<>EPA
www.epa.gov/ord/lrp
science  in  ACTION
BUILDING A SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR SOUND ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS
                                                                 LAND  RESEARCH
                                                                 PROGRAM
      COMPARING WAYS TO REDUCE RISK ASSISTS
      WITH REDUCTION OF HIGH-PRIORITY CHEMICALS
      Issue
      EPA has identified 31 "high-
      priority chemicals" in waste that
      are of particular concern because
      of their toxicity, persistence, and
      tendency to bioaccumulate.
      Having achieved its goal of
      reducing the presence of these
      chemicals in hazardous waste by
      50 percent, EPA set a new goal:
      an additional 10 percent reduction
      of priority chemicals by 2008.

      EPA is engaged in a national
      initiative to encourage public and
      private organizations to form
      voluntary partnerships with EPA
      to reduce the use or release of any
      of the 31 priority chemicals.

      Under the National Partnership
      for Environmental Priorities
      (NPEP) initiative, EPA and its
      volunteer partners are working to
      reduce four million pounds of
      priority chemicals used or
      released into the environment by
      2011.
             Science Objective
             To support the NPEP initiative,
             the Land Research Program in
             EPA's Office of Research and
             Development initiated a study in
             2005 to compare risk-reduction
             efforts at waste-management
             units (e.g., landfill, waste pile,
             aerated tank, surface
             impoundment, or land-application
             unit) to show the expected
             benefits of reducing the use and
             release of priority chemicals.
             Scientists selected these five
             waste-management units for
             study because they exemplified
             waste-management scenarios at
             industrial facilities across the
             United States.

             The Multimedia, Multipathway,
             Multireceptor Risk Assessment
             (3MRA) modeling system was
             used for the risk assessments.

             The study was designed to
             provide an integrated assessment
             of the benefits of reducing
             priority chemicals by predicting
increased protection across a wide
range of waste concentrations.

This research has enabled
scientists in the Land Research
Program to generate important
risk-assessment information. This
research effort:

• Identified which human health
  or ecological receptor will be at
  greatest risk
• Identified dominant media (e.g.,
  air) and exposure pathways
  (e.g., inhalation) for each
  waste-management unit and
  chemical
• Demonstrated the usefulness of
  the 3MRA modeling system for
  conducting national exposure
  and risk studies

Application and Impact
Decision-makers can use this
comparative risk-reduction
analysis to weigh their concerns
against anticipated scenarios in
order to select a waste-

                 continued on back
       U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
       Office of Research and Development

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  &EPA
www.epa.gov/ord/lrp
science   in  ACTION
BUILDING A SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR SOUND ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONS
       LAND RESEARCH  PROGRAM
       con l i n u eil from fro n I
       management plan that leads to the
       least risk. Regulators and policy
       makers can use the analysis to
       determine waste-minimization
       strategies for a given chemical
       and waste-management unit.

       The analysis is being used by the
       EPA office of Solid Waste to
       establish a performance metric of
       priority chemical reduction.  In
       addition, consideration can be
       given to the benefit of pursuing
       voluntary reduction programs for
       selected chemicals. For example,
       the Office of Solid Waste's
       Resource Conservation Challenge
       uses the analysis to supplement
       the objectives of the Resource
       Conservation and Recovery Act.

       Calculating the percentage
       increase in the number of
       protected waste sites and
       comparing it with the percentage
       reduction in the concentration of
       high-priority chemicals in the
       waste stream will  inform waste-
       management solutions that
       enhance environmental
       protection.
             REFERENCES

             Babendreier, J.E., W. Brandes, Z. Saleem, et al.
             (2005). "A Comparative Risk Reduction Analysis
             of the Office of Solid Waste's Waste Minimization
             Priority Chemicals (WMPC) Initiative Using the
             3MRA Multimedia Modeling System."
             Presentation for the Board of Scientific Counselors
             Land Goal Research Program Review Panel,
             Cincinnati, OH, December.

             Priority Chemicals and Chemical Fact Sheets
             http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/minimize/
             chemlist.htm
             CONTACT
             Justin Babendreier, EPA's National Exposure
             Research Laboratory, 706-355-8344,
             babendreier.justintoiepa.gov
             October 2008
       U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
       Office of Research and Development

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