Using risk as a pollution prevention metric

Abstract

A risk-based approach to environmental metrics is proposed for use by federal facilities that incorporates not only the mass of chemicals involved, but also the characteristics of the chemicals, when evaluating process changes or comparing pollution prevention alternatives. A risk-based approach developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the WAR (Waste Reduction) Algorithm can be used to generate a risk-based metric for federal facilities. The WAR Algorithm can establish a relative potential risk baseline for a given industrial process or processes, and can serve as a useful tool to either forecast the reduction of potential risks for pollution prevention (P2) options or document the risk reduction achieved through alternatives already implemented in a P2 program.