Making it work for you:

Environmental Health Community Model

Business Pollution Prevention Program

The Business Pollution Prevention Program is run by Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Inc. (SERI) in partnership with the University of Arizona and is funded through a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Pollution Prevention grant.

The purpose of the grant is to reduce the amount of hazardous substances entering the environment, conserve energy and water and improve the environmental health of the community through promotoras—trained community members—who provide vital information on an array of topics to members of their communities by going door to door.

SERI promotoras have training and years of experience conducting home and business visits, focusing on environmental health issues such as indoor air quality, awareness of potential in-home lead hazards and hazardous chemicals.

SERI delivers educational information on environmental health threats at the community level to families through home visits by promotoras and presentations at community events and schools. SERI also has visited more than 500 businesses, delivering information on pollution prevention strategies targeted to auto repair and paint and body shops, print shops and nail salons.

"So far, SERI promotoras have conducted over 350 business visits under this grant," said Ann Marie Wolf, president of SERI.

"The UA will provide additional trainings for the promotoras that will equip them to effectively communicate pollution prevention and source reduction strategies to the following business sectors: auto maintenance, auto body paint and repair, printing, plating, surface coating, nail and hair salons, woodworking and plastic materials and resins," said Monica Ramirez, research translation coordinator for the UA SRP.

If your business would like a pollution prevention visit, please contact Liz Fairchild at SERI, 321-9488, or email her at lfairchild@seriaz.org.

Portions of this article were excerpted from UA News. Click Here to read the full article.

Education and Resources

ADEQ’s Pollution Prevention Program

ADEQ's Pollution Prevention, or P2, program requires Arizona businesses to use their knowledge of their operations to reduce toxic substances at the source, minimize the generation of hazardous waste and prevent the release of pollutants to the environment.

U.S. EPA Pollution Prevention website

Pollution prevention (P2) is reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of non-toxic or less-toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and re-using materials rather than putting them into the waste stream.

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Community Partners

Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Inc. (SERI)

Finding innovative solutions to environmental problems and new ways of thinking about our environmental future.

UA Superfund Research Program

Our Mission is to advance science and to apply the biomedical and environmental research conducted by our program for the improvement of human health and the environment. Our program investigates the hazardous waste and public health issues currently confronting the Southwestern region of the United States, specifically arsenic, chlorinated hydrocarbon, and mine tailings contamination. We are committed to an interdisciplinary approach to environmental research and education.

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