Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessments for Research & Developments Laboratories [Paperback]

Jill Engel-Cox (Author), Kim Fowler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1999

This pollution prevention handbook presents proven tools and examples of ways to reduce waste generated by R&D processes, projects, and programs. It assists researchers, environmental compliance staff, and managers of R&D programs in private industry, government, and university research departments in identifying ways to reduce chemical and material use, minimize the generation of waste, and lower associated costs.

The pollution prevention opportunity assessment method presented in the book provides a simple and systematic approach for finding pollution prevention opportunities, developing them, and documenting these efforts. This method, coupled with a strong Pollution Prevention Program, has saved the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory $1.9 million in avoided waste-related costs over three years.

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About the Author

Kim Fowler is Senior Research Engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which Battelle operates for the U.S. Department of Energy. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the Washington State University, Tri-Cities branch campus teaching Environmental Science and Engineering graduate and undergraduate courses. Her master's degree is in Environmental Engineering from Washington State University and her bachelor's degree is in Political Science and Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University.

Ms. Fowler's areas of expertise include Pollution Prevention/Waste Minimization, Design for Environment, and Sustainable Development. She works primarily for clients performing investigative research, evaluating processes to identify efficiencies, assessing the environmental consequences of processes, and developing and applying computer software programs. She is the lead for the Laboratory's Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessment activities which are part of the Pollution Prevention Program that has saved the Laboratory $1.9 million over the last three years in cost savings from reduced waste disposal costs, labor efficiencies, and avoided purchases. Ms. Fowler can be reached via email at [e-mail].

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Battelle Press; 1st edition (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574770705
• ISBN-13: 978-1574770704
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,603,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Seamless Transfer of P2 Principles to a Laboratory Setting, December 21, 1999

By 

Mark Boylan (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessments for Research & Developments Laboratories (Paperback)

"Pollution prevention" (P2) is the art of planning work of an industrial nature to generate as little waste and pollution as possible... hopefully zero. This is relatively easy to do in large-scale industrial systems, where many alternatives exist for equipment, raw materials, process-step sequencing, economies of scale, and other process components. For example, a car manufacturer might be able to switch from toxic solvent "A" to non-toxic solvent "B" without sacrificing quality at all.

Things are different in research and development (R&D) labs, where an experiment might require precisely "two parts A and three parts B" and both A and B are toxic. If you substitute chemical "C" you might completely change the nature of the experiment, rendering its results useless.

Fowler and Engel-Cox have managed to walk a fine line, writing an excellent book that provides a number of thoughtful strategies for reducing waste volume and toxicity in laboratory settings without compromising the validity of the results of the experiment.

The heart of their strategy is the "pollution prevention opportunity assessment;" a thorough review of an industrial process to look for chances to reduce waste generation. Fowler and Engel-Cox manage to take this standard of commercial and industrial P2 and find ways to make it totally applicable to R&D activities--- no small feat when most of the past work in P2 has been focused on manufacturing and large scale processes.

An excellent book. It is a must-read for R&D and laboratory managers, technicians, and environmental compliance staffs. I recommend it highly for anyone in the P2 or environmental field.