Honoring champions of safer products and cleaner manufacturing

By Andrew Wineke, communications, Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction

Safer chemistry will take center stage in October when the Washington Department of Ecology joins Northwest Green Chemistry to present the Safer Chemistry Champion Awards.

The awards, which will be presented during the Northwest Green Chemistry Roundtable Oct. 28 in Tacoma, honor businesses and organizations committed to creating safer products and finding cleaner manufacturing methods. Finding ways to eliminate hazardous chemicals in the design stage or the manufacturing process means fewer toxic cleanups, healthier communities and a cleaner environment.

Nominations are open to companies, nonprofit organizations, governmental organizations and educational institutions for achievements in green chemistry, hazardous materials reduction and sustainability. Nominations are due by Sept. 8.

The Safer Chemistry Champion Awards are part of our Safer Chemistry Challenge program, which is working to promote innovation and best practices in the Northwest.

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Tackling Toxics: This spring, green chemistry is growing

By Andrew Wineke, communications, Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction

Earth Friendly Products, Lacey, Washington

If you haven’t kept up with the progress on the Northwest green chemistry initiative, it’s time to take a fresh look.

Green chemistry seeks to prevent pollution at its source by using chemicals that are not toxic in products and manufacturing processes. Ecology is pursuing a range of opportunities to advance green chemistry, and we have a number of new resources and programs you may be interested in.

Learn more about green chemistry online

First off, green chemistry at Ecology has a new home on the web: www.ecy.wa.gov/greenchemistry. The new address will make it a little simpler for people to connect with our green chemistry team.

At that address, you’ll also find information on Northwest Green Chemistry, the new name for the Pacific Northwest green chemistry center that we are creating with help from dedicated supporters in the business and education communities. Ultimately, our goal is to spin Northwest Green Chemistry off as an independent organization so that it can coordinate green chemistry innovation and education in our region.

Join the Safer Chemistry Challenge

The Safer Chemistry Challenge is the next newcomer on the list. The goal of the Challenge is to:

• Bring more companies into the conversation about green chemistry
• Promote best practices and cross-industry conversations
• Recognize leaders in creating safer products.

We will host an introductory webinar at 9:30 a.m. May 21 for interested companies and organizations.

We have updated much of the information on our green chemistry site, but especially take note of our new pages on chemical hazard assessments and upcoming green chemistry education and events.

Ecology and Northwest Green Chemistry recently sponsored a well-attended Pinfa-NA (Phosphorus, Inorganic, Nitrogen Flame Retardants Association) conference in Seattle on flame retardants in aerospace, and we’ll be looking to get the word out in other ways in the near future.

Green chemistry is a key contributor to Ecology’s work in safer products and pollution prevention, and it’s an area where we can help our state to be a leader and an innovator. Stay in touch, because there’s much more ahead!

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Earth ... Pass it on: Tackling Toxics

Safer Chemistry Challenge: Supporting safer products and cleaner manufacturing

By Andrew Wineke, communications, Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction Program

Often, we focus on chemical hazards after there’s already a problem – a spill, an injury, or an unforeseen environmental impact. When businesses use safer ingredients in their products or eliminate hazardous chemicals used in manufacturing, however, those problems can be avoided in the design stage.

In May, Ecology and the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable will introduce a new program called the Safer Chemistry Challenge to support businesses that are working to create cleaner, safer products.

Earth Friendly Products in Lacey, Washington.

"Many Washington businesses and organizations already understand that making safer products is a smart business decision," said Ken Zarker, manager of Ecology’s pollution prevention and regulatory assistance section. "By promoting safer products and cleaner manufacturing methods through the Safer Chemistry Challenge, we want to spur innovation and spread best practices." 

The Challenge will offer participants technical assistance with chemical hazard assessments, training and education, and sponsor cross-industry conversations. Businesses and organizations that demonstrate ongoing leadership in pursuing safer chemistry will be honored as “Safer Chemistry Champions.”

Learn more

• Register for Ecology’s introductory webinar at 9:30 a.m. on May 21 for businesses and organizations interested in the Safer Chemistry Challenge. 
• Find more information on the Safer Chemistry Challenge.
• Read about Ecology’s efforts to support green chemistry innovation and education.

