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P2 Legislation

P2 Legislation

Our job is hard, but our mission is simple: to protect Michigan's environment and public health by managing air, water, land, and energy resources. One of the ways to manage those resources is through pollution prevention.
Pollution prevention is reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of nontoxic or less toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and reusing materials rather than putting them into the waste stream.

Legislation & Regulation

  • In 1990, the U.S. Congress acknowledged that the United States annually produces millions of tons of pollution and spends tens of billions of dollars per year controlling this pollution. As a result it passed the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. The P2 Act recognizes that there are significant opportunities for entities to reduce or prevent pollution at the source, and that source reduction is more desirable than waste management and pollution control. The P2 Act established a national policy, implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that: 

    • Pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible;
    • Pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled in an environmentally safe manner whenever feasible;
    • Pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner whenever feasible; and
    • Disposal or other release into the environment should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner.

  • Clean Air Act (CAA)

    Clean Water Act (CWA)

    Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA)

    Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

    National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

    Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

     

  • The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has written the Michigan Guide to Environmental Regulations to assist Michigan's business, industry, and local governments in navigating the maze of environmental obligations they face. This guidebook describes how wastes may enter the environment, how to prevent them from doing so, and which remediation methods to use if contamination does occur. The Guidebook covers:

    • Air Regulations
    • Materials Management Regulations
    • Wastewater Regulations
    • Materials Storage and Transport
    • SARA Title III - Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
    • Environmental Emergencies
    • Sites of Environmental Contamination, Property Transfers, and Liability Issues
    • Activities at or Near the Land/Water Interface
    • Drinking Water
    • Radioactive Materials Regulations
    • Geological Resources
    • Sustainability