P²AD Partnership News: January 2006

Welcome

Our Partnership is one mechanism to bring people and businesses in a community together to accomplish extraordinary things. Thank you for your commitment to our Program, for helping improve and protect the environment in our state and for your work toward achieving a sustainable Georgia.

Remember this is your program. We are here to assist you, to recognize your accomplishments and to encourage you to continually strive to improve your performance. I welcome your comments and input on how to improve our Program. Our team at P²AD looks forward to working with you to make this the best program in the country.

Stephanie Busch
Partnership for a Sustainable Georgia Manager

January Partner Events – Don’t Miss Out on These Opportunities

Jan. 18 – Intro EMS Training
Macon, Georgia
Open to Yellow and Red Level Partners
This four-hour course will cover the basics of an EMS, from the elements of an environmental policy statement to how to implement your action plans, document roles and responsibilities, develop procedures, measure your successes, and communicate your program to your employees and community. We encourage all Partners in and around Macon to send two or three staff members, first-timers as well as those needing a refresher course. Contact Suzanne Burnes for more information
Jan. 24 – Environmental Regulations for Non-Manufacturers Seminar
Space is limited.
Contact Suzanne Burnes as soon as possible if you are interested in participating

Partner Benefits

As a Partner, you have access to numerous benefits including free on-site technical assistance. If you would like to learn more about what services are available to you, see the On-site Assistance fact sheet. When you are ready to request assistance, please use the questionnaire.

Partners also are eligible to receive discounted rates on energy and environmental courses offered by Georgia Tech. Full descriptions of the courses are available at http://www.edi.gatech.edu

Free Energy Assessments

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Save Energy Now campaign is offering free energy assessments. The current focus of the assessments is efficiency improvements for steam and process heating operations.

Program Changes

Just as our Partners are making great strides in their environmental achievements, P²AD continues to strive to improve our Program in order to better serve our Partners. We remain conscious of the need to balance the increase in administrative burden placed on applicants by adding additional requirements with the need for more information by the advisory panel. Here are a few of the recent changes to the Partnership Program:

Paperless Process

Based on numerous requests to move toward a paperless system, we are on track to have a process to complete applications online for the spring 2006 enrollment period. Beginning this year, you will also be required to submit your facility’s annual performance report online. The new version of the APR form is available on our web site.

Enrollment Period

Beginning in 2006, the enrollment periods for accepting applications will change. Applications will be accepted April 1 – May 31 and Sept. 1 – Oct. 31.

Applications

The following changes to the Partnership application have been implemented for the spring 2006 enrollment period:

The environmental requirements checklist has been updated to include Georgia-specific requirements.
Applicants must provide a copy of their facility’s environmental policy.
Additional baseline information is required.
The list of acceptable activities in the EPP and sustainability sections has been modified to better clarify the intent.The activities must be appropriate to your organization’s size, operations, setting and environmental impact.

Annual Performance Report

Partners are required to annually report to the Program and the public on their environmental program, goals and progress. All Partners (except those who joined the program in fall 2005) must submit an annual performance report (APR) by April 3. Failure to submit an APR by the deadline is cause for removal from the Program. Completed APRs will be accessible to the public via the P²AD web site.

After Feb. 1, P²AD will require that all APRs be submitted via the online form. P²AD will not accept submittals of other versions of reports. To aid Partners in preparing information for this report, sample forms are provided as guidance.

Recognition Opportunities

2005 GAWP Industrial Awards

The GAWP Industrial Committee is accepting nominations for the 2005 Industrial Awards to be presented at the 2006 Industrial Conference & Expo March 15-16. The deadline for nominations is Jan. 13.

2006 American Forest & Paper Association Recycling Awards

Entries must be received by Feb. 17. Award winners will be announced April 12 in conjunction with AF&PA’s 129th Annual Paper Week.

Partners in the News

Shaw was recently recognized for phasing out PVC in an article published at HuntingtonNews.net (Dec. 8, 2005).

According to the article, “Shaw Industries, Inc. ran its last production of PVC carpet backing at the beginning of 2005, replacing it with EcoWorx, a cradle-to-cradle product that can be sustainably recycled, has less embodied energy than PVC carpet tiles, and maintains equal or greater performance.”

Click here to read the full article.

Calendar

Jan. 18 – Intro EMS Training

Open to Yellow and Red Level Partners

For more information: Suzanne Burnes
Jan. 24 – Environmental Regulations for Non-manufacturers Seminar

Space is limited

For more information: Suzanne Burnes

Feb. 28 and March 1-2 – Global Plastics and Environmental Conference

Sheraton Gateway Hotel, Atlanta

March 15-16 – GAWP Industrial Conference & Expo

April 1 – May 31 – Open Enrollment

April 3 – Annual Performance Reports Due

May 8-11 – National Environmental Partnership Summit

Sheraton Atlanta Hotel

Interactive sessions, workshops focused on pollution prevention, compliance assistance and performance-based environmental leadership.

Sept. 1 – Oct. 31 – Open Enrollment

Category: Program News