Environmental Management System
Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessments
Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessments (P2OAs) are the methodology endorsed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to identify waste streams, examine the processes that generate waste, and discover ways to reduce waste.
Pacific Northwest has performed more than 40 assessments since 1995, avoiding millions of dollars of waste disposal-, labor-, and materials-related costs.
Conducting a P2OA consists of selecting a team of experts on the assessment topic, gathering data on the waste generating activity, brainstorming pollution prevention opportunities, researching those opportunities, and making final recommendations. At Pacific Northwest, each P2OA team will document the assessment by going through the process of identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing potential P2 opportunities, selecting at least one opportunity for potential implementation, and then calculating a return on investment that demonstrates the payback period and potential cost avoided for the selected P2 opportunity(s). The goal of the P2OA program is for P2 to become more integrated with Pacific Northwest's research, facilities, maintenance, and operations staff.
More information on how to conduct P2OAs in a laboratory setting is available in Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessments for Research & Development Laboratories by Jill Engel-Cox and Kim Fowler (Battelle Press, 1999).
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