Toxic releases increase in Washington while some industries reduce emissions

By Erika Holmes, Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction Program

Releases of toxic chemicals in Washington increased in 2012, according to data reported annually to the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology). The data is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report. Ecology works with reporting facilities to find ways to reduce toxic releases.

The annual TRI report provides key information about toxic releases to air, land, and water in our communities. Most of these releases are planned and managed, though some are accidental. TRI is a publicly available database of detailed information on nearly 650 chemicals disposed or otherwise released by nearly 21,000 industrial and federal facilities nationwide.

Washington's 2012 Report

In 2012, 310 Washington facilities reported releasing 19.6 million pounds of toxic chemicals to air, land, or water. Half of these releases were to air. Toxic releases in Washington increased 1.1 percent from 2011 to 2012.

 

More facilities are managing their waste on-site instead of disposing of it off-site. Washington facilities recovered 60.5 million pounds of waste for on-site energy, increasing 356 percent from 2011. On-site recycling and treatment also increased, reducing the pollution, cost of transportation, and risk of spills associated with moving waste off-site.

“Although we never want to see an increase in toxic releases, we are encouraged that some facilities reduced emissions through process improvement,” said K Seiler, who manages Ecology’s Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program. “Ecology works hard to create meaningful partnerships with industries to help them reduce or eliminate the use of toxics, often at a savings to the business.”

Two facilities stood out for cutting their toxic releases:

• Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) reduced ammonia emissions to the air at its Aberdeen plant by more than half.  SPI, a wood products company, generates renewable electricity by burning wood waste from its sawmill to power steam turbines. To reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, the company injects ammonia into the exhaust gases. Too much ammonia is itself a challenge, however, so in 2010 SPI began installing monitoring equipment to ensure it is using just the right amount. The new equipment allowed SPI to cut its ammonia emissions from 87,377 pounds in 2011 to 42,825 pounds in 2012.
• Tesoro Refining & Marketing installed emissions control equipment on their stacks, decreasing sulfuric acid aerosols reaching the air. By doing so, the company reduced those emissions from 158,095 pounds in 2011 to 120,091 pounds in 2012.

Ecology leads the state’s efforts to reduce toxics in our air, land, and water by:

• Providing free technical assistance to help facilities prevent pollution.
• Encouraging the use of safer alternatives to harmful chemicals.
• Promoting green chemistry.

To learn more about Washington’s 2012 TRI data, please visit Ecology’s 2012 Washington Toxics Release Inventory web page. You may also contact Ecology’s TRI Coordinator, Diane Fowler at (360) 407-6171.  

Find out more about toxic chemicals in your community – it’s your right to know!

You can access EPA’s data about releases of toxic chemicals to better understand the types and amounts of releases and the potential related risks in your community. TRI is an especially important data source for environmental releases of chemicals of particular concern, such as mercury, dioxins, and other persistent, bio-accumulative, toxic (PBT) chemicals. 

Access TRI data online

Envirofacts provides access to TRI and other EPA databases that contain information about environmental activities that can affect air, water, and land anywhere in the United States. Use Envirofacts to learn more about these environmental activities in an area or generate maps of environmental information.

TRI Explorer is a searchable database of TRI data to help communities identify facilities and chemical releases or other waste management activities that warrant further study and analysis. Combined with hazard and exposure information, the TRI Explorer can be a valuable tool for identifying potential chemical hazards in communities.

The Risk Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) provides information about risks to human health related to potential exposures to TRI chemicals. RSEI is a screening-level model that combines TRI information on the amount of toxic chemical releases with other risk factors to help assess the relative hazard and risk of chemicals, facilities and industries.

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Sharing the magic of green chemistry with high school teachers

By Saskia van Bergen, green chemistry scientist, Hazardous Waste Toxic Reduction Program

When I was a student in a lab, I knew very little of the chemical and safety hazards of the experiments we did. From my perspective, the materials magically appeared and disappeared. I didn’t know what went on behind the scenes. I thought very little about the health risks of chemicals we used. This continued into college where I majored in chemistry. Even though I took a class in environmental chemistry, it wasn’t until I worked on my senior thesis that I started learning more about the potential hazards of chemicals. Some toxic chemicals pose an immediate health threat. Others can gradually build up in the environment and in our bodies, causing harm to the environment and disease long after first use.

