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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Appendices

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Appendix A
Descriptions of Industry-Initiated Environmental Programs

This appendix provides additional information about the industry environmental programs listed in Table 2. 1. Information was provided by companies in response to requests from the committee. Companies were asked to describe briefly their environmental programs, including difficulties faced in implementing their programs and how they determine whether a program is successful. The program descriptions are intended to illustrate a range of approaches and perspectives relevant to industry-initiated environmental efforts.

3M: Pollution Prevention Pays Program

The 3M Corporation's Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) Program is reported to be the longest running continuous industry-initiated program in the United States. For each of its 4,100 pollution-prevention projects, 3M measures "success" in terms of the pollution prevention results for a given year compared with those of the first project year. 3M estimates that between 1975 and 1994, the program has prevented 159,000 tons of air pollutants, 29,000 tons of water pollutants, 439,000 tons of sludge or solid waste, and 2 billion gallons of wastewater in the United States.

3M states that an important part of succeeding with the program and overcoming barriers has been a strong commitment from top

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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management that incorporates pollution prevention objectives into the company's operations. 3M believes the program helps to develop technically sound, cost-effective approaches to environmental management and also enhances a strong environmental culture throughout the company.

Dow: Waste Reduction Always Pays

The Dow Chemical Company's Waste Reduction Always Pays (WRAP) program was formalized in 1986 with two key components: (1) financial support for projects that reduce waste or emissions and (2) recognition for successful projects and the individuals involved in those projects. The program reportedly was designed to stimulate a cultural shift in thinking of Dow employees concerning the value of reducing waste releases and emissions reduction. The goals of the program are to reduce waste to the environment, recognize achievement, enhance waste reduction awareness, measure and track progress, and reduce long-term costs.

A team composed of facility-level waste reduction personnel and regional environmental managers select approximately 20 different projects annually from around the United States. The factors by which the projects are judged include: type of compound, amount of reduction, environmental media in which pollution will be reduced, cost effectiveness, actual dollar savings, and how the project was identified.

Dow measures environmental success in two general ways. First, it evaluates how well the concepts of waste reduction are becoming part of company culture. This is assessed by evaluating participation in the WRAP program directly and by evaluating responses to related questions that are asked as part of self-evaluation surveys used to verify implementation of pollution-

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
×

prevention practices. Second, annual environmental release data reported to EPA's Toxics Release Inventory are used to measure environmental success. Because it is done on a project-by-project basis, WRAP is simpler and probably easier to emulate than programs aimed at coordinating waste-reduction efforts across an entire company.

Lucent Technologies: Streamlined Life-Cycle Assessment

Lucent Technologies (formerly part of AT&T) states that it has a corporate goal to manufacture environmentally responsible telecommunications products and that the product design process should consider all product life stages and all environmental interactions. A full life-cycle assessment is not traditionally performed by product design and manufacturing engineers; that could be too expensive and time-consuming. However, an Lucent scientist and an environmental affairs manager worked together to develop a qualitative, streamlined life-cycle analysis technique. Lucent estimates that the use of this technique can identify perhaps 80% of the useful actions that could be taken in designing products with an objective for reducing environmental effects (Graedel et al., 1995). Because the amounts of time and money are much smaller for its streamlined analysis than for a comprehensive life-cycle assessment, Lucent believes any particular assessment has a better chance of being carried out, the recommendations have a better chance of being implemented, and more assessments can be undertaken.

Lucent's principal indicator for environmental success is whether, as a result of streamlined life-cycle assessments, product designers make environmentally preferable choices that would otherwise not

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
×

have been made. In the long term, Lucent expects that by using this approach each new product will be environmentally superior to the product it replaces. For the future, Lucent plans to apply these techniques to processes and facilities as well as products. Lucent believes that designing products to lessen environmental impacts will contribute to pollution prevention, waste reduction, and energy efficiency.

Internal barriers to success have included the lack of technical personnel trained in streamlined life-cycle assessment. The technique has been freely shared by Lucent, and versions of it are being used by other corporations.

Ford: Manufacturing Environmental Leadership Program

The stated intent of Ford's Manufacturing Environmental Leadership Program is to prevent pollution at the early stages of process and product development, to reduce or eliminate the use of materials of concern, to promote and plan for recyclability, to meet or exceed all environmental regulatory requirements, to protect and enhance wildlife habitats at or near company facilities, and to obtain supplier support and involvement in the program.

