical assistance
- assist other federal agencies, states, and trade associations in developing integrated
programs that prevent pollution from non-point sources (see Integrated Pest Management
example, following page)
distribute guidelines for conducting pollution prevention assessments
assist federal agencies, states, and industries in delivering pollution prevention training
programs
contact top-level managers in industry and government to foster adoption of pollution
prevention programs
develop spill prevention guidelines for industry (see Accidental Release Prevention
Reference Manuals example, following page)
identify opportunities for cross-industry cooperation in pollution prevention
expand the educational aspects of pollution prevention into technical and professional
degree programs
sponsor technical experts to assist in developing local and regional pollution prevention
programs
ensure all levels of industry are receiving some level of assistance
improve expectations of acceptable performance in pollution prevention programs
encourage every state to adopt a pollution prevention program
develop retraining programs for continuing education of industrial and governmental
environmental personnel
work with state agencies to incorporate pollution prevention concepts into elementary,
intermediate, and secondary education curricula (see Curriculum Development example,
following page).
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EXHIBIT 2-9 (continued)
Support information exchange via conferences and seminars
sponsor seminars, workshops, and technical briefings for communities and small
industries needing technical assistance in developing pollution prevention programs
- sponsor international, national, state, and regional seminars and workshops addressing
scientific and technical advances in pollution prevention
sponsor policy and program development working groups to evaluate and develop
pollution prevention programs
- develop catalog of existing seminar offerings on pollution prevention.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Training of Waste Minimization Trainers
Training programs are needed to increase the ability of government and industrial personnel
to recognize pollution prevention opportunities and implement prevention practices. EPA could
target training programs at specific audiences, and develop industry-specific pollution prevention
opportunity assessment software packages that are designed for small business owners and
corporate environmental managers, by building on the experience the Agency has gained in
conducting waste minimization seminars at the regional level. These training programs and
software packages would ensure the assessment of true costs of current hazardous and non-
hazardous materials management practices, and provide methods for calculating changes in costs
resulting from specific waste reduction alternatives. EPA's intention would be to employ a "train-
the-trainer" approach by providing materials and expertise to train state and local solid waste
management officials to assist small businessmen, commercial, and industrial operators in
conducting pollution prevention opportunity assessments. Materials would be developed first for
the seven industries that have already been targeted at the regional level: chemical manufacturing,
electronics manufacturing, petroleum refining, plastics, metal finishing, wood preserving, and
textiles finishing and carpet manufacturing. Packages would then be developed for other
industries in which waste minimization opportunities appear promising. This project could make
a significant contribution to assisting public and private sector organizations in recognizing
opportunities for implementing pollution prevention approaches.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Development of a National Recycling and Waste Exchange Network
As part of its expansion of the Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse, EPA could
create an interactive network of databases, organizations, and contacts to provide an industrial user
an array of options for redirection of waste materials. Information provided by the network could
include sources of non-virgin materials usable as raw materials, market assessments, case studies
in viability for specific materials, sources for research grants or other funding, and technical
evaluation and pilot study information. This network could also provide links, program
descriptions and contacts with trade associations and industrial committees allowing networking of
databases and information flow among municipal recovery facilities and industrial markets. In
addition, this network could be developed into an international waste exchange information center
that provides case studies, source listings, and broker dictionaries through bulletin board functions.
This network would facilitate the exchange of waste materials among generators and potential
consumers, resulting in reduced pollution discharge.
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EXHIBIT 2-9 (continued)
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Integrated Pest Management and Low Input Sustainable Agriculture
Integrated pest management (IPM) uses all suitable pest control techniques and methods
(including biological control agents, irrigation and tillage practices, crop rotation, timing of control
efforts, pesticides, etc.) to keep pest populations below economically injurious levels. Widespread
use of IPM approaches could result in reduction of the amount of pesticides used for agriculture,
landscaping, and pest control in residences and other buildings. Reduced use of pesticides is
desirable since pesticide use often results in loss of beneficial organisms and other non-target
organisms, as well as target pest organisms. EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) has
provided technology transfer and technical assistance in IPM to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA), the lead agency for agricultural IPM research. OPP efforts have included:
development of a cockroach IPM demonstration project
technical assistance on a grasshopper project for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service
technical assistance on a gypsy moth IPM program for the U.S. Forest Service
comparative studies of IPM for turfgrass applications in cooperation with the Golf Course
Superintendents Association.