Benign by Design

One of the reasons I love my job here at Ecology is that we are helping to improve products and our quality of life by using the principles of Green Chemistry. These principles help Washington State businesses be more profitable and competitive while protecting human health and the environment. Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. Some people call this “Benign by Design” or pollution prevention at the most basic level.

We think educating the next generation of scientists in green chemistry is a necessary first step toward preventing pollution through safer, greener chemical products and processes. Unless the future scientists first learn about green chemistry in school, it won’t enter widespread practice.

Ecology is partnering with Beyond Benign to share a Green Chemistry Webinar Series for high school science teachers. Join us for one, two or all three webinars dedicated to providing useful tools and resources for integrating green chemistry into the high school classroom and laboratory. Find out why and how green chemistry can be used to teach core chemistry concepts while at the same time inspiring students to create the next generation of sustainable products and processes.

Green Chemistry Webinar Series:

May 30th - Introducing Green Chemistry into the High School Webinar:
This webinar will focus on green chemistry basics with a short introduction to the 12 key principles. Highlighted in this webinar will be multi-disciplinary lessons for introducing green chemistry and teachers’ personal experiences of how they have introduced green chemistry to their students.

June 6th - Connecting Chemistry Concepts to Cutting-Edge Science Innovations Webinar: This webinar will focus on lessons and units designed to highlight and connect chemistry concepts with current chemistry-related inventions and discoveries over the past 20 years. Review Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award-Winning Case Studies and units linking chemistry concepts to cosmetics, solar energy and biomimicry.

June 13th - Safer Chemistry: Drop-In Replacement Labs Webinar: This webinar will focus on labs that cover the same content as traditional labs, but use more environmentally friendly materials. The focus will be on labs that reduce the risk in the laboratory setting by targeting the hazard rather than the exposure. Replacement labs that will be highlighted will be: reactions: single, double, composition & decomposition; equilibrium and flame test.

Register Now

To register, go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/6390260775939252992

For more information visit our Green Chemistry website

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Preventing pollution pays big dividends; lets keep at it!

By K Seiler, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction manager

I’m excited to announce this week is National Pollution Prevention Week and an opportunity to recognize Washington State success stories achieved by industry! I’m energized by these results, and the savings of more than $45 million reported by a subset of Washington businesses through our state Pollution Prevention Program since 2005.

Since we havebeen working on pollution prevention for more than 20 years, this week is also an opportunity to answer the question, are we done yet? The answer is no, we aren’t done.

As we look to the future, one of the biggest remaining challenges is reducing toxic threats to our environment and public health. I’m excited about our state’s forward-looking work such as developing alternative chemical assessment guidance and a green chemistry roadmap. This work is aimed at getting to safer chemical substitutes for use in product design, manufacturing, sale and disposal. It’s a win-win for the economy and the environment.

Ecology assists business to reduce toxic wastes

Furthermore, Washington’s Waste Reduction Act tasked Ecology to work with businesses and help them reduce the wastes they generate. We do this two ways. We provide technical assistance to all businesses. And we specifically help larger businesses create and carry out Pollution Prevention Plans. These plans focus on opportunities to reduce toxic chemical use.These businesses have reduced the amount of dangerous waste they produce yearly by 100 million pounds since 2000.

But businesses in our state still generate more than one hundred million pounds of dangerous waste yearly. That’s a lot of waste. But it doesn’t represent all the toxic waste generated in Washington. It doesn’t represent the amount of toxics that are discharged legally to our waterways from businesses.

And it doesn’t represent the amount of toxics that we as individuals purchase in products that make their way into the environment. We are all affected by toxic wastes. Reducing the amount of toxics used and wastes generated or released to the environment is the smartest, cheapest way to reduce risk to people and businesses.

Opportunities for toxics reduction ongoing

Businesses that have worked on reducing their wastes continue to benefit from opportunities. Over time, business operations change, personnel changes and technology changes. New eyes see new opportunities for reductions. Even those facilities that have worked for many years to reduce their wastes find ways to reduce waste even more.

