Reports from Governments

Two reporting programs which track industrial chemical releases within Canada and the United States are ARET and the TRI program. In Canada, ARET participation is completely voluntary. In the U.S., TRI reporting is mandatory, but in many cases chemical release reductions are voluntary. In both countries, substantial chemical release reduction progress has been made. Details and results are summarized below.

• ARET, Canada's Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics program seeks to reduce the discharge or release of chemicals to the environment. Nine of 117 ARET substances are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chlorinated organic substances. From base year through 1995, ARET participants have reduced emission of these targeted materials by 98 percent. Releases of other chlorinated chemicals were reduced by 67 percent during the same period. Alkyl-lead releases have been reduced by 85 percent. Reductions in the release of other ARET substances range from 42 to 76 percent. In addition, some ARET participating companies have committed to reduce release of substances not listed by the ARET program. An aggregate reduction of 73 percent for 10 substances has been achieved by these companies who have committed to an overall reduction goal of 87 percent by year 2000(1).
• In the U.S., the Toxics Release Inventory program (TRI) tracks the release of over 600 substances. Results show that overall release of these substances has been reduced by 45.6 percent between 1988 and the end of 1995. 17 of these chemicals were selected, on a priority basis, for EPA's voluntary 33/50 program. Reductions in the release of these chemicals exceeded program targets (a 50 percent reduction by the end of 1995) in 1994, one year ahead of schedule. The final end of 1995 reduction figure was 55.6 percent. The largest release reductions among all of the TRI compounds, are for 1,1,1-trichloroethane (a chlorinated ozone depleter) and carbon tetrachloride, each of which have declined by 88 percent. Other notable reductions are: tetrachloroethylene - 74 percent, benzene - 71 percent, chloroform 61 percent, and dichloromethane 56 percent (2).

Programs aimed at specific hazardous substances must include participation of multi- stakeholders as well as government cooperation in order to accomplish specific objectives. Examples of successes reported by the U.S. and Canadian governments from the use these wide ranging programs include:

• State run pollution prevention task forces, individual community and facility program and the banning of the use of mercury in paint formulations and pesticides have, in combination, resulted in an 82 percent decrease in the use of mercury between 1980 and 1995. As a result, after peaking in the 1970's, there has been a sharp decline in the deposition of mercury into the Great Lakes basin. Ongoing programs will increase mercury use reductions and releases(3).
• In Canada, cooperative programs under the Canada-Ontario Agreement (COA), have reduced releases of cadmium (20 percent), 1,4 dichlorobenzene (40 percent), PAHs (30 percent), and Pentachlorophenol (5 percent). A combination of voluntary and regulatory approaches will further reduce releases of these Tier II substances(4).
• Collaboration with equipment owners in Canada has resulted in the decommissioning of 46 percent of high level PCBs. Thirty percent of high-level and 20 percent of low level PCB wastes have been destroyed. In the U.S., through cooperative efforts and special partnerships, one million pounds of PCBs have been removed from Waukegan Harbor (IL), 60,000 cubic yards of PCB contaminated sediments have been removed in Manistique (MI), and 28,000 cubic yards of PCB contaminated sediment has been removed from the River Raisin Area of Concern (MI). The latter two of these and other PCB clean-up activities continue(3,4).

Industrial Sector Programs

Each industrial sector has a unique set of chemical release reduction circumstances and opportunities. Through trade associations and other alliances, industrial organizations addressing the same or similar issues often initiate sector wide release reduction programs. These provide an opportunity to share technical support, tracking and public reporting functions. Here are some examples.

• Through process changes and bleaching chemical substitution programs, dioxins (2,3,7,8 TCDD equivalent basis) are no longer detectable from U.S. or Canadian Great Lakes Region pulp and paper mill bleach plant discharges. The data confirming these results, and the resulting decrease in fish dioxin levels lead the International Joint Commission (IJC) to conclude, in the Eighth Biennial Report on Great Lakes Water Quality, that the industry is "approaching the virtual elimination of dioxin and furans." U.S. EPA has also recognized the viability of these process changes. The Agency has used them as a primary basis for their revised effluent guidelines for the pulp and paper industry and concluded that when fully implemented, these process changes will allow all remaining dioxin based fish advisories downstream of pulp and paper mills to be lifted (5) and virtually eliminate all dioxin discharged from these mills (5) and (6).
• Canadian Chemical Producers Association members reduced their releases of 176 National Pollutant Release Inventory substances by 85 percent between 1992 and the end of 1995. The most significant reduction was in release of sulphuric acid to water in the Province of Quebec. Excluding this data the remaining substance releases have been reduced by 20 percent. Among these accomplishments is a 41 percent reduction in Benzene releases between 1994 and 1995. CCPA members project that, through on going reduction programs, they will reduce these releases by 45 percent, compared to the 1992 baseline, by the year 2000 (7).
• In the building products industry, new particleboard and hardwood plywood adhesive formations and techniques have reduced formaldehyde emissions over 80%, compared with the 1970s(8).
• Paper mill water usage and the volume of effluent generated in the production of product have been reduced by over 70% since 1959. Additionally, the pulp and paper industry has a goal of 50 percent waste paper recovery by the year 2000 and is investing $10 billion to build new or update existing equipment to increase use of recovered paper. Currently one of every two newspapers is recovered and recycled, more than 60% of all corrugated material is now being recovered, 37% of all paper and paperboard is recovered. A third of the U.S. industry's papermaking fiber need is now supplied by recovered paper(9).
• Canadian petroleum companies have invested $75 million for the installation of vapor recovery for regional distribution terminals, bulk storage plants, delivery trucks and underground tanks at service centers. Between 16 and 19 kilotons of volatile organic compound emissions will be captured annually by 2005, reducing toxic air pollutants and improving air quality(10).