Additional research is needed to expand IPM projects into other agricultural and domestic
applications and to develop and transfer ecologically sound IPM programs to user groups. Also,
there is a need to pursue cooperative research with the USDA in low input sustainable agriculture
(LISA), which promises to reduce agricultural use of fertilizers, water, and high impact tillage
practices, as well as reducing the use of pesticides through IPM practices. Increased use of IPM
and LISA should reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers thus decreasing the runoff
of these chemicals.
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Accidental Release Prevention Reference Manuals
Currently, many small non-chemical industrial facilities handle extremely hazardous
substances and do not have procedures in place for reducing the likelihood of accidental releases.
A need exists to conduct research on spill prevention and use the results to develop industry-
specific manuals that identify opportunities for reducing the risk of spills and describe procedures
for implementing accidental release prevention programs. The purpose of this research and the
resultant manuals would be to provide specific industrial sectors with an understanding of the
potential hazards of the chemicals they handle and the causes of accidental releases, and to
document the availability of prevention measures. These manuals would provide a summary of
available information and references to more detailed engineering information. This project could
provide the information needed by facilities to reduce the possibility of and risks associated with
accidental releases.
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EXHIBIT 2-9 (continued)
SPECIFIC PROJECT EXAMPLE:
Curriculum Development
Pollution prevention will be an increasingly important component of all ways of life in the
future, and trained professionals that have a pollution prevention perspective will be needed in all
communities, businesses, and industries. EPA could work closely and cooperatively with
universities and colleges to include pollution prevention concepts in curriculum plans for all levels
of education, from elementary school to universities, and especially in curricula for professional
degrees in engineering, science, economics, business, government, and law. Implementing this
effort would involve identifying cooperating institutions, providing technical assistance in
developing course materials and program contents, and co-sponsoring pilot testing efforts.
Incorporating pollution prevention concepts in training and education programs at all levels should
help bring about the cultural change necessary to institutionalize pollution prevention in all sectors
of society.
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CHAPTER 3
RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS AND IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISMS
RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS
Research activities in two of the six research
program areas identified in Chapter 2 began
under the waste minimization research (WMR)
program initiated in 1987. The total ORD
budget for these research projects was $2.4
million from Research and Development (R&D)
funds in FY 1989. These research efforts
focused on: (1) the evaluation of new pro-
duction and recycling process technologies to
prevent or reduce the generation of hazardous
wastes, and (2) a technology transfer program to
disseminate this information. The pollution
prevention research plan presented in this report
will build upon the foundation established by
Agency program, research, and regional office
efforts to develop an integrated program of
pollution prevention research that has a multi-
media focus and addresses both hazardous and
non-hazardous pollutants.
The costs outlined in this research plan
represent estimates for implementing a compre-
hensive, Agencywide pollution prevention
research program. During FY90, resources will
be focused to develop program-specific short-
and long-term research plans, prioritize research
projects, and initiate the research efforts. The
approximate total estimated R&D cost of the
pollution prevention research program outlined
in this report is $5.4 million for FY90 and $9.1
million for FY91. The proration of funds
among the six research program areas will be
based on priorities for initiation of activities in
each particular program area, as well as upon a
need to continue funding for certain research
projects within the areas.
Priorities Among Program Areas
A key question for EPA's research efforts in
pollution prevention is where and how resources
should be directed to provide the greatest
support to EPA's pollution prevention initiative.
The obstacles currently inhibiting pollution
prevention are by no means identical in the
many sectors of society generating wastes. The
most effective means for achieving pollution
prevention in the chemical industry, for
instance, may be very different than for metal
fabricators, and neither set of inducements may
be very appropriate for reducing the generation
of agricultural or residential wastes. In some
cases, technology may be a significant bottle-
neck; in others, institutional and economic
factors may present serious obstacles. Identi-
fying the impact of pollution prevention prac-
tices and impediments to progress will play a
principal role in helping to set the Agency's
research priorities.
The four new research program areas will be
phased-in according to the priorities established
in Exhibit 3-1. All of the six research program
areas are of critical importance to the nation's
pollution prevention initiative, and will be
pursued. However, recognizing that immediate
implementation of all six areas may not be
practical, EPA has established priorities for
initiating efforts among the areas. These
priorities are based on the expected overall
impact on environmental results, potential cost
effectiveness of proposed activities, the degree
of need for the information, the importance of
EPA's contribution in this area, the ability to
achieve near-term results, the number of
organizations that could benefit from the
information, the need to support EPA program
and regional offices, and finally the need to
continue building on Agencywide pollution
prevention efforts that began through the source
reduction and recycling programs of OSW, the
Waste Minimization Research program of ORD,
and the establishment of the Pollution Preven-
tion Office.
