Industrial Pollution Prevention Trends in New Jersey
December 1996 - Michael Aucott - Debra Wachspress - Jeanne Herb

Purpose of Report
The New Jersey Pollution Prevention Act was signed into law in August 1991. The law established an innovative program to encourage New Jersey's industries to realize the financial benefits of reducing their use and generation of hazardous substances. Some states have undertaken similar pollution prevention programs. Other states have undertaken different models to the establishment of pollution prevention programs. The New Jersey program is based on the direction of the Legislature in the 1991 New Jersey Pollution Prevention Act that established within NJDEP an industrial pollution prevention planning program, an industrial pollution prevention public reporting program, and a pilot program to test the concept of Facility-wide Permitting. The New Jersey Pollution Prevention Act requires the Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to prepare a report on pollution prevention trends in New Jersey. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to outline trends in New Jersey's industries in reducing the use and generation of hazardous substances.

It is important to realize that the term pollution prevention, in its broadest sense, includes much more than the efforts mandated by the Pollution Prevention Act. The Pollution Prevention Act, and the rules developed pursuant to it, relate to only those industrial facilities large enough to be covered by Section 313 of the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA 313) reporting requirements. Only those chemicals covered by these same requirements are to be addressed in the pollution prevention plans which these facilities must develop.

Thus, this report's discussion of pollution prevention, and trends associated with it, is limited to point-source pollution from the 700 or so relatively large, industrial facilities which are covered under the law. Not included are pollutants which enter the aqueous environment from multiple non-point sources in New Jersey, including those stemming from agricultural activities, urban storm water runoff, and construction activities. Also excluded are air pollution sources from combustion, whether it be from point sources (such as industrial boilers or waste incinerators) or non-point sources (such as motor vehicles) and from many small facilities throughout the state.