Do you have an environmental problem and no solution? Wouldn't it be great to know how others solved their environmental problems? Would you like a source for finding answers to your environmental problems? Do you need help on what to do with hazardous materials? What about recycling solid waste, waste minimization, solvent recovery systems, groundwater and soil cleanup, chemical recycling, and chemical management programs? Are you looking for a way to be environmentally sound and save money? This document contains examples of environmental best practices from industry, government, and academic institutions - and might have the solution to your environmental problem. For more than a decade, the Navy's Best Manufacturing Practices (BMP) program's survey process has been a primary avenue for industry and government to present individual and distinctive success stories in the manufacturing disciplines. In February 1994, industry and government representatives met and discussed the idea of broadening the BMP program scope to incorporate environmental best practices. The idea resulted in the formation of the Environmental Best Manufacturing Practices (EBMP) program. Several meetings were held to define issues and goals:
Where would EBMP fit in the environmental community?
What environmental problems exist?
Which problems needed to be addressed immediately?
How could the EBMP program be a bridge to solving these problems?
The program's goal was to help industry find efficient, cost-effective ways to do business without re-inventing the wheel, and assume a constructive leadership role in the environmental area. Knowing that answers to many environmental questions already existed in the U.S. industrial base, the need to find these answers and publish them in a simple, useful, instructional document was the overall goal of the program. To achieve its goal, the EBMP program formed a working group. This document is the result of that group effort, and will be distributed in hard copy and electronically to thousands of representatives in government, industry, and academia throughout the U.S. and Canada. The document is available at no cost to any business,
whether small, medium or large, needing help with environmental solutions.
Information contained in this document can also be accessed via BMP's
World Wide Web Home Page located on the Internet at http://www.bmpcoe.org.
We do not have all the answers, by far. However, this guideline document contains examples of good, solid environmental processes, systems, and management techniques that could make a difference in your business. The EBMP program supports effective voluntary partnerships and technology transfer. One of our program's goals is to make a difference - environmentally - in what is produced and how it is produced. We believe this document is a giant step toward that goal.
Ernie Renner
Director, Best Manufacturing Practices