Exhibit 3-1 indicates the priorities for
initiating activities in each of the four new
research program areas and continuing the two
ongoing program areas. In FY90, the highest
priority of the research program will be to
3-1
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EXHIBIT 3-1
INITIAL PRIORITIES AMONG RESEARCH PROGRAM AREAS
OO
I
PRODUCT RESEARCH
PROCESS RESEARCH
RECYCLING AND REUSE
RESEARCH
SOCIOECONOMIC AND
INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
ANTICIPATORY RESEARCH
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER/
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
YRO
YR1
YR2
YR3
Very High
Priority
High
Priority
Medium
Priority
-------
initiate efforts in the product and socioeconomic
and institutional research program areas. These
two program areas rank very high in priority
because little research has been done by EPA,
other agencies, or industry in either of these
areas. In addition, EPA recognizes the
importance of launching research projects in
these areas to address both technological and
non-technological issues and to complement the
pollution prevention activities the Agency has
already started. EPA can rapidly build on the
process research and technology transfer
activities started under the WMR program and
quickly implement additional research projects
designed to achieve the objectives of these
research program areas. The technology transfer
program is expected to increase in importance as
results are produced by the other research
program areas. Initiation of recycling/reuse
research and anticipatory research are of
medium priority. Once a program is initiated
and determined to be effective (including the
existing process and technology transfer pro-
grams) there is high priority for maintaining
continuity of the research efforts within the
program.
The program area priorities depicted in
Exhibit 3-1 represent the priorities for initiating
research activities in each of the six research
program areas on an annual basis, beginning
with new activities in FY90. As the research
program progresses and matures, priorities for
initiating new research activities will change,
and new research programs and projects may
become more critical to the overall pollution
prevention research program. Furthermore,
research in a number of the program areas may
be coordinated to address a significant envi-
ronmental problem from several fronts. These
factors will be considered when setting priorities
for future research projects. EPA plans to use
both external and internal representatives to help
the Agency determine new directions for the
research program, as well as prioritize specific
research projects. This guidance can be solicited
during workshops sponsored by the Agency.
These workshops could address topics such as
pollution prevention opportunities for speci-
fic industries or homeowners, or pollution
prevention approaches for specific pollutants or
media.
In addition to workshops, guidance concern-
ing prioritizing research projects can be solicited
from EPA's Pollution Prevention Program
Advisory Committee. This committee includes
representatives from all EPA program offices
(director level) and several regions, and is
currently co-chaired by the directors of OPPE
and OSW. The committee meets monthly and
could contribute to the identification of research
needs as well as prioritization of research
projects.
EPA could also utilize the Pollution Pre-
vention Subcommittee of the SAB to identify
future research needs and establish priorities
among research projects. The SAB, which in-
cludes representatives from industry, academ-
ia, state and local organizations, and public
interest groups, currently provides similar
support to the Agency.
Financial resource expenditures for FY89 and
estimates for FY90 and FY91, identified
by research program area and topic, are pre-
sented in Exhibit 3-2. Priorities identified in
Exhibit 3-1 may not be directly related to
funding levels identified in Exhibit 3-2 in any
single year, due to costs of ongoing programs
and disproportionate costs of planning, initi-
ating, and implementing specific projects in
different program areas. In Exhibit 3-2, the
estimates represent the Agency's current best
approximation of the resources needed to
conduct the research efforts described in this
plan. In these two years, total estimated costs
for process research is expected to be approx-
imately $3.7 million, technology transfer and
technical assistance $2.4 million, product
research $3.9 million, recycling and reuse
research $0.7 million, socioeconomic and insti-
tutional research $3.4 million, and anticipatory
research $0.4 million.
Priorities Within Program Areas
Establishing priorities for research topics
within research program areas is essential to
3-3
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u>
I
Program Area
EXHIBIT 3-2
RESOURCES ESTIMATES
POLLUTION PREVENTION RESEARCH PLAN
Approximate R&D Funding
($ thousand)
Product Research
Process Research
Recycling and Reuse Research
Socioeconomic and Institutional Research
Anticipatory Research
Technology Transfer and Technical Assistance
FY89
0
1700
0
0
0
700
FY90
1400
1600
300
1000
200
900
FY91
2500
2100
400
2400
200
1500
Total Research Program Resources
2400
5400
9100
-------
marshal the Agency's resources toward research
that offers the greatest impact on reducing
health and environmental risk. There are
different approaches to setting priorities for the
technological research program areas (product,
process, and recycling/reuse), socioeconomic and
institutional research program area, and the
anticipatory research program area. Priorities
within the technological research program areas
can be established by taking a practical
problem-solving approach. The first step is to
identify "pollution problem areas"--those areas
not amenable to pollution controls or for which
controls are ineffective. These environmental
problems can be ranked in order of importance.
