FY 2020 Pollution Prevention Grant Program
EPA-HQ-OPPT-2020-002
NH DES Pollution Prevention Page
The proposed project will provide on-site assistance for the reduction of greenhouse gas by reducing plastic pollution in Company X. While doing this an Environmental Leadership Program will be put in place for small Business, whose main activities will be developing tools and workshops that will assist manufacturers “green” their supply chain.
Total Project Funding: $60,000
Requested Funding: $60,000
Adel Alotibe, Magdalena Mazur, Malesa Sammy,Horane Daley
Pollution Prevention Project
160 Convent Ave,
New York, NY 10031
Tel: (212) 650-7000
Fax:(212) 650-7000
Email:[email protected]
Table of Contents
Page
I. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………..
II. Discussion ……………………………………………………………………………..
A. Projects Yielding Environmental Outputs ……………………………………….
B. References for P2 Outcome Categories ………………………………………….
C. Actual Outcome Results & Implementation Activities at the Disaggregate Level..
III. Appendix …………………………………………………………………………….
- Introduction
The Environmental Protection Agency grants funds to states to assist and train businesses in the area of Pollution Prevention. The purpose of the effort is to encourage businesses to embrace environmental strategies that would reduce waste from its source. In the state of New York, businesses will receive assistance in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, generation and use of hazardous materials, such as toxins in processes and, conserving water or saving money. The focus is on toxics reductions (e.g., green chemistry, engineering and design) related to manufacturing and commercial operations that impact local communities, especially those that bear a disproportionate share of the adverse environmental consequences (e.g., urban neighborhoods subject to flooding) (EPA 2). Plastics, when exposed to sunlight, emit greenhouse gases such as methane and ethylene. As a result, the project explains plastic recycling to combat the issue.
The goal of the project is to assist Company X with reducing plastic pollution both in production, and in the employees’ use of plastic materials. This will be accomplished by having mandated training and providing technical support to the company.
The annual budget is estimated to be $30,000 and the project will be for a 2-year period. The expected outcomes of the project are to reduce hazardous materials and greenhouse gases, as well as save money by reducing plastic pollution in Company X.
- Discussion
The Pollution Prevention activities for the project include greenhouse gas reductions from plastic pollution.
| Pollution Prevention activity (A) |
Hazardous Inputs and WasteReduced (B) |
Air Pollutants Reduced (C) |
Metric Tons of Carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2Eq) reduced (D) | Dollars Saved (E) |
| Greenhouse gas reductions from plastic pollution | 50,000 lbs | 100,000 lbs | 19,000 | $10,000 |
Table 1: Estimated Annual Environmental Outcomes
In Table 1 above, the Pollution prevention activity is the reduction of greenhouse gases from plastic pollution. The activity will be done by encouraging plastic recycling.
Column A lists the Pollution Prevention activity to produce the project outcomes for New York. For this activity, the outcomes, columns B through F were estimated. Column B accounts for all the materials used as process units such as water bottles. Column C represents toxic air emissions such as sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides. In addition, Column D represents the metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent reduced. It shows that the activity contributes significantly to the amount of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As a result of the project, it is estimated that 19,000 metric tons of this CO2 from plastic pollution will be reduced. The Dollars saved column (F) was estimated based on each outcome.
Estimates were made based on comparison to previous Pollution Prevention reports from the EPA. The team estimated what the outcomes will be for the activity. These outcomes will be measured by on-site technical assistance and training regarding plastic pollution recycling and how plastic contributes to that effect.
A. Presenting Information on Projects Yielding Environmental Outputs.
- Pollution Prevention Project
| P2 Activity | Outputs | Behavior Changes |
| Greenhouse gas reductions from plastic pollution | Hazardous Inputs and Waste Reduced 50,000 lbs Air Pollutants Reduced 100,000 lbsMetric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (MTCO2Eq) Reduced 19,000Dollars Saved $10,000 | Mandated trainingTechnical assistance to companies |
Table 2: Expected Outputs and Behavior Changes for P2 Activity.
In Table 2 above, the P2 activity is expected to reduce a significant amount of hazardous inputs and air pollutants, while saving an estimated amount of $10,000. The output will be achieved by various activities in companies, such as mandated training and technical assistance.
Currently companies such as Coca-Cola, Mars, Nestle, and Danone produce about 6 million tons of plastic waste every year (Ivanova 1). While large companies such as these have a high production rate, even smaller companies also contribute to plastic waste pollution through both shipment and consumer packaging. The initial goal is to have a company reduce their plastic waste production by about 50,000 lbs or 25 tons. After this reduction the company will also help to reduce the amount of air pollutants as well as the carbon dioxide levels. This reduction in plastic use will in addition also help the company save money on unnecessary plastic packaging. Companies such as these require more guidance from experts and chemical engineers to find a balance between cost and the use of new materials to reduce plastic waste production. The goal of the Pollution Prevention Project is to help both large and small companies be able to serve their customers while also figuring out solutions to help reduce the plastic waste being produced.
