Pollution prevention education and training: getting the job done.

INTRODUCTION

We must spur the development of a new generation of technologies that prevent pollution...

President Bill Clinton (NSTC, 1994).

School, colleges and universities must be proactive in incorporating pollution prevention and design for the environment into their curriculum if we are to provide the future scientists and engineers necessary to carry out this vision.

Traditionally, pollution prevention education has been conducted in an "end of pipe" style. Pollution prevention and/or waste minimization assessments at a business with subsequent training and retraining of their employees is needed in the United States. However, this type of training is "end of pipe" pollution prevention education. To provide for the greatest impact, pollution prevention education and training must be conducted at the academic institutions that prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow. Emphasis has to be placed on the entire educational system... kindergarten through graduate level programs. Providing exposure to pollution prevention within these educational systems will instil an underlying principle of pollution prevention and a design for the environment philosophy... and will get the job done.

To be truly effective, pollution prevention, design for the environment and clean technologies education needs to be introduced into the following target audiences:

* Vocational Programs 

* Technical and Community College Programs

* College/University Programs

* Business/Industry

* Government and Non-government Organizations

Some community colleges, four-year colleges, and universities have incorporated pollution prevention into environmental and engineering curricula. However, most are focusing on waste minimization and not on the "source reduction" concept of pollution prevention. Most programs (chemical engineering, environmental science and technologies, hazardous materials technologies) focus on how to reduce volume, toxicity or mobility of waste that has already been produced. There is little argument that this does not constitute pollution prevention but is more aptly called treatment technologies for waste reduction.

Programs need to focus more on incorporating source reduction concepts and practices into their relevant courses. Very few programs outside the traditional science, environmental and/or engineering programs are teaching pollution prevention.

If we educate students in pollution prevention during their formal education/training programs it would be POLLUTION PREVENTION SOURCE REDUCTION EDUCATION! If we wait until they are already employed and go to a company or business and educate them, it is END-OF-PIPE POLLUTION PREVENTION EDUCATION.

For instance, if we go to a business and train 30 of their employees in pollution prevention we will certainly impact that facility and likely reduce the volume of waste generated and produce a financial return for that business. However, if we train 30 students during their formal education/training and those 30 students end up at 30 different companies the result is a greater total reduction on the volume of waste generated. To get the job done we must provide for pollution prevention education at the educational/training source (i.e., vocational schools, community colleges, colleges and universities).

POLLUTION PREVENTION EDUCATION AND TRAINING - IS IT WORKING?

Most college level pollution prevention educational materials and curricula focus on three types of delivery systems. First, pollution prevention and clean technology lessons and modules are infused into existing courses. This has been the most widely used method since it is easier, does not require long curriculum development time by the instructor, and does not displace other classes in the required curriculum. This has been common in university level engineering courses since the inclusion of an entire course dedicated to pollution prevention would be difficult due to the required number of courses and the accompanying accreditation requirements. The second method is to offer a full course (semester or quarter duration) dedicated entirely to pollution prevention. It is estimated that less than 10 college/university programs in the United States are teaching a course dedicated to pollution prevention (Foecke, 1994). A third method of pollution prevention education and training is to offer short-course or seminar style presentations. These are most commonly utilized by institutions and private companies for "fast track" training for employees of business, industry and government agencies.

How can the educational culture and establishment be modified to incorporate pollution prevention considerations into curricula development?

In 1991, the University of Michigan was awarded funding for a National Pollution Prevention Center for Higher Education (NPPC, 1991). This center has developed pollution prevention resource compendiums for undergraduate and graduate engineering, business, and natural resources classes. These materials are for broad distribution to other colleges and universities nationwide. The Center has focused on several areas of pollution prevention: accounting, architecture, business law, chemical engineering, chemistry, environmental studies, industrial ecology, and industrial operations and management. A summary of university based pollution prevention activities, courses, workshops, and pollution prevention/waste minimization assessment centers has been compiled (EPA, 1991; Grulich, 1994; NPPC, 1991).