The next step is to inventory factors that
contribute to each problem. The third step is to
conduct research that attacks these problems
through the contributing factors. For example,
a major contributor to the problem of ozone
depletion is the release of CFCs in the
environment. Therefore, research to reduce the
use and release of CFCs is one research topic
that will help EPA address the ozone depletion
problem. Another method of identifying
priority areas for research is to look at pollution
problems by various sectors--agriculture,
transportation, households, energy extraction
and use, metals extraction and use, and chemical
and industrial production--to identify pollution
prevention opportunities and develop a generic
methodology as well as specific strategies for
preventing pollution in these sectors.
Although some socioeconomic and institu-
tional research projects can be similarly
prioritized by focusing on the severity of the
environmental problem and the potential
contribution of the research project to pollution
prevention and to eliminating the problem, other
non-technological projects are not driven by
specific pollution problems. These types of
projects focus on factors that affect pollution
prevention practices, such as consumer behavior
and motivation. Other projects, particularly
those concerned with future environmental
problems, focus on determining pollution effects
before a specific pollution problem exists or
poses a significant risk. Unlike the factors
addressed in the technological research areas,
these socioeconomic and institutional factors
have only an indirect effect on achieving the
desired result. Therefore, these projects must be
prioritized according to their potential for
achieving a significant impact on pollution pre-
vention. It is also essential that the socio-
economic and institutional research projects be
coordinated with research projects in other
program areas in order to fully address certain
pollution problems.
Since some of the research topics will con-
tribute data to other topics within a program or
must be conducted concurrently with research
projects in other program areas, it may not be
feasible to initiate all important research
projects at the outset of the program. In
addition, Agency decisions on resource alloca-
tion may limit the number of research projects
that can be conducted simultaneously. There-
fore, considerable planning is required early in
the program followed by continual evaluation,
reprioritization, and refocusing of research
efforts to ensure that the research program is
meeting its objectives.
Early in the program, efforts in product
research are expected to focus on establishing
standardized methods for evaluating product-
related pollution generation, utilizing existing
information to evaluate the impacts of specific
types of products and product use patterns, and
demonstrating and evaluating production and
use of low-impact products. Efforts to establish
standardized evaluation methods and to demon-
strate and evaluate production and use of
environmentally preferable types of products are
expected to decrease as this research program
area matures, while efforts in the evaluation of
new and existing types of products are expected
to increase, and research to stimulate the
development of low-impact products are
expected to be initiated. Ultimately, the
program is expected to shift toward increased
utilization of standardized methods to evaluate
larger numbers of products, demonstrate the
production and use of improved products and
stimulate production of these low-impact pro-
ducts. During the early years of the program,
approximately 40 percent of the effort in
3-5
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product research is expected to be used for
demonstrating and evaluating products and
about 30 percent is expected to focus on
evaluating both existing and new products. The
remainder of the efforts in product research are
expected to be divided approximately equally
between establishing standardized product
evaluation methods and encouraging product
development. Much of the research is expected
to be conducted in cooperation with industry
and will focus on products produced or
processed by industries dominated by small
businesses.
Early efforts in process research have focused
on developing standardized methods for
evaluating manufacturing processes on an
industry-specific basis, evaluating specific
processes to identify problems and pollution
prevention opportunities, assessing both existing
and new pollution prevention methods for
improving these processes, and stimulating
cross-industry applications of pollution pre-
vention approaches. Once standardized assess-
ment methodologies have been completed, prob-
ably during the second year of the program, the
remaining efforts of the program are expected to
receive approximately equal emphasis and
resources. Early in the program, about 35
percent of the effort in process research is
expected to focus on conducting pollution
prevention opportunity assessments, about 30
percent on evaluating existing and new pollution
prevention methods, and about 25 percent on
stimulating cross-industry applications of
pollution prevention methods and technologies.
The remaining effort is expected to be used to
develop standardized process assessment
methods. Much of the process research is
expected to be conducted in cooperation with
industry and will focus on processes utilized by
industries dominated by small businesses.