Individual Company Efforts

The collective results described above come from the combined efforts of individual companies and, most notably, the individual employees within each company. The examples listed below provide only a keyhole view of the thousands of individual efforts which, combined, produce aggregate successes. Cited for each of the pollution prevention categories, they provide a view of the diverse nature and wide range of the individual efforts. CGLI member companies welcome your inquiry regarding their specific programs and accomplishments. Please feel free to contact them.

Use Reductions and Substitutions:
A satellite microwave device manufacturer voluntarily stopped the use of ozone-depleting degreasing chemicals, completely, three years prior to a Canadian regulatory initiative which would have required a partial phase-out(11).

Process Changes and Pollution Prevention Efforts:
Employee developed process and manufacturing program changes at a vinyl resin manufacturing facility cut vinyl chloride releases by 99 percent. New lab procedures at the same plant resulted in 92 percent lower lab solvent emissions(12).

Waste Stream Recovery, Reuse and Recycling:
A steel company improved the capture and use of by-product gases generated in coke and iron making operations and increased energy conservation activities. As a result, the amount of energy needed to make a tonne of steel has been reduced by 3.6 percent(13).

Virtual Elimination Programs:
Canada's largest photo finishing company, with the help of a large chemical company, developed a near zero discharge system which uses nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and distillation to remove impurities from waste water allowing it to be recirculated back into film developing processes. As a result, waste water containing photo finishing related contaminants are no longer discharged to municipal sewer systems(14).

Green Product Design and Production:
Vehicles produced at one major U.S./Canada automaker contain many parts and components made of recycled materials; and the vehicles themselves are 75 percent recyclable. Lamp housings and air cleaner assemblies contain 25 percent recycled plastic. The air cleaners use reclaimed nylon derived from 27 million square feet of nylon annually. Air deflectors, baffles and splash shields are made, in part, from 360,000 reclaimed rubber tires. One manufacturing plant operated by this company is the only automotive plant in the world where every part is made of recycled materials(15).

Improved Treatment and Control Systems and Processes:
Through continuing conservation measures and controls, a major pulp and paper manufacturer, with important facilities located in the Great Lakes Region, has cut water use per ton of product by more than 70% since 1972. Many of the company's chemical, building products, and packaging materials manufacturing facilities also have installed equipment or used conservation measures to decrease use of water. Some chemical and packaging plants reclaim, treat and recycle all of their process wastewaters, making them zero discharge facilities, except for sanitary wastes(16).

Ecosystem Protection, Restoration and Improvement Programs:
A chemical company, working with a Great Lakes community and state environmental officials, converted a "brownfield" industrial site to a riverside recreation center providing both site remediation and a community asset(17).

Individual company successes, like these, provide several benefits for our Region. First, the importance of activities that create economic value while continuously reducing ecological impact and the use of resource (i.e. ecoefficiency) are clearly transmitted to employees, suppliers and customers. Second, other companies find it easier to incorporate similar changes in their capital replacement plans because capability has been demonstrated. And, most importantly, the ecosystem status reflects positive results.

Results Evident in the Environment

Environmental monitoring, assessment and tracking programs, conducted by government, academic and industry scientists are documenting the progress which we have made. Here are some examples.

