Regional Environmental Network Meetings Initiated

[From the Source - Winter 1997]

The Pollution Prevention Assistance Division (P²AD) and the Georgia Environmental Partnership (GEP) are proud to sponsor environmental network meetings throughout the state of Georgia. Areas where meetings were conducted during February had an enthusiastic response. Attendees have included representatives from the textile, mining, pharmaceutical, wood working, petroleum, chemical, and paper industries as well as several consumer commodity manufacturers. The meetings are being hosted by Georgia Tech's Industrial Extension offices in Atlanta, Athens, Albany, Augusta, Columbus, Dalton, Douglas, Macon, and Savannah. The goal of the network meetings is to provide industry with useful information and a climate in which to openly discuss environmental issues and potential solutions for their specific problems.

The planned meetings for 1997 are divided into three sessions. The first session covers parts of the SARA Title III requirements: specifically, the requirements for emergency planning, emergency notification, hazardous chemical inventories, and Tier II reports. The second session covers the remaining part of the SARA Title III requirements of section 313, commonly called Form R. The final session covers pollution prevention and the ISO 14000 Environmental Management System.

Information presented in these meetings should provide participants with the basic framework for a successful pollution prevention program. The first session helps attendees identify hazardous chemicals that their facilities currently use. The second session helps participants identify the waste streams in which these chemicals leave their facility, and the final session provides ideas for source reduction and management of these chemicals to reduce or eliminate reporting requirements.

Participants also have an opportunity to discuss local environmental issues, current events, and technologies of interest, as well as to receive updated information in directed discussions. The networks allow members of the area's environmental community to meet each other and exchange ideas in a non-regulatory setting.

For 1998, the networks will be continued in a similar fashion. The topics for 1998 include the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), hazardous waste reporting requirements, waste exchanges, alternatives for waste disposal, and success strategies of other Georgia companies. The focus will also include cost justification for source reduction of hazardous and non-hazardous waste materials.

P²AD and GEP invite anyone who is interested to attend, and we will be happy to sponsor additional network meetings or recommend speakers for existing networks on request. For more information contact a representative from the following list.