Early
research
potential
evaluate
recycling
materials,
stimulate
efforts in the recycling and reuse
program are expected to evaluate
new uses for wastes and pollutants and
alternative strategies for increasing
activities and uses for recycled
As these efforts continue, efforts to
the development of additional capacity
for using recycled materials and to evaluate
existing programs to develop model recycling
and reuse programs could be initiated and then
increased, as information and expertise increase.
Over the first three years of the program, about
60 percent of the effort in recycling and reuse
research is expected to be divided approximately
equally between stimulating the development of
new capacity to recycle materials and evaluating
existing recycling programs, and the remaining
effort is expected to be divided evenly between
evaluating new uses for materials and developing
strategies to increase the use of recycled
materials. Recycling and reuse research will
probably be conducted in cooperation with
industry, academia, states, and public interest
groups.
In the socioeconomic and institutional
research program area, initial efforts will
probably emphasize assessing methods for
modifying consumer behavior and identifying
and assessing incentives for and obstacles to
pollution prevention. Assessing the effec-
tiveness of existing and new pollution pre-
vention approaches, assessing trends in con-
sumption and use patterns, and quantifying the
potential for pollution prevention could initially
receive somewhat less emphasis. As research in
this program area matures, efforts in these topic
areas could increase as greater expertise and
knowledge become available. Over the first
three years of the program, about 75 percent of
the research is expected to focus somewhat
equally on assessing methods to modify consu-
mer behavior, assessing incentives and obstacles,
and assessing the effectiveness of different
pollution prevention approaches, about 15 per-
cent could focus on assessing trends, and the
remainder could be used to quantify the poten-
tial for pollution prevention. Much of the
socioeconomic and institutional research prob-
ably will be conducted in cooperation with
academia, public interest groups, and state and
local organizations.
Anticipatory research is expected to initially
focus equally on identifying emerging technolo-
gies and patterns in resource use, and evaluating
the effectiveness of current research program
3-6
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efforts in meeting current and changing
information needs. Slightly more emphasis is
expected to be needed in subsequent years to
evaluate the effectiveness of the research
program in meeting information needs. Over
the first three years of the program, the research
effort in anticipatory research is expected to be
divided approximately equally between identi-
fying emerging technologies and patterns, and
evaluating the effectiveness of research in
meeting changing information needs.
The technology transfer and technical
assistance program should emphasize all four of
its topic areas equally. Over the first three years
of the program, the efforts in this program area
are expected to be approximately evenly divided
among stimulating the use of pollution preven-
tion assessments, expanding the pollution pre-
vention information clearinghouse, providing
technical assistance, and supporting conferences
and workshops for information exchange.
IMPLEMENTATION MECHANISMS
EPA will serve as the leader in conducting
and coordinating research and demonstrating
pollution prevention techniques, and promoting
research, development, and implementation of
successful techniques within EPA and the
following five sectors of society:
Business and industry
Universities and academia
State and local governments
Other agencies
Public interest groups and the general public.
EPA's efforts will be directed toward estab-
lishing an awareness of opportunities, stimu-
lating investigation of alternatives, and adopting
workable approaches for pollution prevention in
these five sectors of society. Implementation of
the pollution prevention research program
described in Chapter 2 will require expansion of
EPA's intramural and extramural research
activities, including contracts, grants, and
cooperative agreements.
Because pollution prevention is not the
responsibility of EPA alone, implementation of
the pollution prevention research plan will
require various strategies. For example, EPA's
role in stimulating product and process related
research in industries that are dominated by
large companies may be limited to evaluating
pollution prevention technologies, facilitating
information exchange, evaluating regulatory
constraints to innovation, and providing tech-
nology transfer services. However, for indus-
tries that are predominantly composed of small
businesses (e.g., electroplating, air conditioner
servicing, auto repair), EPA may provide tech-
nical assistance and research support to identify
and address pollution prevention opportunities,
as well as information exchange and technology
transfer.
Intramural Research
In keeping with its leadership role in con-
ducting environmental research, EPA's in-
house research efforts will include activities in
each of the six research program areas identified
in the research plan. These efforts will be in
support of EPA's responsibility to develop and
prioritize the nation's pollution prevention
agenda. This especially pertains to research that
involves either generic studies to identify
problems that are amenable to pollution
prevention solutions or mechanisms that
influence effective pollution decision making in
other sectors.
The intramural pollution prevention research
efforts will build on the current waste minimi-
zation research program being conducted by
EPA, and will support ongoing and new pol-
lution prevention efforts in program and
regional offices. An important aspect of this
research plan is expanding of the capability of
EPA to carry out in-house research and manage
extramural research activities in each of the
research program areas. Currently, most of the
Agency's activities in the areas of pollution
3-7
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prevention research are extramural; however,
EPA needs to develop expertise to interface with
industry and other groups on pollution
prevention efforts and manage the extramural
research program.
