Envirosure Solutions helps business and
industry eliminate the daily headache of environmental, health and
safety regulatory compliance. We protect our clients from the
constantly-evolving demands of federal, state and local agencies,
providing them with the tools, knowledge and confidence they need to
save time, cut costs, make money and become environmental “rock stars”
in their communities.
As you probably know, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was
authorized in 2000 to extend the law for Toxic Release Inventory
(TRI/Form R Reporting) for approximately 50 more toxic chemicals. Your
company is accountable for these requirements as long as you employ the
equivalent of 20,000 hours per year (10 or more full-time employees) and
your annual usage of one or more of the 700+ listed chemicals or
compounds exceeds qualifying thresholds.
Common chemicals on the TRI list include:
Metals
- lead, chromium, nickel, manganese, copper, cobalt, etc. Liquids -
xylene, toluene, sodium hydroxide, most acids, etc. Gases - ammonia,
freon, etc.:
Penalties
Remember one essential point about TRI
Reporting: if you should choose to ignore this law, the penalties are
extremely stiff and are issued retroactive to the date a company was
required to begin reporting (written policy: $27,500/chemical/year).
We Can Help
Because your company is subject
to TRI Reporting, it is essential to begin your due diligence now, as
you must document your applicable chemical usage for the entirety of the
calendar year before the deadline. This is a difficult and
time-consuming task, which makes it reassuring to have a professional
environmental management company to take care of the details. Envirosure
is here to help your company with TRI Reporting: achieve, maintain, and
exceed compliance!
Environmental, health and safety compliance
can understandably be overwhelming or confusing for organizations that
focus time and energy on productivity and quality over compliance
statutes. Envirosure provides turnkey environmental, health and safety
solutions to existing businesses. Envirosure improves and then sustains
environmental health and safety in the workplace by accurately and
efficiently ensuring compliance mandates are met. This approach allows
businesses to focus on their core business and reduce liability and
exposure by ensuring that gaps in compliance are eliminated.
For
additional information on the services Envirosure can provide for your
company, please contact us in our Arizona office at 480.784.4621 or
visit us on the web at www.envirosure.com.
Shredders: ASR Piles, Environmental Concerns on the
Rise
According to a recent study commissioned
by the EPA, the volume of auto shredder residue (ASR) is expected to
increase, due to the growing number of cars scrapped annually and the
increased use of plastics in automobile production. The majority of
ASR – the roughly 20 percent of leftover materials (plastic, rubber,
foam, paper, fabric, glass, etc.) – after a vehicle has been
“shredded” is currently landfilled. Other opportunities for its use
are currently under exploration.
With ASR quantities rising, look for
increased attention on your facility’s federal, state and local
compliance mandates. Ways to manage your compliance obligations
include:
Read your facility’s plans -- then follow them. This includes
your Stormwater plan, Spill Control and Countermeasures Plan, Material
Acceptance Policy, Emergency Response Plan (have you drilled it
lately?) and more. Don’t underestimate the simplicity of this coaching
-- remember there’s a difference between knowing a plan and acting on
it regularly.
Update your plans and permits. Simple and straight-forward,
yes? Not always. Legislative updates happen ongoingly throughout the
year. Stay in regular contact with your state’s environmental quality
department website, subscribe to a newsletter (such as Recycling
Today’s Auto Shredding Info) or – radical idea – use a compliance
consultant. Not only are compliance consultants up-to-date, they are
usually significantly less expensive than the research time spent by
your company’s EHS manager to accomplish the same task.
Conduct a baseline assessment. Begin with an inventory of the
hazardous (and preferably non-hazardous) materials onsite, then look
through your plans, permits, reports, pending applications, policies
and programs. How old are they and when were they last updated? Do you
have your trainings documented? Are your waste manifests in one place?
Better yet, have a third party conduct the assessment for you. If
there’s bad news, you’d rather hear it from them than, say, your local
inspector.
Don’t know where to start? Give Envirosure
a call – we’re ready to help!