Metrics for environmental success are established as specific strategies are developed. For example, a strategy to replace materials used for packaging is considered successful if the use of new materials results in generating less waste without reducing product quality. One barrier to success of the program is the difficulty of communicating in a large organization. Environmental leadership, and full commitment from top management is critical for the success of the activity.

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
×

Corning Incorporated: Materials Substitution and Process Modification

Corning Inc. began as a glass manufacturer and remains so today, although its range of products and services has broadened to include ceramics, plastics, and clinical and pharmaceutical testing. The stated goals of Coming's environmental program are to reduce waste and pollution from core manufacturing processes while maintaining or improving product quality. These goals are pursued through materials substitution and by process modification.

Corning has been working to find substitutes for materials such as arsenic and lead and to develop and take advantage of new technologies such as gas/oxy firing, which provides heat to process tanks by combustion of a fuel consisting of natural gas and pure oxygen. This technique results in a substantial reduction in the production of oxides of nitrogen. Arsenic has been used by Coming and other manufacturers for many years to remove impurities from glass. Coming is voluntarily phasing out arsenic from its glass products, but a major development effort is required to remove arsenic from each type of glass while maintaining product quality. Coming also has mounted a substantial research effort to develop new glass compositions that reduce or eliminate lead and barium in several types of glasses while maintaining the desirable properties those elements bestow on glasses. In addition, a program is underway to eliminate chlorides from raw materials fed into some of Coming's facilities. This will greatly reduce hydrogen chloride emissions from those processes. An external barrier to such changes—lack of customer acceptance of the product—is being addressed by plant and business representatives.

The metric for environmental success is the reduction in use and emissions of materials of concern. Overall, Corning's

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
×

environmental releases of chemicals that were reported to EPA's Toxics Release Inventory dropped by 66% between 1988 and 1993, although this is due in part to the 1989 exclusion of aluminum oxide from EPA's list of reportable emissions.

Jamestown Paint Company: Pollution Prevention Program

Jamestown Paint Company, founded in 1885 in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, is a family-owned, regional manufacturer of industrial and speciality coatings. Since 1990, the company has recycled office paper, glass, aluminum, and cardboard, using traditional waste-control methods. The company also has developed a comprehensive program to reduce hazardous waste generation; reuse, recycle, and recover materials; and increase efficiencies, customer satisfaction, and profits. To do this, Jamestown took advantage of technical services offered to manufacturers by the state of Pennsylvania to analyze their waste streams and the processes that generate waste. Jamestown Paint then conducted further assessments, including: (1) a study to determine how pollution prevention might affect product quality, (2) a cost-of-quality study focusing on the production steps that generate waste, (3) customer surveys regarding product quality, and (4) an overall quality-control system assessment. Based on those assessments, the company developed a plan for improving product quality and cutting costs through pollution prevention.

The two most important challenges that Jamestown Paint had to meet were active employee participation and total commitment from management throughout the company. The company plans to continue to work on these challenges using additional training and by highlighting examples set by managers.

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
×

Cerdec Corporation/Drakenfeld Products: Reducing Pollution and Worker Exposure

Cerdec Corporation/Drakenfeld Products manufactures coatings and pigments for glass, ceramic, and plastic products. Given the use of mixed metal oxides containing inorganic metals in its processing, Cerdec/Drakenfeld focuses its environmental efforts primarily on solid wastes and worker safety and health improvements, such as reducing employee blood lead levels. By 1992, the company reported that it had voluntarily reduced the combined amount of various toxics by 43% and had reduced the level of its hazardous waste by 55% through waste management and minimization while increasing product output by 40%. From 1982–1993, the company stated that it reduced accident frequency by 84% and the accident severity rate by 76%; in addition, the company has reported reduction of lead in air at process centers by 85% from 1982–1992 and decreased blood lead levels of employees by 70% from 1981–1993.

Cerdec/Drakenfeld reports that it has successfully exported its environmental efforts to European member companies; for example, the Frankfurt plant reportedly duplicated the lead reduction program developed in Washington, Pennsylvania. Cerdec/Drakenfeld formed its first public advisory council in 1991 with representation from various sectors of the community.

Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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Suggested Citation:"APPENDIX A." National Research Council. 1997. Fostering Industry-Initiated Environmental Protection Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5506.
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