Green and Sustainable Remediation Progress

I'm headed to Minneapolis this week to attend the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council's (ITRC) spring meeting. As a member of the ITRC Green and Sustainable Remediation (GSR) team, I will be assisting with the completion of the draft GSR Technical Regulatory Guidance Document. An earlier team document, the GSR Overview Document, will be published in the near future. Both documents will provide a significant contribution to the further evolution of the GSR approach.

On a separate, yet related note, Cox-Colvin & Associates was recently profile in Green Business Quarterly. The article discussed the firm's industry-leading efforts in the realm of GSR. Click here to read the article.

What is Green and Sustainable Remediation?

In recent years, the term "green" has found its way into just about every aspect of our lives. The list of green terms is extensive and you're probably familiar with many of them, such as green construction, green automobiles, green energy, and green products. However, some green terms may deal with concepts which aren't so common place, and therefore, not well understood. Such is the case with green and/or sustainable remediation. What is green and sustainable remediation, and is it more than just a fad?
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International Conference: Green Remediation - Environment, Energy, Economics

On June 15-17, 2010 I attended the the International Conference on Green Remediation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The conference included a wide range of technical presentations which covered environmental, energy and economic aspects of green and sustainable remediation. Some of the presentation topics included energy requirements of treatment systems, air emissions, water use requirements and impacts on water resources, land and ecosystem use and impacts, energy use and renewables, material consumption, reuse, and waste generation. In addition to attending the presentations, I presented a poster during the conference poster session. The poster topic discussed the uncertainties and barriers associated with green and sustainable remediation encountered during a RCRA Corrective Action cleanup. Overall, the conference was very informative and provided a good indication of the current state of green and sustainable remediation from the perspective of government agencies, public and private sectors, and academia. Conference presentations and posters will be posted on-line by the end of this month. Manuscripts of proceedings will be posted on-line sometime toward the end of summer. It will be well worth your time to take a look at some of the presentations, posters, and manuscripts once they are posted on-line!

ITRC's Green and Sustainable Remediation Team

I recently became a member of the Interstate Technical and Regulatory Council (ITRC) Green and Sustainable Remediation (GSR) Team. The team's purpose is to facilitate discussion, information exchange, and technology transfer about GSR among regulatory agencies and other interested parties. As a team member, I'm looking forward to contributing to the evolution of the GSR initiative, including the development of a technical guidance document. Check out the team's webpage, and let me know if you have any input.

EPA Region 5 Greener Cleanups Workshop

I recently attended EPA Region 5's Greener Cleanup Workshop, which provided an overview of Region 5's progress and future direction associated with green and sustainable remediation. I summarized the information presented at the Workshop for the benefit of those interested in green and sustainable remediation who could not attend. My summary was incorporated into Cox-Colvin's first Green & Sustainable Remediation Bulletin.