Environmental Progress - Fall 2000

Illinois EPA Expands Field Staff P2 Training

Goal is to integrate pollution prevention into daily field work

For the last three years, Illinois EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention (OPP) has been working to integrate pollution prevention (P2) into the daily activities of Agency field inspectors in all Bureaus. Because P2 techniques can eliminate the sources of pollution within facility operations and processes, it can allow companies to meet their regulatory responsibilities in a more cost-effective manner.

In 1999, 30 percent of the inspections performed by the Agency field staff included one or more P2 recommendations, such as switching to cleaner raw materials or improving housekeeping practices. OPP surveyed 182 facilities that were inspected and found that 22 percent of them had implemented at least one of the P2 recommendations offered by the inspectors.

Recently, OPP conducted another round of P2 awareness training for permit writers in the Bureaus of Air and Water. The training was designed to increase awareness of P2 and the role it can play in helping facilities achieve or go beyond compliance with existing regulations. Part of the training for the Bureau of Air permit writers and planning staff included a tour of a powder coating operation at Morton Metalcraft's facility in Morton, Ill.

Workshop attendees brainstormed ways to provide P2 recommendations during the permitting process. Both Bureaus have created workgroups to follow up on the ideas generated at the workshops.

OPP also hosted a workshop on P2 opportunities for local government operations at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield. More than 100 people, including 80 local government officials, attended.

OPP invited some of the leading local government P2 experts from around the country to make presentations at the workshop. Sessions addressed P2 opportunities for sewage treatment operations, vehicle maintenance/repair, drinking water supply facilities, solid waste management and purchasing.

Another local government P2 workshop is being planned for Chicago, in conjunction with the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable 2001 Spring Conference in February. For more information about OPP's educational outreach and training activities, contact Annette McCarthy at 217-557-4959.