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Partnership programs make good business sense and prove that pollution prevention pays. In addition to cost savings, increased profits, and a cleaner environment, partnership programs improve access to technical assistance, provide industries a framework and strategy for improving environmental performance and create a network of businesses and industries interested in becoming better environmental stewards. EPA also helps meet reporting requirements and offers public recognition to outstanding performers in many of the partnership programs through award ceremonies and certificates of appreciation.The following section details a few of the many benefits of joining an EPA partnership program:
Cost Savings
Public Recognition
Energy Conservation
Resources and Technical Assistance
Cost Savings
Organizations have saved millions of dollars through, for example, their WasteWise activities. WasteWise is a EPA partnership program through which organizations eliminate costly municipal solid waste, benefiting their bottom line and the environment. General Motors (GM), a WasteWise hall of fame partner, decreased the generation of WasteWise-targeted wastes by 37 percent. Its North American factories use 8,500 tons of nylon fibers from recycled carpet; 5,400 tons of polypropylene from recycled soda bottle caps; and 2,900 tons of rubber from recycled tires in its vehicles annually. GM saved more than $400,000 by preventing waste through reusing materials, training employees, making processes more efficient, and reducing the use of certain materials. Also, as a founding member of the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment with EPA, GM leads an effort to collaborate with its suppliers to improve environmental management throughout the supply chain.
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Public Recognition
Many partnership programs offer recognition, such as awards for exceptional performance that can enhance corporate image with customers, regulators, neighbors, and the media.
EPA's Performance Track and the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) selected the Monsanto Company's facility in Muscatine, Iowa for a special commendation to recognize its outstanding achievements in environmental management and wildlife habitat restoration. The facility set challenging environmental goals, demonstrated a strong commitment to public outreach, and undertook a number of ambitious habitat restoration and improvement projects. The plant's environmental safety and health area leader said, "We are honored to receive this joint recognition of our efforts from EPA and WHC. Our employees work diligently to ensure environmental excellence in our operations and to maintain our value and reputation in the community. We are proud of our accomplishments and appreciate the official commendation to recognize the creative spirit of our employees."
Hewlett Packard, Corvallis OR, received EPA Region 10's Evergreen Award for environmenal excellence and leadership in pollution prevention. Since 2000, in the area of Greenhouse Gases, HP voluntarily reduced atmospheric emissions of seven major perflourocarbons (PFCs) by about 50 percent over a 2001 baseline. HP has committed to further reductions to bring down these emissions by another 30 percent by 2007.
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Energy Conservation
Nearly anywhere you look in an office nowadays, you can see the ENERGY STAR logo. The ENERGY STAR program enables businesses, organizations, and consumers to realize the cost savings and environmental benefits of energy efficiency investments. In 2003 alone, ENERGY STAR:
- Helped Americans save $8 billion on their energy bills;
- Prompted the construction of over 200,000 ENERGY STAR qualified new homes, and the improvement of 5,000 homes through Home Performance with ENERGY STAR.
With EPA's Labs 21 programs, there are broad environmental and societal benefits from participating in the program. For example, EPA estimates that if half the nation's private and public research labs achieve energy efficiency improvements of 30 percent, then the United States could reduce annual electricity consumption by 84 trillion BTUs. This figure equals the electricity consumed by 2.2 million U.S. households. This improvement would save $1.2 billion in utility costs, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 16.7 tons, and remove the equivalent of 3 million automobiles from US highways each year.
Similarly, EPA's SmartWay Transport, a voluntary partnership with the freight industry, establishes incentives for improved fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas reductions. We estimate that by 2012 these improvements could result in fuel savings of up to 150 million barrels of oil annually.
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Resources and Technical Assistance
To help partners identify environmental improvement and cost-saving opportunities, EPA offers a wealth of resources to assist organizations in auditing, measuring, and benchmarking their energy consumption, waste, water use, and industrial processes.
For instance, through the Environmental Accounting Project, EPA and the Tellus Institute, help managers understand the cost of creating an existing product and help them make decisions about new ones. Like many of the partnership programs, EPA's Environmental Accounting Project developed a database of case studies to demonstrate the financial and environmental results of implementing a partnership program with a direct, positive effect on business operations.
The Design for the Environment (DfE) program provides decision-makers with information, tools, and incentives to make informed decisions that integrate risk, performance, and cost concerns. DfE works directly with industry to integrate health and environmental considerations into business decisions, by: identifying the technologies, products, and processes that can be used to perform a particular function within an industry; noting the pollution prevention opportunities, evaluating the risk, performance, and cost tradeoffs of the alternatives; disseminating this information to the entire industry; and providing incentives to institutionalize continuous environmental improvement.
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