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In Small Business
Are you a small business? Do you want to know if your waste is regulated or how to reduce the amount of waste you generate? To learn more about these topics and find environmental information and resources for small businesses, visit the links below.Preventing Waste
Waste prevention enables businesses to save money and reduce operating costs. Waste prevention involves altering the design, manufacture, purchase, or use of products and materials to reduce the toxicity and amount of waste generated. Additional links concerning waste prevention include:
The National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP) program partners with public and private organizations to reduce the use or release of any of 31 Priority Chemicals.
EPA also helps many businesses find creative ways to improve their competitiveness while reducing solid waste through a partnership program called WasteWise. This program shows companies how to reduce the amount of solid waste generated and how to save money by doing so.
Other partnership programs administered by EPA help businesses set and reach environmental goals such as conserving water and energy and reducing greenhouse gases or toxic emissions. Through the Partners for the Environment program, EPA collaborates with thousands of organizations, including both small and large businesses, using voluntary goals and commitments to achieve measurable environmental results.
Resources for Small Businesses
- Managing
Your Hazardous Waste - A Guide for Small Businesses is a handbook
to help small businesses determine whether they generate hazardous waste
and provides comprehensive information on how to comply with the federal
hazardous waste regulations for small quantity generators. The guide
explains how to obtain an EPA identification number, manage hazardous
waste on site, ship hazardous waste off site, comply with land disposal
restrictions, and conduct good housekeeping.
- RCRA
in Focus is a series of publications providing an overview of the
RCRA regulations affecting specific industry sectors, such as dry cleaning,
printing, and vehicle maintenance. RCRA in Focus presents the life cycle
of a typical waste for each industry and focuses on recycling and pollution
prevention options. Each issue contains a hazardous waste table of RCRA
requirements for small businesses and answers frequently asked questions.
- EPA's Small Business
Gateway provides environmental information and resources for small
businesses, including assistance, compliance, and financing.
- EPA's Business and
Industry page provides links to environmental information, compliance
assistance, and other resources specifically focused on businesses and
industry.
- EPA's National Compliance
Assistance Clearinghouse allows users of the system to quickly locate
compliance assistance information. The Clearinghouse provides links
to various EPA web sites as well as other federal agencies, State and
local governments, Tribal agencies, and additional resources available
online. Several links are specifically focused on small business issues.
- Business Guide for Reducing Solid Waste (PDF) (82 pp, 50MB)
Provides information for business on how they can reduce solid waste.You Dump It, You Drink It Campaign
Focuses on the proper management of used motor oil and includes a variety of free, printed information materials that are available in both Spanish and English. The materials were developed over a 12-month period, using information collected during a series of focus groups, one-on-one telephone interviews, and on-the-job observations of employees in major Hispanic population centers. - Recycling Means Business (PDF) (20 pp, 1.7MB)
Discusses barriers that must be addressed in shifting to an environmentally responsible manufacturing economy that conserves natural resources, energy, and disposal capacity.
Resources for Food Service Organizations
Putting Surplus Food to Good Use: A How-To Guide for Food Service Providers (PDF) (2 pp, 1.1MB)
Provides guidance for food service providers-supermarkets, hospitals, universities, restaurants, and food preparation companies-about what to do with leftover food.
Waste Not/Want Not: A Guide for Feeding the Hungry Through Food Recovery (PDF) (59 pp, 1.5MB)
Explains how any state, municipality, or private business that deals with food, can reduce its solid waste by facilitating the donation of wholesome surplus food according to the food hierarchy. Also lists ways you can join the growing food recovery movement, and provides a framework to help you protect the environment while making a difference in the daily lives and futures of hungry families across our nation.