As pollution prevention continues its progress toward becoming a dominant strategy for industrial and regulatory environmental effort, it is clear that the educational background required of environmental professionals and decision makers must change. Colleges and universities charged with educating the next generation of decision makers, and training institutes responsible for providing more short-term pragmatic training courses must change. How much this is happening and how much more needs to happen is the subject of much discussion.

Allen and Bakshani (1993) found from a survey of pollution prevention education at universities in the U.S. that:

* Although pollution prevention education is occurring in a large number of academic disciplines, it is heavily concentrated in engineering departments, particularly chemical and environmental engineering. The survey indicates that 16% of the chemical engineering (Ch.E.) department (25 out of 155) are active in pollution prevention education or roughly 20% of the 3,712 Ch.E. graduates (class of 1990) were exposed to pollution prevention at some level.

* Even in disciplines where pollution prevention education is concentrated, it tends to be taught as a specialized senior elective or graduate course, rather than as an underlying principle that is part of the core curriculum.

* Pollution prevention education is rare in the social sciences and liberal arts.

* Most pollution prevention curriculum development is being done by individuals or small groups, in isolation, at their home institutions.

* Comprehensive pollution prevention and environmental education efforts have emerged at a few universities. Most of these efforts are associated with research or DOE and EPA funded centers.

* The definition of pollution prevention varies widely. The lack of consensus on the meaning of pollution prevention means that there is no general agreement on the elements and intellectual content of pollution prevention. This lack of definition will hinder transfer of curricular materials among universities.

Shen (1990) proposes in a paper to stimulate discussion of current and future needs a broad-based approach to promote environmental education and training in the principles and practice of multimedia pollution prevention. He states "the challenge is how to integrate air-water-land pollution management through waste prevention prior to the application of waste treatment and disposal techniques." Shen suggests that an education and training plan for multi-media pollution prevention may be divided into technical and non-technical areas. Cross-disciplinary training must be available for them to understand the importance of multimedia pollution prevention principles and strategies, as well as to carry out such principles and strategies.

Environmental professionals dedicated to multimedia pollution control also need to have a broad education and sound understanding of:

* Characteristics of pollutants in waste streams;

* Cross-media nature of the movement, distribution, fate, and effect of pollutants that have entered the environment;

* Coordinated management or gaseous, liquid, and solid wastes so problems are not shifted unduly from one medium to another;

* Use of source reduction and recycling prior to waste treatment and disposal;

* Environmental impact and cost-effectiveness of solutions;

* Intelligent and automated information and data management systems;

* Role of ethics in decision-making;

* Societal systems such as current environmental laws and regulations;

* Environmental sociology, public relations, and communications; and

* Use of risk assessment and management tools.

Friedlander (1989) notes in supporting the incorporation of pollution prevention principles into the engineering curriculum that industry faces the challenge of satisfying societal needs while meeting ever-tightening regulation of environmental side effects. This calls for new approaches in engineering design, basic research, and education. Chemical engineers have a vital role to play in this effort. In plant design, there is a growing emphasis on waste reduction (pollution prevention) rather than end-of-pipe treatment and disposal. But waste reduction needs a fundamental conceptual base to facilitate research and teaching; this conceptual base is still being developed. Innovative approaches to consumer product design are required, especially for items widely dispersed throughout society. Engineering education should incorporate environmental constraints into the routine design procedures of existing engineering disciplines. The environmental consequences of technology and the basis of the regulatory standards should be part of the engineering curriculum. Why not teach "green chemistry" and "benign by design" concepts in freshman inorganic and organic chemistry? The DfE PETE Alliance is creating regional "Green Chemistry Pollution Prevention" centers to address this need.

To facilitate the incorporation of pollution prevention thinking into engineering curricula, Allen et al. (1993), with support from the EPA, the American Institute for Pollution Prevention and the Center for Waste Reduction Technologies of the American Institute for Chemical Engineers has developed a very useful set of homework and design problems. The set contains 21 problems for the following 6 areas:

* Life cycle analyses

* Identifying and prioritizing pollutants from industrial sites

* Selecting environmentally compatible materials

* Design of unit operations for minimizing waste

* Economics of pollution prevention

* Process flow sheeting for minimization of waste.

