Note: This information is provided for reference purposes only. Although the information provided here was accurate and current when first created, it is now outdated.

33/50 Program: The Final Record

Contents

The 33/50 Program targeted 17 priority chemicals (Box 1) and set as its goal a 33% reduction in releases and transfers of these chemicals by 1992 and a 50% reduction by 1995, measured against a 1988 baseline. The first of EPA's growing series of voluntary programs, its primary purpose was to demonstrate whether voluntary partnerships could augment the Agency's traditional command-and-control approach by bringing about targeted reductions more quickly than would regulations alone.

The program also sought to foster a pollution prevention ethic, encouraging companies to consider and apply pollution prevention approaches to reducing their environmental releases rather than traditional end-of-the-pipe methods for treating and disposing of chemicals in waste.

Key Findings

• The 33/50 Program achieved its goal in 1994, one year ahead of schedule, primarily through program participants' efforts.
• Although the largest reductions in 33/50 Program chemicals reflected U.S. action to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals under the Montreal Protocol, facilities also reduced releases and transfers of the other 33/50 chemicals by 50% from 1988 to 1995.
• Facilities reported more source reduction activity (pollution prevention) for 33/50 chemicals than for other TRI chemicals and this activity covered a greater percentage of production-related waste for 33/50 chemicals than for other TRI chemicals.
• Reductions continued at a higher rate for 33/50 chemicals than for other TRI chemicals in the year after the 33/50 Program ended.

33fin01.htm, EPA 745-4-99-004, March 1999