The most important element in a plan for an
intramural research program is the personnel
involved. In carrying out the plan outlined in
this report, the Agency would need to enhance
its in-house capabilities by hiring technical
personnel with experience and education that
build EPA's expertise in areas that are extremely
important in pollution prevention research and
that are applicable to a number of the research
program areas. One option would be to establish
a program to allow up to six individuals from
universities, research institutes, laboratories, and
industry to work with the Agency under temp-
orary appointments of from one to two years. In
addition, facilities of the federal laboratories in
which the in-house programs are to be carried
out could be made available to industries with
cooperative research projects. A small core of
in-house research personnel, supplemented by
professionals on temporary appointments, would
ensure that the intramural research program is
effective and the extramural research program is
properly managed.
Extramural Research
Business and Industry
EPA has an important role in investigating
ways that industry can reduce or prevent the
generation of pollution. Even though finding
ways to reduce, recycle, or prevent waste
ultimately depends on conditions that are
specific to each site or plant, basic approaches
and procedures seem to hold promise for several
different types of companies since they have
already been employed successfully at many
locations across the country. EPA will expand
its contracts and cooperative agreements with
industries to identify, demonstrate, and evaluate
effective approaches to prevent pollution, and
encourage the use of these successful pollution
prevention techniques in industry.
Effective pollution prevention research in the
business and industry sector should address each
step in the product life cycle independently, as
well as the total pollution burden associated with
the entire life cycle of the product. The
emphasis of this research should be to develop
methods to reduce the total quantity, potency
(toxicity or concentration), and the mobility of
pollutants associated with manufacturing
processes and the product produced. EPA does
not have the resources to conduct the process-
and product-oriented pollution prevention
research that can be conducted by large busi-
nesses in developing, testing, and marketing
their specific products and services. Therefore,
EPA will cooperate with large industries and
trade associations to establish pollution
prevention assessment methodologies, assist in
developing pollution prevention plans, and
transfer technical information.
Unlike large businesses, small businesses often
lack the resources to conduct research that may
assist them in reducing their pollution loads.
EPA's role is to assist industries that are domi-
nated by small businesses in their efforts to
reduce and prevent pollution. This research will
include evaluation of pollution prevention
opportunities associated with specific industrial
unit processes. This research is applicable to
both large and small businesses and will be used
to assist small business operators in identifying
pollution prevention opportunities and
approaches. These efforts, coupled with
targeted technology transfer, are expected to
help small businesses move forward rapidly in
pollution prevention.
EPA will work cooperatively with industries
to ensure that a multi-media focus is maintained
and that all appropriate avenues of pollution
prevention are explored. Funding assistance
may be provided by EPA for pollution preven-
tion research related contracts and cooperative
agreements. Such funding assistance would
ensure that broad-based, multi-media pollution
prevention research will be applicable to existing
businesses and amenable for use in preventing
pollution. Some pollution prevention research
projects and technology transfer activities may
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be conducted through an industry-government
forum or institute that would function as a
separate entity.
University and Academia
Numerous pollution prevention research
questions involve either basic technological
investigations or collection of socioeconomic
information that lie outside EPA's expertise. In
addition, much of the data collection effort
associated with socioeconomic research may be
facilitated by researchers who are not perceived
as having direct government affiliation. There-
fore, EPA could support university-based aca-
demic pollution prevention research efforts
through grants and cooperative agreements.
Research at these universities will comprise
investigations into basic pollution prevention
issues that are not directly related to product or
process development or modifications. EPA-
supported research at universities may include
analyses of:
Incentives and disincentives for pollution pre-
vention
Impacts of regulation on pollution prevention
Recycling and reuse options
Consumer behaviors (product preferences,
recycling, etc.)
Trends in consumer and industrial habits
Outreach and technology transfer activities
International activities in pollution prevention.
State and Local Government
State and local agencies are aware of the
problems facing the commercial or manufac-
turing industries and consumers. Successful
arrangements have been established with state
and local waste reduction programs throughout
the country. These programs have enabled EPA
to leverage its financial and personnel resources
to increase pollution prevention research and to
demonstrate pollution prevention techniques.
The Agency's expansion of these state/EPA
partnerships would reflect its continued support
of state agencies as the primary contact with the
public in matters related to pollution prevention.