• Collingwood Harbour has been delisted as an Area of Concern by the IJC and the Canadian Government. This achievement has come from the combined efforts of many individuals and sectors. Elimination and reduction of effluent discharges by local industries has been an important element. Recently companies acted again to reduce the discharge to the sanitary sewer system by about 40 percent(4).
• Fish consumption advisories have been removed from Waukegan Harbor. Through the combined efforts of the city of Waukegan, the Waukegan Citizens Advisory Group, industry, other volunteers, U.S. EPA and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, contaminated sediments were removed or stabilized and other toxic inputs reduced or eliminated. Efforts are now underway to revitalize the shoreline and commercial properties adjacent to the harbor. This important lakeside port is again becoming an asset for the region (18).
• A report prepared by PTI Environmental Services in May, 1997 examines trends in the concentrations of bioaccumulating chemicals in North American fish and birds. Seventy percent or more of the studies available in scientific literature today, show declining trends for dioxin, hexachlorobenzene, hexachlorocyclohexanes, toxaphene, mirex, dieldrin, endirin, aldrin, PCBs, and DDT in both classes of animals. The report also shows that 80 percent of the studies show decreases of most of these chemicals in either birds or fish. Although individual chemical concentration trends vary, site to site, similar trends are reported within the Great Lakes Region where graph after graph slopes downward (19).
• Peregrine falcon populations are recovering and have taken up residency on high rise office towers in Chicago and Toronto. Eagles along the shores of the Great Lakes are beginning to fledge young eaglets. Lake Erie is now "The Walleye Capital of the World" with Ohio sport anglers catching 2.6 million of the fish in 1996. In Lake Superior, lake trout populations have become self-sustaining in off-shore areas. Stocking has been discontinued in some areas. Mayflies which largely disappeared from the Lakes in the 50's, have returned in abundance in the 1990's. The number of U.S. beaches closed for a full season have dropped from a high of 14 to 4 in 1994. In Canada, 500,000 hectares of important terrestrial and aquatic natural land areas have been protected within the Great Lakes Basin since 1992. And, 3,000 hectares of available wetland habitat have been secured under a collaborative protection effort (3,4).

CGLI and It's Member Companies Work for Further Progress

There are many more examples which demonstrate the outcome from committed environmental stewardship. And, it will not end here. We are looking ahead to additional environmental protection opportunities. Here are some of these steps.

• CGLI member companies have established continuous improvement goals. By setting these goals, not only will we maintain the progress we have achieved, we will go beyond. Additional pollutant release reductions will be made, additional process changes and successful virtual elimination and ecosystem protection will be accomplished.
• CGLI has established partnerships with others. By working with other trade associations, U.S. and Canadian government agencies, environmental groups, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and citizens, we will find additional pathways to enhanced environmental performance. Our current commitment to assist U.S. EPA in the implementation of the Binational Toxics Strategy is a specific example.
• CGLI is working to improve the public policy process. Through working with government regulators at all levels, we are trying to find ways to improve scientific inputs into the public policy making process. We strive to insure that proper priorities are set so that resources are expended in the areas which will most benefit the ecosystem.
• CGLI also seeks an improved process for responding to environmental observations. When ecosystem monitoring or apparent ecosystem response information becomes available, CGLI wants to be certain that this information is swiftly and properly evaluated to determine the level of concern and effort which should be placed on it. We are working to provide a science review opportunity for this information so that proper attention can be placed on it.

REFERENCES

1. Environmental Leaders 2, ARET Voluntary Action on Toxics Substances, ARET Secretariat, Ottawa, Ontario, January 1997.
2. 1995 Toxics Release Inventory Public Data Release, U.S. EPA, April 14, 1997.
3. Remarks by David Ulrich, Acting National Program Manager, U.S. EPA at the IJC 25th Anniversary Public Forum, Niagara Falls Ontario, November 1, 1997.
4. Remarks by John Mills, Minister, Environment Canada, at the IJC 25th Anniversary Public Forum, Niagara Falls Ontario, November 1, 1997.
5. U.S. EPA, Regulatory Impact of Proposed Effluent Guidelines and NESHAP for the Pulp, Paper and Paperboard Industry, November 1993.
6. U.S. EPA, Fact Sheet, EPA's Final Pulp, Paper and Paperboard "Cluster Rule" - Overview, EPA-821-F-97-010, November 1997.
7. Reducing Emissions 1995 Emissions Inventory and Five-Year Projections., Canadian Chemical Producers' Association, Ottawa, Ontario.
8. Graves, Gregory; Formaldehyde Emission Control Via Resin Technology - North American Practices; Proceedings of the 27th International Particleboard/Composite Materials Symposium; Washington State University, Wood Materials and Engineering Laboratory; March 30,31, April 1, 1993.
9. American Forest and Paper Association, Washington D.C.
10. Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Calgary, Alberta
11. Great Lakes Pollution Prevention Centre, Sarnia, Ontario/Varian Canada Inc., Georgetown, Ontario
12. Geon Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio
13. Dofasco, Inc., Hamilton, Ontario
14. Blacks Photo Corporation, Toronto/Dow Canada
15. Ford Motor Company, Detroit, Michigan
16. Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Atlanta, Georgia
17. BASF, Parsippany, New Jersey
18. Focus, July/August, 1997, pages 17-18, IJC Great Lakes Regional Office, Windsor Ontario.
19. Persistent Chlorinated Compounds in wildlife: Trends in North America and Europe. PTI Environmental Services, May 1997, Prepared for the Chlorine Chemistry Council.