Pollution Prevention - Fact Sheets

Pollution Prevention Checklist

Improving the Environment and Your Bottom Line

Looking for ways to save money, increase efficiency, reduce regulatory costs and improve the environment all at the same time? Adopting a pollution prevention program may be just the answer for you.

Many Illinois companies are realizing that reducing waste and pollution at the point of generation - before it goes into the dumpster, down the sewer, out the stack or away with the hauler - makes a lot more sense than trying to treat or clean it up after the fact. In other words, if you don't generate waste or pollution, you don't have to track it, permit it, pay for costly treatment or disposal, or insure against the risks that might be associated with it.

Whether your company has five employees or 200, generating less waste and pollution is good business. Many firms have saved thousands of dollars by employing relatively simple pollution prevention measures like installing splash guards and drain boards on tanks and faucets, training employees in work practices that minimize paint overspray, keeping lids on containers and tanks when not in use, or purchasing raw materials in reusable containers. Others have taken more ambitious steps like switching to aqueous cleaners, using counter-current rinsing methods or installing more efficient coating systems.

Looking at things in a new light

Setting up a pollution prevention program does not require exotic or costly technologies. Some of the most effective methods are simple modifications in work practices and equipment. Others require more detailed engineering or design changes, but experience has proven that pollution prevention usually pays for itself within a short time through savings in raw material purchases and waste disposal costs.

You can find pollution prevention opportunities all around your facility if you look at things in a new light. This may require a shift in thinking, from "How do I get rid of it" to "How do I prevent it." As you walk through your shop, ask yourself if you can change a process in some way so that it doesn't produce a waste or if you can lower the toxicity of the raw materials you use. You should also encourage your employees to think "pollution prevention." Better yet, involve them in design or operating changes that would reduce waste generation -- they will have good ideas and will help make the program succeed.

Getting Started

Download and print the Pollution Prevention Checklist. Choose the categories in this checklist that are most applicable to your facility and don't feel as if you have to do everything at once. Start with a few waste streams or processes and select pollution prevention projects with short payback periods first. The options you choose will depend on technical considerations, costs and environmental priorities.

This checklist is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all techniques that could be used to reduce waste and pollution in a business. Each facility is unique, with its own challenges and opportunities to minimize waste and pollution; therefore, each pollution prevention program will be unique.

As long as wastes and emissions are being produced, there is the potential for pollution prevention. Less polluting materials, equipment and procedures are constantly being developed, so the wastes and emissions that are difficult or costly to control today may be easily eliminated tomorrow. Stay alert for new developments and reassess your operations periodically to avoid slipping back into old, wasteful ways of doing things.

To wrap up, make pollution prevention just as important to your company as worker safety, customer satisfaction and product quality. The money saved in reducing your waste treatment and disposal costs can be directed to other pressing areas, giving you a competitive advantage over businesses saddled with high environmental costs.

Sources of Additional Help

There are several state agencies that have years of experience with the technical and organizational aspects of pollution prevention. For more information about how pollution prevention can improve your bottom line and other resources that can help you develop and implement a program, contact:

Illinois EPA
Office of Pollution Prevention
1021 N Grand Ave. East #34
P.O. Box 19276
Springfield, IL 62794-9276
(217) 782-8700
(217) 557-2125 fax

Illinois EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention (OPP) can provide companies with technical assistance and serve as a conduit for finding the latest information on pollution prevention strategies and methods. OPP also places graduate students in engineering and other technical fields with companies to work on pollution prevention projects during the summer months. Each year, it sponsors statewide workshops that bring together government, industry and environmental professionals to share pollution prevention successes and ideas. Contact us to be added to our P2 mailing list.

IL Waste Management and Research Center
One East Hazelwood Dr.
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 333-8940
(217) 333-8944 fax

The Waste Management and Research Center is a non-regulatory environmental agency that can help companies identify pollution prevention opportunities through confidential on-site assessments, feasibility studies, research support, vendor information and training activities. The Center also maintains an information clearinghouse and operates a laboratory for testing cleaner production technologies and material substitutes. Each year it recognizes and issues awards on behalf fo the Governor's Office to business and other organizations that implement innovative pollution prevention projects.