POLLUTION PREVENTION TRAINING - STATES

The number of environmental laws and regulations that require components of pollution prevention continues to grow (Thurber and Sherman, 1994). If government regulations have the legal authority to require pollution prevention, then government regulators as well as individuals from the regulated community (business/industry) must be educated and knowledgeable in the principles and techniques of pollution prevention. How will they get their training?

Foecke (1991) provides an overview of training primarily from a state perspective. He observes that whatever the thrust of a state's training activities in pollution prevention, some basic ideas and approaches seem to hold consistently across many state efforts. Three basic types of subject matter for pollution prevention training can be found in current efforts.

Introductory training is being performed in the widest variety of venues for the widest variety of audiences. Industry-specific or process-specific training is seen as critically important, but lags a bit for want of proven material. Assessment training is currently rather specialized, but may be gaining ground as a powerful tool for rooting pollution prevention attitudes deeply within organizations.

Introductory training in pollution prevention can more aptly be described as education, in the sense that this kind of training does not impart skills so much as it attempts to inform, persuade, promote, or encourage, in various measure, about pollution prevention.

Industry specific and process specific training is instruction tailored to a particular industry or process. Assessment training principally concerns itself with preparing individuals to review facilities, identify pollution prevention options, and, in some cases, assist in the implementation of those options. Nearly every state pollution prevention program has a training component as part of its charter to promote pollution prevention, and all are increasing their activity in this area as training tools are developed. (NPPR 1995;1997)

Training for pollution prevention is still at an early stage of development at the state level, but rapid progress is being made. All parties agree that training is important, and issues of technical content, approach, evaluation, and applicability are being resolved as experience is accumulated. State-level training activities have the advantage of being close to their audiences and their needs, which leads to well-focused and appropriate training products.

The regulated community can benefit the greatest by training all levels of employees (managers to line workers). The line workers are often the individuals that come up with simple and innovative solutions to waste production problems thus saving management the costs associated with waste management and disposal. In addition, workers are always striving to make the work place safer and pollution prevention and designing for the environment go a long way toward achieving this goal.

POLLUTION PREVENTION EDUCATION - WHY COMMUNITY COLLEGES?

Less information has been published on the pollution prevention activities of U.S. community and technical colleges. There are currently over 1200 community colleges, junior colleges and vocational colleges in the United States. Their service delivery area covers all 50 states and US territories. These colleges have a combined credit enrollment of over 5 million students and in addition, have over 5 million non-credit (business/industry) students annually. Many of the campuses have large minority student populations and all have courses "loaded" with hands-on applications. Many of the colleges have a business and industry training component, some have Small Business Development Centers while others are part of the NIST-MEP system.

Community colleges also offer specialized training in many vocational areas including: electronics, automotive maintenance, autobody, aviation maintenance, diesel and heavy equipment maintenance, dry cleaning, graphic art, printing, computer aided machining, and textile manufacturing, to name just a few. These programs are prime targets for incorporation of pollution prevention curricular modules.

The Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE) is a non-profit organization established to facilitate, augment and broker academic industrial governmental partnerships to:

* Meet the education and environmental training needs of the nation

* Promote environmental technology transfer

* Foster the participation of under represented minorities and women in the environmental fields

* Enhance U.S. economic development and international competitiveness

PETE's mission is to provide leadership in environmental education and training through community and technical college partnerships with business, industry, government and other educational providers.

* Assist colleges in meeting the environmental workforce education, training and retraining needs of the nation

* Support economic development and international competitiveness through facilitating the use of environmentally sound practices and technology

* Contribute to the improvement of global environmental stewardship through international programs and partnerships in environmental education and training

* Establish and maintain organizational sustainability and financial self-sufficiency

* Promote environmental literacy for everyone

The PETE network consists of over 500 community colleges that offer environmental programs that focus on health and safety, environmental compliance, sampling, remediation and pollution prevention. Students graduating from these programs work for consulting firms, local/state/federal regulatory agencies and the regulated industry. These programs are also prime targets for pollution prevention courses that actually teach how to conduct pollution prevention assessments. Teaching pollution prevention in these colleges is a primary focus of the DfE PETE Environmental Education and Training Alliance. Think of the impact of a partnership with county/state programs and the nations network of community colleges in conducting pollution prevention assessments for small and medium sized businesses.

