Read about these environmental best management practices (BMPs)

About these BMPs:

An environmental best management practice (BMP) is an action or combination of actions implemented to reduce the environmental impacts of business operations.  There are two types of pollution prevention: source reduction and recycling.  Source reduction reduces or eliminates the generation of waste.  Recycling takes used materials, modifies their form, and makes them available for future reuse.  The BMPs provided in the fact sheets listed above are a combination of source reduction and recycling strategies, which provide economic as well as environmental and safety benefits.

Each BMP fact sheet focuses on a particular sector, and draws information from several sources, which are listed in the endnotes section of each fact sheet.  The BMPs listed in each fact sheet may be used as a guide for your business.  Depending on your business' individual needs and technical and financial capacities, the BMPs may require modification.  When adapting a BMP to your business, it may be necessary to contact your local regulatory agency to determine permit requirements.  It is important to note that the BMPs listed in these fact sheets are intended as a starting point for your business' environmental management plan, and are not all-inclusive.  Further, information is available through links at the end of each fact sheet.  For additional information about regional specific BMPs, or BMPs not covered in these fact sheets, contact your local authorities and regulating agencies.  It is not expected that each BMP will work in all situations; each small business must factor in their own needs, resources, and capacities to find the ones that work best for them.

The fact sheets are intended to work in conjunction with EPA's Practical Guide to Environmental Management for Small Business and its companion book, Documenting Your Environmental Management Plan--A Workbook for Small Business.  They were completed in October 2004.