The New Jersey Pollution Prevention (P2) Plan - A Reminder

Certain facilities in the state of New Jersey are subject to Community Right-to-Know and Pollution Prevention reporting requirements. A facility is subject if they meet the following criteria:

1. The facility’s primary NAICS Code is included on the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Section 313 list OR is a federal facility.
2. The facility has 10 or more full-time employees.
3. The facility manufactures, processes, and/or otherwise uses one or more of the hazardous substances covered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Toxics Release Inventory Program in a quantity greater than their respective reportable thresholds
4. The applicable hazardous substances are listed in the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Section 313 Toxic Chemical List.
5. The threshold for these hazardous substances is generally 10,000 pounds during the calendar year.
6. For persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals, the reportable thresholds are listed in EPA’s PBT Final Rule Summary.

If applicable, the facility must submit Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) and a Release and Pollution Prevention Report (RPPR) annually. In addition, facilities in New Jersey must prepare a Pollution Prevention (P2) Plan and submit a Pollution Prevention Plan Summary every 5 years which summarizes the facilities efforts to reduce the generation, release, and use of these applicable hazardous substances.

Table 1 lists the reports that these industrial facilities are required to complete and/or submit in New Jersey.

Table 1 – Report Summary

P2 Plan

A Pollution Prevention (P2) Plan is a plan required to be prepared pursuant to N.J.A.C. 7:1K. The purpose of the P2 Plan is to describe the processes that take place at the facility and develop an accounting system to identify use, release and generation of hazardous substances with the objective to identify pollution prevention opportunities and evaluate pollution prevention techniques to reduce the use, release and generation of the same. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) offers various resources to assist with the development of this P2 Plan, including a fill-in-the-blank P2 Plan, a sample P2 Plan for a hypothetical paint formulation facility, and an administrative review checklist outlining the requirements for the P2 Plan. The P2 Plan should include at least:

• • General Information
    • Facility name, phone number, physical address, and mailing address
    • The name, phone number, and signature of the highest-ranking facility official and highest-ranking corporate official, as well as the union representative (if applicable)
    • List of covered hazardous substances
    • Process flow diagram
    • Process grouping decision for pollution prevention and units of measurement

• • Facility-Level Information
    • Facility-Level Substance-Specific Information Tables from the annual RPPR

• • Process-Level Information
    • P2-115 Forms from annual RPPR

• • Hazardous Waste
    • RCRA Hazardous Waste Biennial Report with supplemental alternate years data for all hazardous waste (regardless of whether it is covered by the P2 Plan)

• • Cost Data
    • An estimate for each production process of the costs of using, generating as non-product output (NPO), and releasing hazardous substances
    • This estimate should include the costs associated with storage and handling; monitoring, tracking, and reporting; treatment; transportation and disposal; manifesting and labeling; permit fees; liability insurance; safety and health compliance; obtaining raw materials.

• • Targeting
    • A description of which processes will be targeted for pollution prevention

• • Estimate Source-Level NPO
    • An estimate of the annual pounds of each hazardous substance generated as NPO at each targeted production process

• • Pollution Prevention Options
    • NJDEP lists potential pollution prevention techniques in Appendix I of the NJDEP P2 Plan Summary Instructions
    • For each pollution prevention option, list whether the option was selected and the associated impact on releases or the rationale for not implementing the option.

• • Feasibility Analysis of Options
    • A technical and financial feasibility analysis for selected pollution prevention options and decision on which pollution prevention techniques will be implemented in the 5-year period.
    • The financial feasibility analysis should include all elements of the cost estimate discussed earlier.

• • 5-Year Goals for NPO and USE Reduction
    • A summary of the predicted change in NPO and USE for each hazardous substance.

• • Facility-Level Pollution Prevention Reductions
    • The estimated change in NPO and USE of hazardous substance compared to the base year.

• • Targeted Production Processes
    • The estimated change in NPO and USE of hazardous substance for each process compared to the base year.

The P2 Plan should be kept on site, updated annually and completely revised every 5 years. NJDEP is performing routine inspections to verify that a complete and accurate P2 Plan is being maintained on site. Therefore, it is imperative for industrial facilities to ensure that their P2 Plan is up-to-date and has the required elements. The P2 Plan Summary is a summary of the P2 Plan and is submitted electronically every 5 years. The P2 Plan summary is completed by filling out a form based on the developed P2 Plan and submitting via NJDEP Online. Additionally, a P2 Progress Report is required annually and is satisfied by annual submission of the RPPR.

If you are due to update your P2 Plan or would like to discuss the administrative completeness of your current P2 Plan, please contact Trinity’s Princeton office or call 609.318.5500.