December 6, 2005

The Department of Environmental Quality announced today that applications for the 2006 Community Pollution Prevention (P2) Grants are available and being accepted through February 15, 2006.

The 2006 Community P2 Grant Program seeks to bring local government, businesses, planning agencies, and residents together to create change through P2. This grant seeks to address waste reduction of school chemicals by not only cleaning out excess, legacy, unused, and improperly stored chemicals, but by also going a step further and requiring the implementation of mechanisms in schools for toxic chemical waste minimization.

The DEQ has a total of $250,000 available in grant funding available to schools, school districts, county governments, local health departments, municipalities, and regional planning agencies to fund school chemical waste reduction. Organizations receiving grants must provide a match of at least 25 percent, and the maximum grant amount is $24,000 for each project.

Examples of activities that could qualify for funding under this grant program are:

• Development of a detailed chemical inventory of all chemicals used in
  the school.

• Provide training on proper laboratory chemical management with an
  emphasis on P2, for both staff and students.

• Storage of materials within centralized chemical storage areas and
  implement a system to identify purchase dates and the ages of all
  chemicals in inventory.

• Set up a program to clean out all chemicals in the school, including
  arts, automotive, industrial arts departments, and custodial and
  landscaping supplies.

For more information, contact the DEQ’s Environmental Science and Services Division at 800-662-9278. To access the Request for Proposal, go to: http://www.deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-ess-p2-communityrfp.pdf.

Editor’s note:  DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

“Protecting Michigan’s Environment, Ensuring Michigan’s Future”

Revised December 6, 2005 by Pat Watson