2023 Regional Pollution Prevention Award Winners
EPA's P2 Regional Pollution Prevention Recognition Awards Program is an annual, voluntary, and non-monetary awards program that recognizes organizations whose P2 successes and practices exemplify environmental excellence and innovation.
Organizations that would like to be considered for a Regional Pollution Prevention Award should complete the online application questionnaire during the open nomination period every year. Learn more about the application window and process.
2023 Regional Pollution Prevention Award Winners
Region 4
Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC. (CNS): Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN, for replacing the use of mineral oil in their electrical transformers with a bio-based product that reduced costs, ensured regulatory compliance and produces 56 times less carbon dioxide emissions than the mineral oil it replaced.
Region 8
Breckenridge Grand Vacations (BGV), Breckenridge, Colorado for improving the efficiency of its snowmelt system, which prevents the build-up of snow and ice on walkways, patios and roadways. The system now turns on before snow and ice builds up which decreased the natural gas usage at the resort by 14 percent in the first quarter of 2023.
Region 10
Exotic Metals Forming Division of Parker Aerospace, Kent, Washington for eliminating chemical processes that contain n-Propylbromide (nPB), a hazardous compound that will soon be noncompliant in Washington State. By switching to a non-hazardous alternative to the anti-spatter product it was using and entirely removing a vapor degreasing process, the company estimates that it is preventing thousands of pounds of nPB waste from being released into the environment and it is saving thousands of dollars in disposal costs.
Production Plating, Incorporated (PPI), Mukilteo, Washington for successfully reducing sodium hydroxide waste by 50 percent in its operations. Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye or caustic soda, is a corrosive inorganic compound. The change has decreased its waste disposal weight by 75 percent in most waste streams and is saving approximately $500,000 per year.
Pacific Seafood, Clackamas, Oregon for switching to safer cleaning options at its seafood processing facility, implementing actions to decrease the amount of chemicals wasted, and focusing on water conservation and energy use reduction. The company estimates that using more efficient cleaning equipment has alone saved more than 330,000 gallons of water over the course of a year. Pacific Seafood is now implementing these changes at all facilities.