Foreword
When I began my career in environmental engineering, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA) was just being formed, with Bill Ruckelshaus as its
first administrator. At the time, the emphasis was on treating waste after it was
produced. As a young professor, I continued in that vein. My research was focused
on developing more efficient methods of removing toxic metals from wastewater and
developing remediation technologies for Superfund sites.
When I returned to practicing engineering, I was involved with developing a
waste minimization program for the Department of Defense, moving upstream from
waste treatment to reducing or eliminating waste through changing manufacturing
and maintenance processes and the toxic chemicals used. It was a unique concept
at the time—reducing or even eliminating waste before it was produced. Based on
that experience, I published and spoke widely about the importance of eliminating,
rather than treating, waste. In a talk to the board of directors of a major manufacturer of tools, I followed a lawyer who gave them the status of various remediation
sites and a rundown on the millions of dollars of liabilities associated with cleaning
them. I began my talk by observing that I was following their lawyer responsible for
their paternity suits, and that I was going to talk to them instead about the benefits
of hazardous waste birth control. I subsequently compiled the lessons learned from
my various projects in the Waste Minimization Handbook. I had first met Bill
Ruckelshaus at a meeting at which he was discussing the need to regulate toxic
chemicals. When I completed the Waste Minimization Handbook, he kindly agreed
to write the foreword.
Subsequently, I lead a team of engineers and scientists in projects that expanded
beyond hazardous waste minimization and treatment of toxic chemicals in air, water,
and solid waste into pollution prevention. As our experience evolved, we wrote and
published The Pollution Prevention Handbook. The book was a group effort, involving
24 other professionals who worked with me on projects in this evolving field.
During my career, I have had the opportunity of working in over 20 countries in
six continents, assisting industries and governments in setting up pollution prevention
programs. When the Soviet Union fell, I worked with newly privatized companies
to improve manufacturing efficiency and compliance with Western environmental
requirements. In Hungary, we consulted with six individual companies, which was
helpful, but limited to these six companies. In moving on to Poland, we not only prepared industrial efficiency audits for individual companies but also provided training
to Polish engineers and scientists, who performed industrial efficiency audits for
many more companies under our supervision. By the time the program in Poland
ended, we left a trained cadre of over 200 professionals who carried on the program,
greatly expanding our individual effectiveness. From this experience, we moved on
to the former Soviet Union. In Russia, we decided that our primary goal was training,
and that all industrial efficiency audits would be performed by Russian trainees, with
foreign nationals providing technical advice. We also provided seed money for our
xi
When I began my career in environmental engineering, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA) was just being formed, with Bill Ruckelshaus as its
first administrator. At the time, the emphasis was on treating waste after it was
produced. As a young professor, I continued in that vein. My research was focused
on developing more efficient methods of removing toxic metals from wastewater and
developing remediation technologies for Superfund sites.
When I returned to practicing engineering, I was involved with developing a
waste minimization program for the Department of Defense, moving upstream from
waste treatment to reducing or eliminating waste through changing manufacturing
and maintenance processes and the toxic chemicals used. It was a unique concept
at the time—reducing or even eliminating waste before it was produced. Based on
that experience, I published and spoke widely about the importance of eliminating,
rather than treating, waste. In a talk to the board of directors of a major manufacturer of tools, I followed a lawyer who gave them the status of various remediation
sites and a rundown on the millions of dollars of liabilities associated with cleaning
them. I began my talk by observing that I was following their lawyer responsible for
their paternity suits, and that I was going to talk to them instead about the benefits
of hazardous waste birth control. I subsequently compiled the lessons learned from
my various projects in the Waste Minimization Handbook. I had first met Bill
Ruckelshaus at a meeting at which he was discussing the need to regulate toxic
chemicals. When I completed the Waste Minimization Handbook, he kindly agreed
to write the foreword.
Subsequently, I lead a team of engineers and scientists in projects that expanded
beyond hazardous waste minimization and treatment of toxic chemicals in air, water,
and solid waste into pollution prevention. As our experience evolved, we wrote and
published The Pollution Prevention Handbook. The book was a group effort, involving
24 other professionals who worked with me on projects in this evolving field.
During my career, I have had the opportunity of working in over 20 countries in
six continents, assisting industries and governments in setting up pollution prevention
programs. When the Soviet Union fell, I worked with newly privatized companies
to improve manufacturing efficiency and compliance with Western environmental
requirements. In Hungary, we consulted with six individual companies, which was
helpful, but limited to these six companies. In moving on to Poland, we not only prepared industrial efficiency audits for individual companies but also provided training
to Polish engineers and scientists, who performed industrial efficiency audits for
many more companies under our supervision. By the time the program in Poland
ended, we left a trained cadre of over 200 professionals who carried on the program,
greatly expanding our individual effectiveness. From this experience, we moved on
to the former Soviet Union. In Russia, we decided that our primary goal was training,
and that all industrial efficiency audits would be performed by Russian trainees, with
foreign nationals providing technical advice. We also provided seed money for our
xi