P2: Pollution Prevention Guidelines

Source Reduction Opportunities for Businesses

Purpose: Provide junior technical personnel guidance for conducting thorough waste assessments and generating ideas for source reduction opportunities.

Approach: Use University of Nebraska–Lincoln Partners in Pollution Prevention intern project reports from the past 15 years, along with reassessment feedback from actual clients for whom work was completed, to develop specific examples of the information needed to best:

  • assess a situation for waste/source reduction
  • perform and document the calculations
  • identify a range of source reduction opportunities
  • identify common direct and indirect benefits for specific opportunities
  • present opportunities to a client and advocate for change
  • identify common client concerns about specific opportunities

Target Audiences: Student interns (from UNL and other internship programs), entry level environmental professionals (e.g., with other P2 service providers and within business and industry).

Guideline Topics:
Click on each title to see the table of contents for the guideline including a list of worked examples.

Each guideline has 6 sections:

  1. A description of the background and rationale for the opportunity.

  2. Steps to take when assessing and defining the scope of the situation, including references and resources to use and a complete appendix of example assessments.

  3. Steps to take to identify feasible P2 opportunities, including a complete appendix of example prescriptive strategies to consider, techniques/calculations to perform, sample vendor product details, and actual savings data reported from reassessments, where available.

  4. A list of barriers to and benefits of implementing select opportunities, including indirect benefits.

  5. An explanation of the importance of greenhouse gas emissions and how to use life cycle assessment tools, including an appendix with examples.

  6. Suggestions for making an effective business case for change, with an appendix of examples.