News Releases - 1996

Illinois EPA Director Announces STAR Pollution Prevention Partners at Annual Conference

Naperville -- The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency today presented STAR Partner Awards to Argonne National Laboratory/U.S. Department of Energy and Witco Corp./Sherex Chemical Co. Inc. for extraordinary efforts to prevent pollution.

The awards were announced during Illinois EPA’s Seventh Annual Pollution Prevention Conference attended by nearly 250 participants. The Agency also announced it will expand its cooperative partnerships with the private sector to encourage practices that protect the environment, such as changing processes and raw materials.

“STAR Partners do more than just participate in the Agency’s Partners in Pollution Prevention Program but they go the extra mile to encourage pollution prevention among their suppliers, their customers, and other companies,” said Illinois EPA Director Mary A. Gade.

“It is a pleasure to recognize those companies that not only do their part to control pollution but also work deliberately to prevent it from being generated,” Gade added.

To be recognized as a STAR Partner, companies must demonstrate they have been a mentor in pollution prevention both inside and outside their own industry.

Argonne, operated by the University of Chicago as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratory system, was recognized for its extensive work with industry to develop new environmentally friendly technologies and its research in remediating environmental problems. Argonne has also sponsored numerous professional conferences on environmental science, and conducted workshops to help high school teachers improve their environmental science curricula.

Witco Corp./Sherex Chemical Company in Mapleton was recognized not only for incorporating widespread pollution prevention into its processes but extensive outreach efforts to its neighboring community, customers and suppliers.

Witco has also joined with the Illinois Waste Management and Research Center and the University of Illinois to develop a joint pollution prevention research project. It has also shared its knowledge of pollution prevention with other industries and education groups. The firm also has committed itself to the Responsible Care Product Stewardship program by working with customers and suppliers to substitute less toxic solvents and catalysts.

This year’s conference, co-sponsored by Abbott Laboratories, included case studies of successful pollution prevention initiatives in the printing, chemical, and metal finishing/fabricating industries. Major firms making presentations also included Chrysler, Maytag, Honeywell, and Commonwealth Edison.

Other topics included new environmental programs, cost benefits of good environmental management, micro scale chemistry and successful public/private partnerships.