Ecology can cite many examples of businesses that have reduced the toxics, wastes and resources they use. For example, Accra-Fab, Inc., in Liberty Lake, Washington, had been working on reducing their wastes for at least 17 years. However, as a result of taking part in a Lean and Green Project, the company reduced their bottom line more by saving wastewater treatment costs and reducing their use of chemicals. A video highlighting Accra-Fab’s success will earn a national award in Washington D.C. during Pollution Prevention Week.

Every day businesses use toxic chemicals when there are safer alternatives available. Every day we choose to buy products that contain toxic chemicals. Ecology has been working on developing tools to help businesses and the public make better choices. If you are interested in information on how to reduce toxics, the following resources are available:

Assessing chemical alternatives

Pollution prevention successes

Business pollution prevention resources

Information for households and communities

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Ecology to host Green Chemistry training for middle school educators

by Ken Zarker, Pollution Prevention, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction program

Do you know a middle school science educator or have a personal interest in environmental education? If so, please contact me to help recruit teachers to attend the state's first Green Chemistry educators' workshop at Ecology's Lacey building July 27-29.

Ecology is partnering with several organizations to host this world-class training program. The course, “Chemistry with a Conscience: The Science of Shampoo" is a three-day training that provides middle school teachers with knowledge and methods for bringing Green Chemistry to their students.

The middle school unit covers science, math, language arts, and social studies themes of Green Chemistry through a business simulation. The units have been classroom tested and are currently being used by teachers in multiple countries and in many different learning environments.

Brooke Carson and Rachel Pokrandt of the Beyond Benign Foundation and the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry are collaborating with Ecology, the Environmental Education Association of Washington and several other partners to help establish K-12 science educator training in Washington.

For more information:

• Beyond Benign Curriculum


• Greener Education Materials for Chemists (GEMs)

Contact info: Ken Zarker, ken.zarker@ecy.wa.gov, 360-407-6724

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Better living through GREEN chemistry

by Ken Zarker, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program

As a parent of two elementary school kids, I’m aware of the growing concern about toxics in products. Our kids come into contact with everyday products found in our home and schools – from personal care products, to art supplies and the janitorial cleaning supplies used in the schools.

A poll conducted in August, 2009 by the opinion research firm Lake Research Partners found that Americans are very concerned with the way chemicals are regulated for consumer use in the U.S. The findings come as new legislation—an overhaul of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act—is expected to be introduced soon in both Houses of the U.S. Congress.

Increasingly, consumers are recognizing the value of non-toxic and low-toxic products. And companies are realizing that this market is good for their bottom line and the environment. This helps Washington continue to be a leader in the creation of green jobs.

Green chemistry, green building, green energy, green purchasing are all important, emerging niches for Washington State’s economy. And they all rely on non-toxic materials.

Now, a new resource guide on green chemistry is available to help grow Washington’s green economy. The report is based on the 12 principles of green chemistry. These were defined by Paul Anastas and John Warner as “the utilization of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and application of chemicals and products.”

The report recommends action states can take to promote safer products in four broad areas:
1) information development, collection and dissemination;
2) economic incentives;
3) recognition programs, and
4) regulation and policy, including the following:

• Promote chemical information and assessing alternatives.
  
• Provide tax incentives for green chemistry and design for environment.
  
• Implement award programs for green chemistry and design for environment.
  
• Require safer alternatives planning.

This report is both timely and strategic. It will promote states’ actions on toxics reduction, greening the supply chain, and economic growth – the framework for a more sustainable chemical industry. We expect many new cross-sector initiatives that will advance the goals of environmental protection and economic development.

This project was a collaborative effort among business, government, nongovernmental organizations and academia. Our project partners include the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, National Pollution Prevention Roundtable, and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production.

For more information on Reducing Toxic Threats:

• Reducing Toxics in Children’s Products
  
• Toxic Chemicals in Puget Sound
  
• Toxic Free Tips
  
• See the news release: States, Academics, and Industry to Collaborate and Promote Safer Products: New Report Outlines Framework for Green Chemistry and Design for Environment