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PrintSTEP

| Goals & Evaluation | Developing PrintSTEP | Problem | Solution | Products | States |


PrintSTEP: An Innovative Multi-media Regulatory Pilot

Goals and Evaluation

PrintSTEP stands for “Printers’ Simplified Total Environmental Partnership” and is a multi-media alternative to the traditional administration of environmental regulation and permitting. PrintSTEP is intended to simplify the process for implementing these regulations and encourage awareness of environmental requirements within the printing industry. PrintSTEP was designed to meet the following goals:

To test the PrintSTEP concepts, EPA entered into cooperative agreements with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, which successfully established PrintSTEP pilot programs.

To evaluate the results, EPA’s Office of Compliance commissioned a comprehensive evaluation. The report entitled Evaluation of the PrintSTEP Program (PDF, 913 KB, 91 pages, About PDF) discusses:

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Developing PrintSTEP

The Printing sector was one of six industries that participated in an EPA initiative to develop industry sector-based approaches to environmental protection called the Common Sense Initiative. Each sector project was composed of stakeholders from various interest groups (i.e. federal government, state government, environmental, industry, labor, environmental justice) who worked together to develop consensus recommendations for improving environmental management strategies for a particular industrial sector. The Printing sector developed the concept of PrintSTEP through a consensus process.

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Defining the Problem

A multi-stakeholder team was formed to represent the printing sector and examine the current regulatory requirements for the printing industry. The team identified the following problems:

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Crafting the Solution An Overview of PrintSTEP

The PrintSTEP pilots were designed to test different approaches to making the regulatory system more effective, transparent and flexible. Printers in the pilot locations could volunteer to participate. The key PrintSTEP elements include:

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PrintSTEP Products

The following products were developed to assist with implementation of the state pilots:

For hard copies of the documents, contact Maureen Lydon lydon.maureen@epa.gov.

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State Pilot Web Sites

Missouri's PrintSTEPExit EPA Disclaimer Web page contains information on the St. Louis, MO pilot.

New Hampshire's PrintSTEPExit EPA Disclaimer Web page contains information on the statewide pilot.

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Compliance Assistance | Compliance Monitoring | Compliance Incentives

 


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