Green Remediation of Contaminated Sites

Incorporating Sustainable Environmental Practices into Remediation of Contaminated Sites

Green remediation is the practice of considering all environmental effects of remedy implementation and incorporating options to maximize the net environmental benefit of cleanup actions.

Green remediation reduces the demand placed on the environment during cleanup actions, otherwise known as the “footprint” of remediation, and avoids the potential for collateral environmental damage. The potential footprint encompasses impacts long known to affect environmental media:

• Air pollution caused by toxic or priority pollutants such as particulate matter and lead,
• Water cycle imbalance within local and regional hydrologic regimes,
• Soil erosion and nutrient depletion as well as subsurface geochemical changes,
• Ecological diversity and population reductions, and
• Emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and other greenhouse gases contributing to climate change.

Opportunities to increase sustainability exist throughout the investigation, design, construction, operation, and monitoring phases of site remediation regardless of the selected cleanup remedy. As cleanup technologies continue to advance and incentives evolve, green remediation strategies offer significant potential for increasing the net benefit of cleanup, saving project costs, and expanding the universe of long-term property use or reuse options without compromising cleanup goals.

EPA’s regulatory programs and initiatives actively support site remediation and revitalization that result in beneficial reuse such as commercial operations, industrial facilities, housing, greenspace, and renewable energy development. The Agency has begun examining opportunities to integrate sustainable practices into the decision-making processes and implementation strategies that carry forward to reuse strategies. In doing so, EPA recognizes that incorporation of sustainability principles can help increase the environmental, economic, and social benefits of cleanup.

The PRIMER: Green Remediation

This primer outlines the principles of green remediation and describes opportunities to reduce the footprint of cleanup activities throughout the life of a project.

Best management practices (BMPs) outlined in this document help decision-makers, communities, and other stakeholders (such as project managers, field staff, and engineering contractors) identify new strategies in terms of sustainability.

These strategies complement rather than replace the process used to select primary remedies that best meet site-specific cleanup goals. The primer identifies the range of alternatives available to improve sustainability of cleanup activities and to help decision-makers balance the alternatives within existing regulatory frameworks.

To date, EPA's sustainability initiatives have addressed a broader scope or focused on individual elements of green remediation such as clean energy (April 2008, 54 pages).

View or download this primer by th EPA at http://clu-in.org/techpubs.htm .