A key element of EPA's support for state and
local programs- is the provision of an informa-
tion network at a national level to insure that
technical information is developed and made
available to firms and groups that need the
information and to states that are often the
front-line advisors to many firms.
In addition, EPA could continue to sponsor
formal programs of technology transfer to state
and local governments, conduct seminars and
courses in areas related to pollution prevention,
issue technical manuals, and provide technical
assistance to state and local research programs.
Pilot projects to develop state capabilities to
assess environmental problems, conduct analysis
of cross-media issues, and establish priorities
could be encouraged and supported. EPA could
also support state technical assistance and
educational programs for applied research on
pollution prevention that can be implemented by
other state and local governments. The Waste
Reduction Innovative Technology Evaluation
(WRITE) program, intended to identify,
demonstrate, and evaluate new methods that lead
to the reduction or prevention of pollution,
could be expanded. The WRITE program is
implemented in cooperation with states.
Other Agencies
Many agencies, including the Departments of
Agriculture, Defense, Energy, and Interior, the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admini-
stration, the National Center for Atmospheric
Research, the National Science Foundation, and
the National Academy of Sciences, are involved
in pollution prevention activities, either as
supporters of studies and research in the subject
areas for which they are responsible, as actual
waste generators interested in reducing their
waste streams, or as regulatory and admini-
strative agencies responsible for maintaining
environmental standards. Cooperation in
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addressing pollution prevention research needs
is necessary among federal agencies. EPA could
establish cooperative efforts with other agencies
to identify research needs and work with these
agencies in determining methods to prevent or
reduce their generation of pollutants. By
working with other agencies, EPA can leverage
additional resources to pursue pollution pre-
vention as a national strategy to reduce risk.
Possible research projects to be coordinated with
other agencies include:
Integrated pest management and non-point
source pollution control (Department of
Agriculture)
Energy conservation and efficiency,
alternative energy sources (alternatives to coal
and oil), and renewable energy sources
(Department of Energy)
Environmentally preferable products and
processes, recycling and reuse of wastes and
pollutants, and revision of procurement and
process specifications (Department of
Defense)
Indoor air pollution from building materials
or natural sources, such as radon (Department
of Housing and Urban Development)
Less toxic feedstocks and alternative processes
that minimize worker exposure (Occupational
Safety and Health Administration).
The Agency could devote more resources to
the Waste Reduction Evaluations at Federal Sites
(WREAFS) program, which was initiated under
EPA's existing WMR program. This program
encourages joint pollution prevention assessment
activities at federal facilities. EPA will also
continue to participate in a DOD/DOE/EPA
working group that was established to explore
pollution prevention cooperative ventures. In
addition, EPA will work with other agencies to
develop an interagency strategy to incorporate
pollution prevention as a means of risk
reduction across all sectors of society.
Public Interest Groups
EPA will work cooperatively with public
interest groups, including environmental and
conservation groups, to support a variety of
information exchange and technology transfer
activities concerning pollution prevention.
These information exchange forums assist EPA
in disseminating research results, as well as
obtaining information concerning pollution
prevention implementation problems, oppor-
tunities, and additional research needs.
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APPENDIX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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EPA sponsored a workshop for the purpose of obtaining input from numerous perspectives
about existing needs for pollution prevention research. This workshop was held on November 9 and
10, 1989, in Washington, DC. The participants in the workshop were important contributors to the
identification of information needs, development of research program areas, and establishment of
priorities for the plan presented in this document. The participants and their affiliations were:
NAME
Mr. John Atcheson
Ms. Jane Bare
Mr. William Beck
Mr. William Burch
Mr. William A. Cawley
Dr. Anthony Cortese
Mr. John Cox
Mr. Jon DeBoer
