The P2 Challenge
By John Piggott, EcoSafe Environmental, Health & Safety Management

The "Challenge", that is the key component of Pollution Prevention (P2) that piques and maintains my professional interest as an environmental consultant. The first challenge was to learn how to change our clients' business/enviro paradigm from grudgingly just complying with environmental regulations to embracing P2 as part of their profit center.

It is amazing to think back to just the 80s and early 90s when the "environment" was a real hard sell to industry. Our approach, especially to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), was often totally wrong and arrogant. Our original focus was also mainly on waste management or treatment instead of prevention.

(Actual incident 1993) "Oh hi John. I see you recommend that we start collecting our processor effluent and have it picked up for disposal at a cost of $200.00 a drum, ten grand a year, something about aquatic life forms eh? Well buddy, I got three little life forms at home that need their daddy to make some money, so when I see the fish swimming upside down I'll worry about it then. You do know where the door is eh...

Then we attempted "front of pipe" instead of "end of pipe" P2 solutions but we still wore the enviro hat instead of the business solution suit.

"Let me see, John. You want me to stop using XYZ solvent that has been working well for us for 10 years, is low cost and readily available from a number of suppliers and is a standard raw material in our industry. And replace it with a higher cost, slower working aqueous product available only from a couple of sources because it has less volatiles organism confounds... that would give my competitors a real edge... hmmm let me think about this while you show yourself out. You do know where the door is eh?!"

It helped, certainly, when tougher regulations came into effect, most high profile and larger companies got on board in a hurry but the majority of SMEs ignore them until either forced to deal with them by inspectors or are shown a cost and efficiency benefit. Another challenge therefore was learning the importance of understanding and relating P2 to their business model i.e. reciprocity, in business parlance - Return on Investment.

And that is where the Toronto Region Sustainability Program delivered through OCETA is so effective. By offering a substantial cost sharing inducement the client becomes a contractual partner in the whole P2 assessment process. Now we can conduct a comprehensive, facility wide confidential assessment, a collaborative effort on business efficiency, pollution prevention (P2) and community-based sustainability. And the results have been amazing, leading to CCME and other national award winning P2 success stories.

In the industry sector where I work, we have come a long way and the challenge now is to promote and produce sustainable results in real reductions in persistent toxics and pollutants. This is best achieved by companies integrating waste reduction, R&D & P2 procedures into core management systems. The approach has to be first and foremost from a cost saving or even revenue generating multi media format. Today promoting a proactive "green" image is a growing marketing trend in business. We need to use a consultative approach, that's what they pay us for. We need to feel their pain, share their problems and by becoming problem solvers we become a viable resource and therefore successful ourselves. Everybody wins, our clients, the environment and ourselves.

One example is the printer who uses an expensive, high VOC solvent in a printing press auto wash system mixed 50/50 with water. He also has to pay a high price to have the spent waste solvent/wash picked up by a licensed hauler. By studying the process, discussing the background with the operator and suppliers and investigating the options, we learned it is the press equipment supplier who dictates what type of solvent they use, limited by the warranty on the press and the fact that they also supply the solvent. Kind of ties the guy up! He can't use any different formulae without losing the warranty and technical support. So we took another approach. I took a sample of the waste solvent/wash to a local manufacturer of recycling equipment. They modified a distillation unit to clean, separate and recapture the solvent and the water. We tested the recycled solvent, both on the press and in the lab, and compared it with the virgin product. This proved successful and an 80% saving is now realized for the owner, not just on the cost of the solvent but also on the reportable VOCs previously purchased. The savings on the waste haulage alone is enough to pay for the recycler in a year. Then there is the reduction in the delivery and pickup truck emissions (smog and GHG) and 21 tonnes of class 213I hazardous waste is eliminated. There is also a saving for the cost of floor space for inventory of virgin and waste drums and the manpower to handle them. The manifesting costs are saved as is the reporting to the MOE including a tax credit for R&D and experimental scientific development. Cost saving $45,760+ and VOC reduction of 7.5 tonnes per year. This is just one P2 item with a whole lot of benefits for the business and the environment. (See P2 Case Studies examples on the OCETA web site for more details).

Most of us want to try and "save the planet" (now there's a challenge) from the negative effects of industrialization, consumerism and ignorance. Farley Mowat promotes the concept of actually eliminating homo sapiens off the planet; this would certainly work, and we are heading in that direction, but it is somewhat extreme. The old adage Think Globally but Act Locally is so true. If we are to succeed, we certainly cannot rely on our government. It's up to us individually, and collectively, as P2 practitioners to educate, promote and to inspire others to take up The Challenge.