University of South Carolina.

The University of South Carolina has been involved in engaging ideas involving pollution prevention projects through the Center for Environmental Policy. These are two graduate projects that have been noted in the past months.

The first graduate project involves a plastics firm. A site visit determined the need for an expanded training program for workers into environmental issues such as hazardous waste management and storm water. The Center for Environmental Policy was able to supply the company a training program in both these areas, including overheads, activities, and a script for an individual video training series. The training will be presented to the company's over two thousand employees during the next training cycle.

The second graduate project involves an ink manufacturing company. Again, a site visit determined that there were multiple areas for pollution prevention and safety improvements. The company has developed a long-term goal of producing an environmental management system. As a first step, a graduate student from the Center is assisting it in developing process flow diagrams. These diagrams will also be used in creating a Process Safety Management plan. A member of the Center staff will serve on the company EMS team.

The two new programs at the Center for Environmental Policy are the South Carolina Environmental Network and the Statewide Technical Assistance Program. The South Carolina Environmental Network is a partnership of publicly funded technical assistance providers in the state. The Network combines the expertise of environmental agencies, technical colleges, universities and organizations to more effectively meet the needs of business government, and individuals in environmental, health, and safety. The partners do site assessments to determine pollution prevention and waste minimization options in teams of various Network members to maximize efficiency. The efforts have been praised by participating industries.

The Statewide Technical Assistance Program is a new effort in South Carolina which takes advantage of the technical expertise of the state universities in pollution prevention and waste minimization. The University of South Carolina, Clemson University, South Carolina State University, and the Medical University of South Carolina have joined together in the project. Each university has chosen an industry sector or geographic region suitable to its experience in which to provide the technical assistance. USC has chosen a geographic region in the upstate where a major industrial corridor exists. Clemson is focusing on the construction and paving industries both for industrial and residential projects. SC State is providing help to small, minority, and women owned businesses in the region represented by the SC State Small Business Development Center, which has joined as a partner. The Medical University will be focusing on the health care industry. The project is funded by state monies and is expected to become a long-term effort for the universities to give back to the communities.

The training efforts of the Center for Environmental Policy have been well received. The Center, in conjunction with the State's non-regulatory assistance group and the local manufacturing extension agency, conducted a teleconference for the paint and coating industry. Speakers were brought in from around the country to provide information on the latest technologies available to reduce waste and minimize exposure. The training was televised from the University of South Carolina to Greenville Technical College in the upstate and Charleston Naval Base in the lower part of the state. The Center also held a Brownsfields workshop to discuss opportunities for redevelopment. This was well attended as the state is trying to minimize damage to virgin areas by focusing more on former sites of contamination for future industrial projects.

In the future, training efforts will include various members of the South Carolina Environmental Network as co-sponsors. One currently being planned involves the manufacturing extension group, the Center, the Small Business Development Center, and South Carolina State University. This training will focus on compliance issues for small businesses. Pollution prevention techniques and technologies suitable for a small industry will be presented, along with information on performing a self-assessment.