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Through Partners for
the Environment, some 11,000 businesses are working closely with EPA
to achieve verifiable upgrades in the environment and cut their costs
along the way. These partners set voluntary pollution-management goals--conserving
water and energy, minimizing greenhouse gases, slashing toxic emissions,
re-using solid waste, controlling indoor air pollution, and getting a
handle on pesticide risks. In return EPA provides incentives like vital
public recognition and access to emerging information. EPA runs more than
40 such voluntary programs out of its headquarters and regional offices,
ones like ENERGY STAR,
Performance Track, WasteWise, Design for the Environment, Climate Leaders
and others--all highly successful, with the promise of continuing advances
in the months and years ahead.
Highlighted below are several voluntary programs.
- Best Workplaces for Commuters
(formerly Commuter Choice Leadership Initiative)
Best Workplaces for Commuters is a joint EPA and U.S. Department of
Transportation recognition and partnership program that encourages employers
to offer their employees an outstanding level of commuter benefits such
as tax-free transit passes, vanpool benefits, or telecommuting.
- Clean School Bus USA
EPA's Clean School Bus USA program brings together partners from business,
education, transportation, and public health organizations to work toward
eliminating unnecessary public school bus idling; retrofitting buses
with better emission control technologies; and replacing the oldest
buses in the fleet with new, less polluting buses.
- Climate Leaders
Climate Leaders is a new voluntary EPA industry-government partnership
that encourages companies to develop long-term comprehensive climate
change strategies. Partners set a corporate-wide greenhouse gas emission
reduction goal and inventory their emissions to measure progress.
- Design for the Environment
The Design for the Environment program helps businesses incorporate
environmental considerations into the design of products by integrating
cleaner, cheaper, and smarter solutions into everyday business practices.
- Diesel Retrofit
This program addresses pollution from diesel construction equipment
and heavy-duty vehicles that are currently on the road today. The Program
is building a market for clean diesel engines by working with state,
local and industry partners to create demonstration projects around
the country.
- ENERGY STAR
ENERGY STAR
provides businesses and consumers with energy efficient solutions that
save money while protecting the environment for future generations.
By choosing ENERGY STAR
in our homes and places of employment, every person can help protect
the environment.
- National Environmental
Performance Track
EPA's most comprehensive partnership program is the first multi-media
partnership program encouraging companies to continuously reduce their
facilities' total effect on the environment. The program includes over
300 private and public facilities, all of which have achieved environmental
results that go beyond compliance with applicable legal and regulatory
standards.
- Pesticide
Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP)
The Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program is a voluntary partnership
between EPA and pesticide users developed to reduce the health and environmental
risks associated with pesticide use, and to implement pollution prevention
strategies.
- SmartWay Transport
EPA created SmartWay Transport, a partnership with leading freight-haulers,
retailers and manufacturers, to reduce: fuel consumption from the transportation
sector in the United States; emissions affecting human health, especially
in densely populated urban areas; and greenhouse gas emissions.
- SunWise School Program
The SunWise School Program is an environmental and health education
program that aims to teach children and their caregivers how to protect
themselves from overexposure to the sun. Through the use of classroom-based,
school-based, and community-based components, SunWise seeks to develop
sustained sun-safe behaviors in schoolchildren.
- WasteWise
WasteWise encourages business, government, and institutional partners
to reduce municipal solid waste through waste prevention, recycling,
and buying/manufacturing products with recycled content, benefitting
their bottom lines and the environment.
- Water
Alliances for Voluntary Efficiency (WAVE)
EPA's Water Alliances for Voluntary Efficiency (WAVE) program helps
businesses reduce water use and water-related energy use. WAVE's efforts
focus on improving water efficiency in the lodging industry, office
buildings and educational institutions.
For a complete list of programs, visit EPA's Partners for the Environment
Web site www.epa.gov/partners.
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