Mr. Mark Dorfman
Mr. Alan Ehrlich
Mr. Harry Freeman
Mr. Robert Hangebrauck
Mr. Steven Hendricks
Ms. Jeanne Herb
Mr. Joel Hirschhorn
Mr. Gary Hunt
Mr. Kurt Jakobson
Mr. Mark Joyce
Mr. Joe Kamenski
Mr. Bala Krishnan
Mr. Steven Levy
Mr. Alfred Lindsey
Mr. Joseph A. Lindsey
Ms. Cindy McComas
Mr. Morton Mullins
Mr. Ward Penberthy
Mr. Robert Perea
Mr. William J. Rhodes
Mr. Dick Rosenberg
Dr. Manik Roy
Mr. Marvin B. Rubin
Mr. David Sarokin
Ms. Susan Sherry
AFFILIATION
U.S. EPA
U.S. EPA
du Pont Corporation
U.S. EPA
Gulf Coast Hazardous
Substance Research Center
Tufts University
U.S. Department of Commerce
American Water Works
Association
INFORM
U.S. EPA
U.S. EPA
U.S. EPA
General Dynamics
New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection
Office of Technology
Assessment
Pollution Prevention Pays
Program
U.S. EPA
U.S. EPA
U.S. Department of Defense
U.S. EPA
U.S. EPA
U.S. EPA
DOW Chemical USA
University of Minnesota
Monsanto Chemical Company
U.S. EPA
Elliotts Designs
U.S. EPA
Chemical Waste Management
Massachusetts Department
of Environmental Quality
Engineering
U.S. EPA
U.S. EPA
Local Government
Commission
LOCATION
Washington, DC
Research Triangle Park, NC
Kmgwood, TX
Washington, DC
Beaumont, TX
Boston, MA
Washington, DC
Denver, CO
New York, NY
Washington, DC
Cincinnati, OH
Research Triangle Park, NC
Fort Worth, TX
Trenton, NJ
Washington, DC
Raleigh, NC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Alexandria, VA
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Midland, MI
Minneapolis, MN
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Rancho Dominguez, CA
Research Triangle Park, NC
Riverdale, IL
Boston, MA
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Sacramento, CA
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Dr. Dean Smith U.S. EPA Research Triangle Park, NC
Mr. Ned Smith National Resources Defense New York, NY
Council
Major Charles Snyder Defense Logistics Agency Alexandria, VA
Mr. Bern Steigerwald U.S. EPA Research Triangle Park, NC
Dr. David L. Thomas Illinois Hazardous Waste Savoy, IL
Research and Information
Center
Dr. John Warren U.S. EPA Washington, DC
Ms. Kathleen Wolfe Source Reduction Research Los Angelos, CA
Partnership
A draft of this report was reviewed and extensively commented upon by the Pollution
Prevention Subcommittee of the Science Advisory Board in a two day meeting held on March 9 and
10, 1989. Members of this subcommittee included the following individuals:
NAME AFFILIATION
Dr. Joan Berkowitz (Chair) Risk Science International
Mr. Richard Conway Union Carbide Corporation
Dr. Anthony Cortese Tufts University
Dr. Wayne Kachel Exxon Corporation
Dr. Jack Kooyoomjian Science Advisory Board
Dr. Joseph Ling Consultant
Dr. Walter Shaub Coalition for Resource Recovery and the
Environment
Dr. Calvin Ward Rice University
Draft materials for this report were prepared by numerous members of an EPA workgroup that
was charged with developing the Pollution Prevention Research Plan Report to Congress. This
workgroup consisted of representatives from numerous program offices, two laboratories, and
contractor support staff. The workgroup members included the following individuals:
NAME OFFICE
Mr. John Atcheson Pollution Prevention Office
Mr. William M. Burch Office of Pesticides and Toxic Substances
Mr. Joseph DeSantis Office of Technology Transfer and Regulatory
Support
Mr. Harry Freeman Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory
Mr. Jerry R. Garman Office of Technology Transfer and Regulatory
Support
Mr. Robert Hangebrauck Air and Energy Engineering Research
Laboratory
Mr. Mark Joyce Office of Air and Radiation
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Mr. Bala Krishnan
Mr. Steven Levy
Mr. Alfred Lindsey
Ms. Karen McCormack
Mr. Ward Penberthy
Mr. Frank Princiotta
Ms. Diane Regas
Mr. Marvin B. Rubin
Mr. David Sarokin
Mr. Bern Steigerwald
Mr. John Warren
Mr. Greg Ondich
Mr. Tim Oppelt
TECHNICAL RESOURCES. INC.
Office of Environmental Engineering and
Technology Demonstration
Office of Solid Waste
Office of Environmental Engineering and
Technology Demonstration
Office of Pesticides and Toxic Substances
Office of Pesticides and Toxic Substances
Office of Environmental Engineering and
Technology Demonstration
Office of General Counsel
Office of Water Regulations and Standards
Office of Toxic Substances
Office of Air and Radiation
Office of Policy Planning and Evaluation
Office of Environmental Engineering and
Technology Demonstration
Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory
Technical support in the preparation of this document was supplied by Technical Resources,
Inc., of Rockville, Maryland. Staff members who participated included the following individuals:
Ms. Beverly Campbell, Vice President
Ms. Joan Cox
Dr. Gerald Filbin
Mr. Mel Knapp
Mr. Ky Ostergaard
Ms. Joel Ann Todd
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