“Waste is a resource in the wrong place.” ( or “Waste is lost profit.”) John Seymour NC Div. Of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance

I’m here to tell you how I use P2 to make a living.  How my work history failed to teach me P2  How P2 programs are now coming into focus  How I and coworkers do P2 Audits  Why is P2 still so slow to spread  And some industrial audit safety tips

“The old workers always teaches the new workers their bad habits.”  1983 Burlington industries – no P2 in sight  1985 B&M Machining – get those contracts  1985 Adams products – regulations are dumb  1987 DENR Water Quality – regs more regs  1999 DPPEA – P2 forever but no one hears

If its been around for a long time, why all the sudden interest in P2? The Big three My office thinks of: P2 in the past was mostly for problem solving. The 1990 Pollution Prevention Act made them look again. NC State Government started hearing from the Voters, local gov’t, and companies impacted by other company pollution.

DPPEA has several programs to help spread P2.  The On-line DPPEA Library ()  The On-line DPPEA Library (  WasteTrader listserve  Environmental Stewardship Initiative (ESI)  Grease Goblin Campaign  Recycle Guys Campaign  ISO 1400 teaching and pilot programs  And several others currently not active

Federal P2 programs are growing and coming on strong.  EPA Energy Star programs (esp. buildings & equipment)  Green Lights program  Common Since Initiative  Green Buildings  And about 2 dozen more industry specific programs

There are a lot of state, national, and international P2 programs.  ISO – the required EMS is very P2 (Ford and GM are requiring all their suppliers to be certified –about 200 NC companies.)  Strategic Goals Program (SGP)– A National Metal Finishers Association program for reducing waste and chemical usage.  Responsible Care – A nationwide Chemical Industry Association program to reduce waste.

Industry has several P2 specific programs.  WRAP – Dow Chemical corporation  P3 – 3M corporation  Assets Recycling Program – Xerox  Green Buildings -Triangle J Council

All State facilities are doing P2.  Utility Savings Imitative – cutting 7% of all utility bills in State Government facilities.  Executive order #156 – requiring P2 in all areas of operation.  Executive order #26 – requiring water reduction  House Bill 1215 – ordering water savings  NC Project Green – working on sustainability in all state facilities and universities,  NC Project Green – working on sustainability in all state facilities and universities,

2 major points in doing P2 audits A P2 audit is 10% basic knowledge, 20% asking the right questions and 70% observation and common sense. The biggest secret to making P2 sense out of a complex factory is: look past what and how things are being done and see how the environment is being impacted.

Three basic principals 1. People you are auditing know their work better than you do. Take advantage and ask questions, opinions, and what they want to see improved. 2. Many P2 opportunities are invisible because people become accustomed to working with a flawed systems. You are a “fresh pair of eyes” to see these things. 3. Find out what P2 problems people are most concerned about. Concentrate on these because people are more likely to work on the P2 improvements for problems that worry them the most.

Where to start looking for P2 1. Ask what p2 things people are already doing. It lets them think about other things to show you. 2. Look at walls floors ceilings and furnishing locations. Are these barriers or smooth channels for workflow? 3. Look at people and note WHAT, WHEN, & HOW they work. 4. Do people look comfortable? If not find out, as this often leads to P2 items. 5. Look at what people throw away.

Obvious pollution problems are easy to spot.  Most of the time, it is a question of looking for problems. You are the fresh pair of eyes.  What is being thrown away?  What is being released?  What is not being reused?  What can be reused? Too often busy people become used to working the procedure rather than take time to improve it.

Hidden pollution  This is harder to spot because you have to trace the materials going through the facility to see where it all goes.  Inspection of dumpsters tells a lot.  How are things cleaned up? Do they have a major water hoes Olympics each night?  What happens to oils, inks,and paints?  Are they doing things because a long time ago they got into the habit of treating pollution from something else?

Initial Design P2  It’s a lot more expensive to run compressed air hand tools than regular electric tool. But, compressed air tools are lighter and faster for workers to use, thus saving labor costs.  150 million dollar building with 3 million/yr operating cost. Or the same $150 million building built Green with $80K/yr operating cost.

Turning pollution into a resource  A plant in the western part of NC is saving over 10,000 gallons of process water a day, using the condensate water from their chiller units.  A plant in southern NC uses copper shavings from its process in its cooling tower system to save thousands a year in chemicals.

Big and small all P2 adds up  Very often attitude and employee education make the difference in P2.  The DPPEA office started coping on both sides and printing in-house things on the clean side of used paper. There was a 30% paper savings the first year.  A small lumber company sends its sawdust to be burned in the steam plant of a furniture factory.  UNC Chapel Hill is installing stormwater catch tanks under new parking lots to capture and reuse for irrigation.

Why is P2 not bigger if its better?  Fixed methods  Sunk costs perpetual loop  Messing with our living myth  Old guys training new guys trap  Lack of cost savings data to prove P2  Payback period being to long myth  No long range planning  Blind value engineering

Safety Tips for the Audit  The left hand rule  Do not follow the leader  Respect for the workers  Confined spaces kill