What Industry is Doing
Companies and organizations can take action on pollution in a wide variety of ways, such as choosing environmentally responsible technologies and processes, setting environmental standards, developing environmental management systems and pollution prevention plans, as well as monitoring and reporting on their handling of substances of concern.
The NPRI is a key resource for what companies, organizations and industries are doing regarding the release, disposal and recycling of substances of concern:
Pollution Prevention Leaders - Award-winning companies reporting to the NPRI
Simply put, pollution prevention is about looking at what causes waste and pollution in a particular situation and figuring out the best ways to minimize it or prevent it from happening in the first place.
Reporting on pollution prevention activities has been a mandatory requirement in the NPRI since 1997. In 2005, about 40% of facilities reporting to the NPRI indicated that they practised pollution prevention. The most popular type of pollution prevention reported by the facilities was "good operating practice or training".
Some Canadian companies and organizations understand pollution prevention particularly well and have been singled out for their progress with Pollution Prevention Awards from the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME):
2002 CCME Award Winners - companies/organizations that report to the NPRI1
- Novopharm Limited of Toronto, for eliminating the use of a toxic substance in its pharmaceutical manufacturing processes;
- the City of Toronto (Works and Emergency Services Department, Water and Wastewater Services Division, Industrial Waste and Storm Water Quality Unit), for becoming the first municipality in Canada to incorporate pollution prevention planning requirements into a Sewer Use By-Law; and
- Alberta-Pacific Industries Inc. of Boyle, Alberta, and its Carbon Central Team, for finding solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
1 Some of the substances for which the awards were received are not reported to the NPRI.
2001 CCME Award Winners - companies/organizations that report to the NPRI1
- IBM Canada received an award for three pollution prevention projects at its Bromont, Quebec, plant. The projects included process changes and new environmental technologies that enabled the plant to reduce its chemical and water use, eliminate hazardous waste and reuse energy. The projects generated annual savings of more than $1.5 million.
- Dana Canada received pollution prevention awards for two plants in Thorold, Ontario. The firm implemented process changes that reduced costs cut contaminant emissions by more than 60% and decreased greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 30%.
1Some of the substances for which the awards were received are not reported to the NPRI.
Using the NPRI to find out about specific facilities and industries
Looking for information on what pollutants or chemicals a specific facility, company or industry is releasing, disposing or recycling? If the substance is listed on the NPRI and if the facilities reported to the NPRI, then you can find this information through the Search Engine on the NPRI Communities Portal. Follow these steps:
To find out about all of the facilities in a particular community:
- Go to the NPRI Communities Portal Search Engine
- Scroll down and select the province/territory and community name (Optional). Selecting a specific postal code will provide much fewer results. If you try this and don't get satisfactory results, try the community name instead.
- Scroll down and click on the "Search" button.
Note: Results are for the year 2005 unless you select an option for a different year. You will get a list of the facilities in the area that you have selected and you can click on them individually to find out which substances they are releasing, disposing and recycling. Depending on what is being released in the area you have selected, you may also see an extra table that shows how much of each smog-forming pollutant was estimated to be emitted in your area in 2000.
To find out about a specific facility or industry in a particular community:
- Go to the NPRI Communities Portal Search Engine
- Scroll down and select the province/territory and community name (Optional). Selecting a specific postal code is a different, but much narrower option. If you try this and don't get results, try the community name instead.
- For a specific company, facility or organization: Scroll down to the field for "Company/Organization" and enter the name of the facility, company or organization of interest. Note that partial names are accepted and results are returned based on how the facilities identified themselves when they reported to the NPRI.
- For a specific industry: Scroll down to the field for "Industry" and select the category of interest from the list.
- Scroll down and click on the "Search" button.
Note: Results are for the year 2005 unless you select an option for a different year. You will get a list of the facilities in the area that you have selected and you can click on them individually to find out which substances they are releasing, disposing and recycling. Depending on what is being released in the area you have selected, you may also see an extra table that shows how much of each smog-forming pollutant was estimated to be emitted in your area in 2000.
