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California Department of Toxic Substances Control Director Maureen Gorsen explains how, by using wiki technology, California shares with the public at large its mandate to create Green Chemistry regulations.

Director Gorsen also instructs wiki users on how to participate in this innovative approach to advancing California's green product revolution. California is implementing the first body of green chemistry law in the world and DTSC, the agency charged with its implementation is making history by writing the regulations on real time along with stakeholders and the people of the State of California.


Wiki for Green Chemistry

Design firm Perkins+Will Introduces Precautionary List Examining Chemicals and Building Materials

"There is an ever increasing focus in the green building movement on the relationship between humans and the built environment," notes Peter Syrett, AIA, LEED AP™ of Perkins+Will and one of the creators of the Precautionary List. "There are thousands of chemicals used in a building and only a small percentage have been tested. We created the Precautionary List to advocate for alternative building products and advocate care when using products that have identified chemical hazards."

One example from the list is mercury, a known neurotoxin that can be found in HVAC controls, lamps, resilient floors and thermostats. The precautionary list showcases mechanical controls without mercury systems, different flooring systems, mercury-free lamp alternatives and encourages builders to pursue, advocate and specify for these alternatives when reasonable.

The entire Perkins+Will Precautionary List is online at http://transparency.perkinswill.com/

Process Change in Healthcare

Process changes are intentional modifications in activities that reduce pollution. Examples of this are abundant in healthcare. Some of the process changes that have environmental benefits also have other benefits, such as cost containment or improved quality of a service or product.

Examples of process changes in healthcare

• Switch to digital imaging for radiology processing (reduces silver waste outputs). Digital imaging and PAX-it brand systems use digital images instead of silver-laden X-ray films; this negates the need for fixer/ developer solutions, which also contain silver, and reduces water consumption.

• Right-sizing formaldehyde collection containers (reduces formalin waste outputs). This practice involves having a variety of sizes of collection containers filled with the preserving fluid (usually formalin), and matching the tissue sample to the appropriate container size. Carrying seven or eight different size containers allows the practitioner to select the most appropriate size container based on specimen size. In one case study, this approach reduced formalin use by as much as 70 percent, and minimized waste formalin by a similar amount. The facility saved money by using less formalin, purchasing smaller containers, and saving on space, as greater quantities of the smaller containers could be stored on site.

• Pharmaceutical Return Programs (reduces pharmaceutical product outputs). Implementing a pharmaceutical returns program can be a valuable practice in reducing pollution associated with pharmaceuticals. The change involves switching from disposal via drains, solid waste receptacles, and biohazard waste receptacles to a system where unused and partially used pharmaceutical products are returned to a reverse distribution company for cataloging, return credit, characterization, and disposal. More information on the return program can be found at http://www.returnsindustry.com.

• Improve pharmaceutical dispensing practices and minimize product packaging. Minimizing the amount of wasted pharmaceuticals produced through inefficient dispensing practices can help reduce the amount of pharmaceuticals that the healthcare facility needs to purchase. Minimizing the amount of packaging will help reduce the amount of municipal waste produced.

• Improved segregation and management of chemotherapy medications. Setting up concise waste segregation programs for managing chemotherapy wastes can reduce pollution and improve worker safety. Some chemotheraputic drugs are RCRA listed. Other chemotherapy medications may be RCRA characteristic. Best management of such wastes involves setting up management programs to separate bulk chemotherapy wastes (where there is an identifiable residual amount present) from non-regulated chemotherapy wastes (e.g., gloves, personal protective equipment, and packaging from non-regulated materials), which can usually be packaged and disposed of with biohazard waste. These are fine distinctions and require careful planning and staff education. This type of program, coupled with a reverse distribution program for unused pharmaceutical products, can mitigate pharmaceutical waste outputs that can impact all media.

• Improved waste segregation systems (reduces biohazardous waste outputs, can increase solid waste outputs and recyclable waste outputs). Establishing waste segregation systems that allow for the separate collection of solid wastes, recyclable wastes, and biohazardous wastes increases the likelihood that wastes can be collected and handled in the most appropriate and cost-effective fashion.

  In the case of biohazardous waste collection, by implementing staff education, installing appropriately labeled and convenient containers, and establishing relevant collection schedules, an organization can realize substantive reductions in biohazardous waste outputs and costs. In large part, this results from staff having the option to discard packaging wastes and other waste materials that are not contaminated, as solid waste or a recyclable waste.

Web sites with resources
 
information for source reduction include Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) at
www.h2e-online.org and the Sustainable Hospitals project at www.sustainablehospitals.org.

SOURCE: EPA, www.hercenter.org/links