11    WASTE MINIMIZATION PROGRAM AND POLLUTION
PREVENTION PLANS AT BOEING DEFENSE AND
SPACE GROUP SITES
Robert M. Burgess, Environmental Controls Administrator
Boeing Defense & Space Group
Seattle, Washington 98124-2207
INTRODUCTION
A properly developed Pollution Prevention Plan has many benefits other than regulatory compliance. It lays the foundation for pollution prevention efforts and proactive waste management that is
the most effective way to involve total quality management at the site level to save money, increase
metrics, reduce liability, and minimize use of toxic materials and generation of hazardous waste. In
addition to these benefits, a properly developed plan outlines an overall strategy to meet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 33/50 challenge and achieve the Boeing 50% hazardous waste
reduction goal by 1995.
The Boeing Company is committed to hazardous substance and hazardous waste minimization and
pollution prevention through reduction, recycling, and treatment. Boeing has adopted a Corporate
Policy regarding environmental affairs that places emphasis on pollution prevention, hazardous
substance use reduction, and hazardous waste minimization. To this end, the Pollution Prevention
Plan documents were endorsed by the Boeing Company to fulfill the requirements of Washington
State Code (WAC) 173-307-030 and to ensure that every effort was being made to reduce hazardous
products in the workplace.
A pollution prevention program at industrial sites, such as those belonging to Boeing Defense &
Space Group (D&SG), must completely describe the disposition of chemicals at every step of their
lifetime while on-site and off. The concept of a chemical tracking system is to know the whereabouts
of the chemicals and their form from cradle to grave. To accomplish this at Boeing D&SG, an
approach has been taken to address the following issues: chemical inventory, chemical distribution,
and waste disposal. In addition to these chemical tracking issues, the processes which use the chemicals and generate the wastes must be investigated in terms of chemical reduction, recycling, treatment,
and/or substitution opportunities. This paper will discuss these points to give the reader the background necessary to establish a comprehensive pollution prevention program at any site using the
Boeing D&SG approach as a model.
POLLUTION PREVENTION PROGRAM
The Boeing D&SG Pollution Prevention Plans, written to fulfill Washington State Regulation
Chapter 173-307, includes the identification of hazardous products used, hazardous wastes generated, and descriptions of each facility's processes. The regulation states that the types and amounts of
products containing hazardous waste must meet or exceed the following thresholds:
1. Ninety percent of all products which contain hazardous substances.
2. All extremely hazardous waste (EHW) and enough additional dangerous waste (DW) to
reach ninety percent of all hazardous waste generated at each facility.
The procedure used to accomplish the requirements for the Pollution Prevention Plans have been
broken down into the following five steps: identify processes, characterize processes, develop opportunities, evaluate opportunities, and prioritize opportunities.
48th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1993 Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, Michigan 48118. Printed in
U.S.A.
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