Training Exchange | Green and Sustainable Remediation

The ultimate goal of remediation systems is to protect human health and the environment from contaminants. Historically, remedies have been implemented without consideration of green or sustainable concepts in order to meet this goal. This includes the potential for transferring impacts to other media. For instance, many remedial decisions do not assess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy usage, or community engagement factors prior to the investigation or remedy implementation. Considering these factors throughout the investigation and remedy implementation process may lessen negative effects of the overall cleanup impact while the remediation remains protective of human health and the environment. The consideration of these factors is Green and Sustainable Remediation (GSR) - the site-specific employment of products, processes, technologies, and procedures that mitigate contaminant risk to receptors while making decisions that are cognizant of balancing community goals, economic impacts, and net environmental effects.

Many state and federal agencies are just beginning to assess and apply green and sustainable remediation into their regulatory programs. This training provides background on GSR concepts, a scalable and flexible framework and metrics, tools and resources to conduct GSR evaluations on remedial projects. The training is based on the ITRC's Technical & Regulatory Guidance Document: Green and Sustainable Remediation: A Practical Framework (GSR-2, 2011) as well as ITRC's Overview Document, Green and Sustainable Remediation: State of the Science and Practice (GSR-1, 2011).

Beyond basic GSR principles and definitions, participants will learn the potential benefits of incorporating GSR into their projects; when and how to incorporate GSR within a project's life cycle; and how to perform a GSR evaluation using appropriate tools. In addition, a variety of case studies will demonstrate the application of GSR and the results. The training course provides an important primer for both organizations initiating GSR programs as well as those organizations seeking to incorporate GSR considerations into existing regulatory guidance.