The impacts on pollution prevention education and training by such a partnership can be demonstrated by the success of one of its community college members, Front Range Community College (FRCC).

Since the FRCC Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T) program began in the Fall of 1988, over 400 students have taken the credit course ENV-211 (Pollution Prevention and Waste Minimization), which focuses on pollution prevention for an entire semester (3 credit hours). This course has traditional periodic exams but in addition requires that the students conduct a Pollution Prevention Assessment for a Business/Industry Waste Stream. The students must individually conduct a Pollution Prevention Assessment that includes both technical and economic feasibility analyses for a single waste stream from a local business/industry, public school or government agency operation. This course is now being expanded and improved under the DfE-PETE Alliance Curriculum Working Group Project. The course will be disseminated to all colleges within the PETE network and through the NPPC.

The benefits of teaching a course in pollution prevention in the credit program are numerous and include: 1) provides the student with the hands-on knowledge and skills in performing Pollution Prevention Assessments, 2) provides a mechanism for reducing waste at home, 3) provides a "free service" by conducting Pollution Prevention Assessments for local business/industry, 4) reduces waste generation from business/industry and improves their profitability, and 5) provides a service to the local, state and federal government in conducting and implementing pollution prevention projects.

To date, the FRCC ES&T program, through this single college credit course, has conducted over 400 Pollution Prevention Assessments. These assessments have included: Public Schools, Electronic Manufacturing Facilities, Laboratories, Mass Transit (Bus) Systems, Highway Departments, Fleet Maintenance Facilities, Automotive Repair Shops and Car Dealerships, Mining Operations, Downhill Ski Operations, Aircraft Maintenance Operations, the DOE Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility and National Parks.

Many of the PETE colleges are including pollution prevention concepts in a number of other environmental courses throughout the United States. These include:

* Introduction to Environmental Science & Technology

* OSHA Health and Safety

* Environmental Laws and Policy

* Pollution Prevention and Hazardous Waste Minimization

* Environmental Sampling and Monitoring

* Waste Stream Generation

* Treatment, Storage and Disposal of Hazardous Waste

* RCRA Regulatory Compliance

In addition, PETE colleges are introducing pollution prevention in a variety of liberal arts and vocational programs that include:

* automotive maintenance

* electronics

* graphic arts 

* marine maintenance

* aviation maintenance

* fashion design

* textile manufacturing

This insures that all students in the community college environmental, liberal arts and vocational programs will be introduced to the concepts and principles of pollution prevention. This has a powerful effect on the numbers of future scientists, engineers, environmental managers and citizens knowledgeable in the principles of pollution prevention.

As more and more schools, community colleges, four-year colleges and universities start providing pollution prevention in their various courses a rapid and diverse spread of pollution prevention education and training at the educational source will occur.

A ROLE FOR THE DFE-PETE ALLIANCE

The shortage of trained people threatens to significantly impact EPA's long-term goal in pollution prevention through source reduction strategies and techniques. The DfE-PETE Environmental Education and Training Alliance Program is helping meet this need. The DfE-PETE Alliance Program and its specific projects was outlined in the Journal of Environmental Health May 1997 issue.

Is New - The DfE-PETE Alliance projects will reach new audiences, develop new and enhanced teaching strategies for teachers, and use improved applications of existing materials. The new audiences include community colleges, four-year colleges and university students and faculty throughout the United States.

Has Wide Application - The DfE-PETE Alliance projects target a large and diverse audience in terms of numbers and demographics and serves as a "model" that is being transported to other colleges, communities, states, and regions. Community colleges have the largest population of minority students enrolled in post-secondary institutions in the United States. In addition, PETE is working with many of the tribally controlled colleges in the development of pollution prevention curriculum.

