United States Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Pollution Prevention
Washington, DC
EPA Pollution Prevention Fact Sheet
Overview
Industrial Toxics Project
March 1991
EPA's Pollution Prevention Strategy, released in February 1991, was developed by the Agency in consultation with all program and regional offices. The strategy provides guidance on incorporating pollution prevention into EPA's ongoing environmental protection efforts and includes a plan for achieving substantial voluntary reductions of targeted high risk industrial chemicals. The strategy is aimed at maximizing private sector initiative while challenging industry to achieve ambitious prevention goals.
A major component of the strategy is the Industrial Toxics Project. EPA has identified 17 high risk industrial chemicals that offer significant opportunities for prevention (see box on back of this page). The Agency has set a goal of reducing environmental releases of these chemicals by 33 percent by the end of 1992 and by at least 50 percent by the end of 1995.
The 17 pollutants identified as targets of the industrial toxics project present both significant risks to human health and the environment and opportunities to reduce such risks through prevention. The list was drawn from recommendations submitted by program offices, taking into account such criteria as health and ecological risk, potential for multiple exposures or cross-media contamination, technical or economic opportunities for prevention, and limitations of treatment.
AU of the targeted chemicals are included on EPA's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI); thus, reductions in their releases can be measured in each year's TRI reports. Several hundred companies who have reported releases of the target chemicals have already been contacted by EPA. EPA is seeking their cooperation in making voluntary commitments to reduce releases and in developing pollution prevention plans to carry out these commitments.
At the same time, the Target Chemicals strategy favors released in 1988) flexible, cost-effective approaches that Benzene 33.1 involve market-based incentives where practical. For example the strategy calls for the use of regulatory clusters through which EPA will categorize the rules it intends to propose over the next several years for certain chemicals and their sources. The clusters are intended to foster improved cross-media evaluation of the cumulative impact of standards, more certainty for industry, and early investment in prevention activities.
| Cadmium: | 2.0 |
| Carbon Tetrachloride: | 5.0 |
| Chloroform: | 26.9 |
| Chromium: | 56.9 |
| Cyanide: | 13.8 |
| Dichloromethane: | 153.4 |
| Lead: | 58.7 |
| Mercury: | 0.3 |
| Methyl Ethyl Ketone: | 159.1 |
| Methyl Isobutyl Ketone: | 43.7 |
| Nickel: | 19.4 |
| Tetrachloroethylene: | 37.5 |
| Toluene: | 344.6 |
| 1,1,1-Trichloroethane: | 190.5 |
| Trichloroethylene: | 55.4 |
| Xylene: | 201.6 |
The strategy outlines several short-term measures that will address various institutional barriers within the Agency's own organization that limit its ability to develop effective prevention strategies. Such measures include designating special assistants for pollution prevention in each Assistant Administrator's office, developing incentives and awards to encourage Agency staff to engage in pollution prevention efforts, incorporating prevention into the comprehensive 4-year strategic plans by each program office, and providing pollution prevention training to Agency staff.
The industrial toxics project for the manufacturing sector represents the first focus of a comprehensive Agency strategy. EPA will be seeking to work with the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, and Transportation to develop strategies for preventing pollution from agricultural practices and energy and transportation use. EPA has already begun several joint initiatives, including a cooperative grants program for sustainable agriculture research with the Department of Agriculture and a joint program with the Department of Energy to demonstrate energy efficiency and waste reduction in key sectors.
Copies of the strategy document are available from Julie Shannon in the Office of Pollution Prevention, 202-382-2736.
Last Updated: January 16, 1995