EPA Announces Winners of the 2023 Regional Pollution Prevention Recognition Awards
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the five winners of the 2023 Regional Pollution Prevention Recognition Awards. EPA Regions 4, 8, and 10 are recognizing five businesses that have demonstrated leadership in innovative pollution prevention (P2) practices which reduce, eliminate, or prevent pollution at its source prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal.
The United States produces billions of pounds of pollution each year and spends billions of dollars per year controlling this pollution. Preventing pollution at the source, also known as P2 or source reduction, rather than managing waste after it is produced, is an important part of advancing a sustainable economic and environmental infrastructure. P2 practices can reduce exposure to toxic chemicals, conserve natural resources, and reduce cleanup and financial costs for businesses, particularly for waste management and environmental liability.
“This year’s winners have shown that preventing pollution can improve performance and save money while also delivering benefits to our communities,” said EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pollution Prevention Jennie Romer. “Pollution prevention is an important strategy for fighting climate change, advancing environmental justice and increasing the competitiveness of American businesses.”
This year’s winners are:
- Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC., Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN for replacing the use of mineral oil in their electrical transformers with a bio-based product that reduced costs, ensured regulatory compliance, and produces 56 times less carbon dioxide emissions than the mineral oil it replaced.
- Breckenridge Grand Vacations, Breckenridge, Colorado for improving the efficiency of its snowmelt system, which prevents the build-up of snow and ice on walkways, patios, and roadways. The system was improved to turns on before snow and ice builds up which decreased the natural gas usage at the resort by 14 percent in the first quarter of 2023.
- Exotic Metals Forming Division of Parker Aerospace, Kent, Washington for eliminating chemical processes that contain n-Propylbromide (nPB), a hazardous compound that will soon be noncompliant in Washington State. By switching to a non-hazardous alternative instead of the anti-spatter product it was using as well as entirely removing a vapor degreasing process, the company estimates that it is preventing thousands of pounds of nPB waste from being released into the environment and saving thousands of dollars in disposal costs.
- Production Plating, Incorporated, Mukilteo, Washington for successfully reducing sodium hydroxide waste, a corrosive inorganic compound, by 50 percent in its operations. The change has decreased its waste disposal weight by 75 percent in most waste streams and is saving approximately $500,000 per year.
- Pacific Seafood, Clackamas, Oregon for switching to safer cleaning options at its seafood processing facility, implementing actions to decrease the amount of chemicals wasted, and focusing on water and energy conservation. The company estimates that the use of more efficient cleaning equipment alone has saved more than 330,000 gallons of water over the course of a year. Pacific Seafood is now implementing these changes at all of its facilities.
These 2023 award winners demonstrate that practicing P2 is helpful to businesses while also being essential to protecting public health and the environment. EPA will open nominations for the 2024 Regional Pollution Prevention Recognition Awards next spring.
Read more about the Regional Pollution Prevention Recognition Awards on EPA’s website.
Read more about EPA’s P2 Program.