Why is chemical use a key element of the City’s
Environmental Management Program?
City operations include a wide range of industrial
processes including:
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equipment and fleet maintenance;
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carpentry, machine, and paint shops;
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road repair and maintenance;
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construction; and
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landscape and facility maintenance.
These operations employ many different chemicals such
as solvents, paints, cleaners, lubricants, and pesticides.
The use of chemicals poses potential risks to human health and the
environment as well as the need to comply with complex record keeping,
storage and use regulations. The
City adopted a chemical use policy to establish our intent to use the least
hazardous products in our operations and to set out general criteria for
product selection.
 Recognizing
that people who work with chemical products are most knowledgeable about
what and how products are used, the policy is implemented through groups of
people who use similar products for similar needs as well as the already
established purchasing commodity teams.
Some of the criteria we consider when evaluating chemicals include carcinogenicity, endocrine disruption, neurotoxicity, mobility and persistence
in the environment, and toxicity to fish and wildlife.
What are we doing to reduce use of potentially
hazardous chemicals in City operations?
Thanks to the work of custodial and purchasing staff
from across City departments, there are six new contracts for over 30 environmentally-friendly
cleaning products. These products are not only better
for the environment, but also improve the health and safety of our
buildings, are cost effective and they work!
Additionally, City grounds staff have phased out
the use of a wide range of pesticides as well as reduced overall pesticide
use. The City is now turning its
attention to the different uses of products containing or resulting in the
production of persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic chemicals or Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics
(PBTs). Resolution
30487 calls for an inventory of products used by the City to determine
whether the products contain PBTs and also calls for an PBT
reduction strategy. We are using the State of
Washington’s list of priority PBTs.
A few facts
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Seventy-four water bodies in Washington are
contaminated with persistent chemicals at levels considered harmful by
the state. (Washington Toxics Coalition)
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Scientists testing the snowcaps from the
coastal mountains to the Rockies have found large concentrations of
toxic chemicals -- including PCBs, linked to birth defects and
reproductive problems. (Daily Journal of Commerce 10/5/99)
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In the last 50 years more than 75,000
chemicals have been developed and introduced into the environment. There
is very little effective national or international control of the
manmade chemicals in current use. (World Wildlife Fund)
Links
PBTs
City of Seattle PBT
Resolution
30487
City
of Seattle PBT Reduction Strategy PDF (305 KB)
Department
of Ecology PBT Strategy
Department
of Ecology Mercury Action Plan
EPA PBT strategy
EPA PBT action
plans
Northwest
guide to PBTs
Washington
Dept of Ecology Q & A on PBTs
Waste
minimization priority chemicals & fact sheets - EPA
Treated Wood
What you need
to know about treated wood with CCA - EPA
Other links of interest
Enviro
Defense scorecard
Integrated
solvent substitution data system - Enviro Sense
UN
backs limit on mercury - Seattle Post Intelligencer article
Pacific
Northwest Pollution Prevention Center
National
Pollution Prevention Roundtable
World
Wildlife Fund - Basic toxic chemical information
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