The old saying is right, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s less expensive and better for our air, water and health to prevent pollution than to try to clean it up. MPCA partners with businesses to go beyond monitoring and controlling pollution to preventing it in the first place by offering clean diesel and small business grants.

Two big sources of smog-causing air emissions are older diesel engines and the use of solvents– from personal, industrial and commercial uses and paints and coatings.  That’s a lot of small sources adding up to a big problem.

The MPCA has tackled both by distributing targeted grants to upgrade and replace older diesel engines and to small businesses to switch from solvent-based to water-based cleaners and paints.

Since 2006, via its Clean Diesel Grants Program, the MPCA has helped replace or upgrade more than 2,800 diesel engines in Minnesota, ranging from school buses to snow plows, construction cranes to dump trucks. Replacing just one new truck (replacing a 2002 model, after 110,000 miles) results in:

• Over 400 lbs/year of small particles and smog-causing hydrocarbons
• 20 tons/year in greenhouse gases
• 1,530 lb/year in carbon monoxide

And in just last 2 years, $662,500 in grants have gone to 21 small auto body shops around Minnesota preventing over 16 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).  Both industries find that making the changes carry other benefits too, like saving money, delivering better service, and happier employees.

“It drives like a Cadillac! I love the way it handles,” said driver Dan Hund of Caledonia Hauler’s new milk tanker truck, which was partially funded with a clean diesel grant.

“You can tell by the smell that this is a less polluting product and that we’re in a cleaner environment,” said Ramin Hakimi, owner Oscar’s auto body, after switching to water-based paints.Interested in applying for a grant?

A new clean diesel grant round of $400,000 is expected this month. Sign up to get an e-mail when the grants are available.  And sign up to be notified when the next round of small business VOC reduction grants is open. 

In part of a larger effort, Environmental Initiative is partnering with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) VOC grant program mentioned above, as well as the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP), and Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MnOSHA) to provide businesses with financial and technical resources to voluntarily reduce air pollution.

Environmental Initiative's services include engaging businesses, providing assistance with grant applications, and overall project coordination between funders, vendors, and grantees. Resources are available to businesses of all sizes, locations, and across industry sectors.

Since 2013, this group of partners have helped reduce 30,000 pounds of VOC emissions annually. We’re proud to offer resources that promote sustainable and tangible solutions to our environmental, economic, and public health challenges.

Environmental Initiative is leading the Clean Air Assistance Project, which operates under the umbrella of Clean Air Minnesota, a coalition of diverse partners working toward a common goal of reducing fine particulate matter and ground level ozone by 10%10% statewide emission reductions. Since 2013, Clean Air Assistance Project partners have helped reduce 30,000 pounds of VOC emissions annually. We’re proud to offer resources that promote sustainable and tangible solutions to our environmental, economic, and public health challenges.

Email Bjorn Olson or call 612-334-3388 ext. 8113 to find out more about the financial resources available right now to reduce emissions at your business.

What’s a circular economy? Simply put, an economy that works like nature does.

Minnesota Public Radio’s Elizabeth Dunbar captured the idea nicely in a recent article: “Imagine yourself in a native prairie. Birds and insects feed on plants. When they die, they decompose and nourish the soil. The prairie lifecycle forms a circle, where waste from one species is used by another, year after year.” Everything is a resource and there is no waste.

Our economy has historically operated the opposite. During most of 20th century there was a common, linear mentality that waste just went ‘away’. Extract natural resources, get as much value from them as possible, trash the rest. In order to move forward into the 21st century and preserve some of our most precious resources for future generations, we all have to move from an ‘away’ mentality.

Earlier this summer, more than twenty-five companies and organizations announced the Minnesota Sustainable Growth Coalition. The purpose of the partnership is to re-imagine business as usual through the acceleration and advancement of a thriving circular economy. It’s a big vision, a huge task. The coalition includes some of Minnesota's biggest names: Aveda, Best Buy, Cargill, EcoLab, General Mills, Medtronic and Target. Several nonprofits, government agencies and a University of Minnesota institute are also involved. The Coalition plans to work together to focus on three areas initially — energy, water and organic recycling.

Mike Harley, executive director of Environmental Initiative, which is facilitating the coalition's work, said the effort is unique in the U.S. "The frame that the businesses and their public and nonprofit partners have chosen is a really ambitious one," he said. "Over time we are building all kinds of capital rather than drawing it down, so that the action of the economy is restorative versus destructive."

Here’s a quick 4 minute video primer on the circular economy. Interested in learning more about what’s going on in Minnesota? Contact Sam Hanson, Sustainability Director at Environmental Initiative // 612-334-3388 ext. 8111.

-Adapted with permission. Emily Franklin, Environmental Initiative.

The industrial stormwater program regulates 29 industrial sectors, including manufacturers, recyclers, transporters, landfills, and wastewater treatment plants. The program offers guidance, assistance, and regulatory compliance to regulated industries, and even offers facility-specific stormwater management suggestions from their engineer. The program has created several short YouTube training videos, guidance manuals, and a self-audit “inspector’s checklist” document. To learn more or to view these guidance materials, go to the industrial stormwater home page.  

This summer, the MPCA’s Industrial Stormwater Program worked with interns who spent part of their internship experience working with regulated stormwater facilities. Additionally, the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program highighted this year’s interns, whose focus included waste reduction, stormwater conservation, and lean manufacturing. Read all about these developments, as well as the latest about the Nonmetallic Mining (MNG49) permit update in the September 2016 Industrial Stormwater News quarterly newsletter. 

-Melissa Wenzel, author