Addresses High Priority Environmental Issues - The DfE-PETE Alliance projects were designed to provide assistance to college level instructors about ways to address environmental justice issues through the primary strategy of pollution prevention. This project also closes important gaps in the field of environmental education and includes: Improved Environmental Education Teaching Skills, Partnership Building, and utilizes a unique pollution prevention Instructor Manual and pollution prevention Instructor Workshops and Seminars.

Improves Environmental Education Teaching Skills - Teaching skills will be improved through the pollution prevention Instructional Manual and through the pollution prevention Community College Instructor Workshops and Seminars.

Partnership Building - Many partnerships have already been established between high schools, colleges, universities, government organizations and the PETE community colleges. These partnerships have been expanded to include local business/industry and local and state regulatory agency participation. In addition, the PETE organization facilitates building partnerships for environmental education between other government agencies, non-profit organizations, educational institutions and the private sector on a regional and national level. The PETE organization has been cited by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as a model education and training public-private partnership (NSTC, 1994).

DfE-PETE POLLUTION PREVENTION INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

Because pollution prevention is a relatively new concept in engineering and environmental programs, textbooks are scarce (EPA, 1991). Although no formal college level textbook has been developed to date, several professional series texts and guidance documents have been utilized for this purpose (EPA 1992A, EPA 1992B, EPA 1993).

Some materials already exist within the EPA Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics Design for the Environment (DfE) Program. Existing bulletins and fact sheets have been developed and can be used as instructional supplements for graphic arts (printing), chemistry (green chemistry), electronics (printed wiring boards), accounting (environmental cost accounting), and fashion design (dry and wet cleaning). In addition, the DfE PETE Alliance Project has developed a detailed training manual and instructional materials for automotive and collision repair entitled: "Pollution Prevention Training for Automotive Service Instructors".

Under the DfE-PETE Environmental Education and Training Alliance Program (May 1997 Journal of Environmental Health, pages 34-37) a number of pollution prevention training activities and curricular modules are being developed to fill this gap. These specific pollution prevention modular units currently under development include: Green Chemistry, Pollution Prevention (2-3 hour credit course), General Pollution Prevention (1-4 hour course), Printed Wiring Boards, Dry/Wet Cleaning, Printing, and Internet Resources for Pollution Prevention Research. These curricular modules will be available for pilot testing starting in September 1997.

The General Pollution Training Manual entitled (Environmental Awareness and Pollution Prevention) includes the following topical areas: overview of environmental regulations and laws, pollution prevention regulatory background, pollution prevention strategies and technologies, pollution prevention audit techniques, case studies, and pollution prevention resource and information sources. In addition to the pollution prevention Training Manual, an Instructors Supplement will also be available to aid the instructor in additional information and as a resource for teaching pollution prevention. The objective of the manual is to assist PETE college instructors and trainers in developing and implementing pollution prevention courses.

PETE POLLUTION PREVENTION INSTRUCTOR WORKSHOPS

Pollution prevention instructor training sessions are being conducted by PETE for individuals from community colleges, university faculty and government agencies. Workshops include the use of a "hands-on" approach that leads to the development of problem solving and critical thinking skills to actual pollution prevention principles and techniques.

The pollution prevention instructor training is utilized to introduce college faculty to the training materials, resources, slides, videos and student exercises. The training workshops are designed to be completed in an eight to twelve hour session. The first of these training sessions were conducted in April and May in Delaware, New York and Idaho. These specific workshops focused on training entitled: "Pollution Prevention Training for Automotive Service Instructors". Class participants included: college instructors, state regulatory enforcement personnel, state POLLUTION PREVENTION coordinators, EPA Regional POLLUTION PREVENTION staff, state Department of Transportation, mass transit authorities, pubic school bus maintenance facility, car dealerships and automotive maintenance and auto body shop personnel.

SUMMARY

To provide for the most cost effective pollution prevention training and education it should be given during the educational and/or vocational programs. By creating partnerships, sharing ideas and curriculum, we will be able to spur the development of a new generation that can implement pollution prevention strategies.

The PETE network of colleges provides a permanent regional. and national mechanism for education focused on Pollution Prevention and design for the environment. This partnership brings significant and diversified Pollution Prevention opportunities to virtually every PETE college, government and business/industry that chooses to participate.

