Release date: 06/04/2007
Contact Information: Bonnie Smith, 215-814-5543 &
Joan Schafer 215-814-5143
Bethesda, MD (June 4, 2007) In a ceremony held today in Bethesda, MD, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s leading medical research agency, for its environmental stewardship in reducing mercury and promoting resource conservation principles that will better protect human health and the environment.
“EPA commends NIH for being the first federal facility in Maryland to enroll in the National Partnership for Environmental Priorities program,” said Maria Vickers, EPA Deputy Director for the Office of Solid Waste. “They’re not only a leader in medical research, but now a leader in demonstrating how facilities can make changes in carrying out their work in a more environmentally-protective way.”
EPA’s voluntary National Partnership for Environmental Priorities program (NPEP) challenges businesses and manufacturers to become more environmentally aware and to adopt a resource conservation ethic that results in less waste, increased recycling, and more environmentally-sound products.
In becoming a partner, NIH committed to establishing an organizational-wide education and awareness program to eliminate mercury use where alternatives are available, and to prevent future installation of mercury switches and other devices in all new NIH facility construction. In addition to these commitments, NIH's leaders chose to do more by improving the way they manage waste materials from construction and demolition projects. The research agency initiated a pilot project to deconstruct one of its buildings, ultimately avoiding a large extent of land disposal of hazardous materials by extracting and recycling the materials. It also recycled 100 percent of the remaining non-hazardous debris.
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