Laboratory garners seven awards for pollution prevention

Contact: David Lyons, (505) 665 9198 (00-129)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Oct. 2, 2000 -- Seven organizations and projects from the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory have won New Mexico Green Zia Environmental Excellence awards for their efforts in pollution prevention.

The Green Zia Environmental Excellence Program is a voluntary program that helps New Mexico businesses achieve environmental excellence by establishing environmental management systems based on pollution prevention. It is sponsored by the New Mexico Environment Department and administered by the New Mexico Environmental Alliance, a partnership of state, local and federal agencies; academia; private industry; and environmental advocacy groups.

Los Alamos' Business Operations Division, Human Resources Division, Distributed Facilities Group and the Transition Manufacturing and Safety Equipment Project won Commitment awards. The Environmental Science and Waste Technology Division and High Explosive Science and Technology Group, which won Commitment awards last year, and the Weapons Component Technology Group, won Achievement awards.

Overall, Los Alamos won seven of the 30 Green Zia awards given this year. Los Alamos' food service provider Aramark Corp. also won a Commitment Award.

They will be recognized by Gov. Gary Johnson and State Environment Department Secretary Peter Maggiore at a ceremony from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 4 at Hyde State Park in Santa Fe.

"With seven more awards this year to add to the three we won last year, we confirm our continued commitment to reducing or eliminating waste at every opportunity," said Tom Starke, program manager for Los Alamos' Environmental Stewardship Office, which coordinates Green Zia activities at the Laboratory.

"Our ultimate goal is to make pollution prevention a cornerstone of all our business practices and to develop an environmentally conscious culture Labwide that takes us beyond mere compliance," he added.

The Commitment Award is given to organizations that have made strong commitments to pollution prevention and are establishing basic, systematic pollution prevention programs. The Achievement Award recognizes organizations that have turned their pollution prevention programs into prevention-based environmental management systems and can demonstrate measurable results.

The Governor's Green Zia Environmental Excellence Award, the highest honor awarded, is reserved for organizations that have fully integrated prevention-based environmental management systems in place. Winning organizations must have demonstrated significant process improvement, substantial regulatory compliance, measurable waste reduction and proven leadership in environmental issues within the company and community. To date, no New Mexico organization has received an Environmental Excellence Award.

Additional information about the Green Zia program is available online at ftp://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/docs/Gr_Zia/2000Criteria_final.doc. Los Alamos' winning applications also are available at http://emeso.lanl.gov/eso_projects/green_zia/Applying/application.html.

More news releases from the Environmental Science and Waste Technology (E) Division