If more college partnerships like PETE instilled the principles of pollution prevention in this manner, think of the enormous impacts on the local, national and international environment. In addition, the savings to our business/industry and governments from more efficient use of our natural resources and from reducing waste would be immediate and long lasting.

Be a part of the pollution solution by providing pollution prevention knowledge to our future managers, scientists, engineers and citizens. Utilize these resources and materials, create new and innovative ideas and ways of teaching pollution prevention to our students. Then share these ideas.

Think of the environmental impacts this would have on our local, national and international communities. Think of the resultant savings to our business/industry and governments. Think of the immediate and long lasting impacts.

Think of it !!

LITERATURE REFERENCES

Allen, D., N. Bakshani, K. Sinclair. (1993) Pollution Prevention Education of Universities in the United States. UCLA Department of Chemical Engineering.

Allen, D., N. Bakshani, K. Sinclair. (1993) Pollution Prevention:Homework and Design Problems for Engineering Curricula., Rosselot Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles.

Clinton, Bill (1994) Technology for a Sustainable Future: A Framework for Action., U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

EPA (1991). Pollution Prevention 1991: Progress on Reducing Industrial Pollutants. EPA 21P-3003. October 1991. US EPA, Office of Pollution Prevention, Washington, D.C. 20460.

EPA (1992a). Facility Pollution Prevention Guide. EPA/600/R-92/088. US EPA Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45268.

EPA (1992b). Facility Pollution Prevention Case Studies Compendium. EPA/600/R-92/046. April 1992. US EPA Office of Research and Development, Washington, DC 20460.

EPA (1993). 1993 Reference Guide to Pollution Prevention Resources. EPA/742/B-93-001, US EPA Office of pollution Prevention and toxics, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460.

Foecke, Terry. (1991) Training for Pollution Prevention in Pollution Prevention Review.

Foecke, Terry. (1994) Personal communication (October 26, 1994). Terry Foecke, Executive Director, Waste Reduction Institute for Training and Applications Research, 1313 5th Street SE, Suite 327, Minneapolis, MN 55414.

Friedlander, S.K., (1989) The Implementation of Environmental Issues for Engineering R&D and Education. Chemical Engineer for Progress.

Grulich, Madeline M. (1994). Sources of Pollution Prevention Information. In Harry M. Freeman (ed.) Industrial Pollution Prevention Handbook. pgs. 885-910. McGraw Hill Publishers, New York, NY.

NPPC (1991) National Pollution Prevention Center for Higher Education. For more information contact: National Pollution Prevention Center for Higher Education, University of Michigan, Dana Building, 430 E. University, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1115.

NSTC (1997). Bridge to a Sustainable Future: National Environmental Technology Strategy, Produced by: The NationalScience and Technology Council, Environmental TechnologyStrategy Staff, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Room 443, Old Executive Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20500

NPPR (1995). The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable P2 Yellow Pages.

NPPR (1997) Directory of Industrial Pollution Prevention Experience: A Survey of Government Programs (3rd Edition).

NPPR (1997) The National Roundtable of Pollution Prevention Programs, 218 D Street S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003.

Shen, T.T. (1990) Educational Aspects of Multimedia Pollution Prevention. in Environmental Challenges of the 1990's Proceedings, International Conference on Pollution Prevention: Clean Technologies and Clean Products, US EPA/600/9-90/039.

Thurber, James and Peter Sherman (1994). Pollution Prevention Requirements in U.S. Environmental Laws. In: Freeman, Harry M. (ed) Industrial Pollution Prevention Handbook. pgs. 27-49. McGraw Hill Publishers, New York, NY.

For more specific information on the PETE-DfE Environmental Education and Training Alliance contact:

Dave Boon, PETE DfE Program Manager Front Range Community College 3645 West 112th Avenue Westminster, CO 80030 [phone] FAX [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]

Paul Dickinson, Executive Director National PETE 6601 Owens Drive, Suite 235 Pleasanton, CA 94588 [phone] FAX [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]