TURI's free bi-weekly e-bulletin features previews of recent publications and websites relevant to reducing the use of toxic chemicals.
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TURA 25th Anniversary Leadership Tours
The TURA Program completed its tour of 25th Anniversary honorees with Shawmut Corporation and Stainless Steel Coatings visits in May.
Shawmut Corporation
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Representative Michelle DuBois with JL Wyner and James Wyner of Shawmut Corporation
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On May 6, TURA formally recognized the contributions of Shawmut Corporation in West Bridgewater to toxics use reduction in Massachusetts. Shawmut completely eliminated the use of TCE in 2013 which resulted in annual savings of $750,000. "The Office of Technical Assistance worked alongside us to identify safer alternatives to TCE and provided guidance on the changing face of compliance here at Shawmut, including guiding our status change from a large quantity generator of hazardous waste to a very small quantity generator and assisting with our petition to eliminate our EPA Title V Operating Permit," Kevin Souza, Regulatory Compliance Manager at Shawmut explained.
Stainless Steel Coatings
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Robert Audlee, Stainless Steel Coatings, leading a tour of the facility. |
Stainless Steel Coatings, Inc., Lancaster, was recognized on May 8 by the TURA program for the company's achievements in toxics use reduction. The company eliminated the use of hexavalent chromium and reduced hazardous waste generation by 52%. "Making environmental improvements, reducing toxics use and saving energy has saved us money, making us more competitive. But something more subtle is that we stand out among our suppliers, customers and community. We keep our small facility clean, our factory is low impact, our people enjoy working here and it all pays off," said Robert Audlee, Stainless Steel Vice President.
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Greener Materials Research Symposium
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Roger McFadden, Senior Scientist, Staples, talking about market drivers for greener materials research.
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On May 19, academic researchers and representatives from industry attended a symposium on collaboration between academic research and business to develop solutions using safer solutions to toxic chemicals. Over 100 people attended this all day event held at University Crossing at UMass Lowell. The day included presentations by UMass Lowell faculty and also by representatives of industry who posed technical challenges to the assembled researchers. There was a large poster session and a tour of 8 of the UMass Lowell research labs, including the TURI Cleaning Lab.
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Rich Bizzozero Receives EPA Lifetime Achievement Award|
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Liz Harriman, TURI, Deb Szaro, EPA Deputy Regional Administrator, Rich Bizzozero, OTA, Jim Jones, US EPA Assistant Administrator
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Rich Bizzozero, director of OTA and Executive Director of the TURA Administrative Council, has received an EPA Lifetime Achievement award. "Bizzozero brings a quiet competence to the job, encouraging participation and leadership in others, while still playing a key role in moving initiatives forward. Under his leadership, the agencies involved in the law are a model of government and academic collaboration and productivity. These agencies have combined their skills, knowledge and roles to build a program that has achieved significant results both in developing policy and in directly helping Massachusetts businesses."
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TURA Amnesty for Voluntary Disclosure
The MassDEP is offering a TURA amnesty (until June 30, 2016) for facilities that voluntarily disclose a past failure to file one or more TURA chemical use reports. The amnesty substantially reduces the required back fees and substitutes a warning letter for a notice of noncompliance for these facilities. The facilities must self disclose to qualify for the amnesty. If MassDEP discovers a facility should have been filing, it will be subject to the normal enforcement actions. The amnesty terms are posted here and this letter describes the program.
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New Publication from GC3: Advancing Green Chemistry: Barriers to Adoption & Ways to Accelerate Green Chemistry in Supply Chains
There continues to be a growing interest and awareness in green chemistry. There are successful cases of adoption of safer alternatives, and scaling of supply, in response to demands from regulators and customers. However, overall progress is slow, measured in decades. Despite efforts from many stakeholders to accelerate green chemistry, use adoption rates remain low. Why aren't more green chemicals in use? What are the barriers? What is the means to accelerate adoption? The GC3 commissioned T. Fennelley and Associates to answer these questions through a series of supply chain interviews, discussions, and document review.
Download the document.
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