- The outputs and behavior change data will be collected by having a technical assistant perform monthly visits and evaluate how much waste was produced by the company and guild the company in further reducing their waste production. Our program will also send out monthly surveys to both the employees and management about how the new changes are either benefiting the company or if further changes need to be implemented in order for the company to be able to successfully reduce their waste production. This data will be analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively to figure out a plan that works best for the company. The technical assistants that will be working on this project will be hired by the Pollution Prevention Project to work on helping companies reduce their waste consumption.
B. References for P2 Outcome Categories (refer to Table 1).
- P2 Activity [Column A]: Greenhouse gas reductions from plastic pollution
- Pounds of Hazardous Inputs and Waste Reduced [Column B]: The amount of hazardous inputs and waste will be reduced by 50,000 lbs because the Plastic Pollution Prevention Project will provide monthly technical assistance to the company to help them find other usable materials for their packaging and shipment needs. The 50,000 lbs is a small goal that can be achieved by simply changing one method of packaging in each company to help reduce their contribution to the large amount of plastic waste companies typically produce.
- Pounds of Air Pollutants Reduced [Column C]: The amount of air pollutants will be reduced by 100,000 lbs because for every one pound of plastic that gets produced, about two pounds of air pollutants get produced.
- Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (MTCO2Eq) Reduced [Column D]: The amount of carbon dioxide equivalent that will be reduced by the implementation of the new activities will be about 19,000 tons. This is a rough estimate using the amount of carbon dioxide that is produced when a water bottle that holds 355 ml of water is produced. It is estimated that a water bottle of this size produces about 214 g of carbon pollution (TAPP 5).
- Dollars Saved [Column E]: It is estimated that about $10,000 will be saved on reducing plastic waste production since the current cost of plastic production is about 15.20 cents. This is equivalent to about $10,000 for the production of 50,000 pounds of plastic waste which will no longer need to be produced.
C. Formatting Actual Outcome Results and Implementation Activities at the Disaggregate Level.
- The Pollution Prevention Project will provide transparent annual and final reports about the effects that providing mandated training for all company employees, increasing greenhouse gas awareness, and providing technical assistance to Company X, has on the reduction of greenhouse gas production from plastic pollution. There will also be informal transparent monthly reports to assess the monthly impact that the new implemented activities have on decreasing greenhouse gas emission.
- State Environmental Leadership Program results with adequate transparency
| Facility Name | Indicator | Specific Indicator | Baseline | Quantity | Cost savings | Cost savings explanation |
| Company X | Hazardous air Emission | Reduced Volatile organic compounds (VOC) by reducing VOC products used, better spray gun | 100 tons | Now 75 tons; 25 ton reduction | $10,000 | Reduced material purchasing costs by completinga.Unnecessary use plastic will be reduced b.Alternative materials will be used to reduce plastic pollution. |
- Environmental Management System :
We are continuously working to improve our ISO14001 based environmental management systems and to promote Group wide environmental management.
ISO14001: Environmental Management Systems standards determined by the International Organization for Standardization. Certification is granted to environmentally conscious organizations that develop systems for ongoing reductions in their environmental footprint.
We have constructed Environmental Management Systems (EMS) based on the ISO 14001 international standard and is promoting environmental improvement activities across the Group. To conduct comprehensive discussions on the COMPANY X Group’s environmental management, we have established an Environmental & CSR Management Committee. This committee considers medium-to-long term issues, implements policy decisions and discusses methods for handling and sharing operating risks and opportunities from climate change, all with the aim of raising the level of the Group’s environmental management and strengthening its governance.
Subordinate to the Environmental & CSR Management Committee, we have organized environmental issue-specific committees composed of concerned parties that go beyond the framework of business groups and business units. Through this promotion structure, we are quickly diffusing initiatives on these issues throughout the Group. We have also established an Environmental Management Working Group (WG) which is working to unify global information transmission and strengthen environmental management systems (EMS) activities.
APPENDIX
Project Timeline 1:
The following table represents the time schedule for major project activities and milestones. It Illustrates the month and which activities were done in each month while also documenting the milestones on the further left of the table.
| Phases & Key Milestones | OCT | NOV | DEC | JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP |
| Technical Assistance | ||||||||||||
| Respond to questions | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Survey clients | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
| Results Measurement | ||||||||||||
| Data Input | X | X | ||||||||||
| Training for regional offices | X | X | ||||||||||
| Communication Center | ||||||||||||
| Central Data Management | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Sample Survey
Citations
Ivanova, Irina. “These 4 Companies Produce 6 Million Tons of Plastic Every Year.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 15 Mar. 2019, www.cbsnews.com/news/these-4-companies-produce-6-million-tons-of-plastic-every-year/.
“Recycling Facts.” GrowNYC, www.grownyc.org/recycling/facts.
“What Is the Carbon Footprint of Bottled Water? – TAPP Water.” USA, 2 Aug. 2019, tappwater.co/us/carbon-footprint-bottled-water/.
