To help businesses further, Environment Canterbury now has 4 Pollution Prevention Officers available to bring the Pollution Prevention Guide to your site and conduct a free site assessment to start the process off. This role is proactive, designed to work alongside industry, assisting in identification of issues and recommendations for potential improvements.

Our team has a background in agrichemical use, chemical storage and transportation along with hands-on experience of improving site procedures and storage compliance issues within private industry.

Contact details:

Phone: 03-365-3828

Email: ppg@ecan.govt.nz

Pollution Prevention Guide (PPG)

Environment Canterbury’s Pollution Prevention Guide (PPG) is a tool that aims to help businesses prevent pollution from their operations. It is a simple set of checklists to help you carry out an environmental audit of your site.

View our online PPG

Who should use the PPG?

Any business that has:

• chemicals or bulk products
• a storm water drain
• a waste skip or left-over materials
• facilities for washing down product or machinery

What topics does the PPG cover?

The guide is split into six modules covering drainage, spills, air, transport, storage and handling and housekeeping. Some of the information may not apply to your business. We advise you to read through all the modules and then use the parts that relate to your company.

How do you use the PPG?

It is easy:

• read the notes at the front of each module - they will explain why problems occur, walk round your site with the checklist and tick or cross every item on it
• write on the Action List at the back of the folder everything you need to do to reduce the pollution from your site. Or use our interactive Word document to automatically generate an Action List based on the data you enter.

How much does the PPG cost?

It is free to any business in Canterbury.

But wait there's more!

To accompany the guide we have also produced a series of posters aimed at raising environmental awareness in the work place.

These posters are free! You can contact us to obtain hard copies of the posters. If your site is visited by an Environment Canterbury Environmental Protection Officer or a Pollution Prevention Officer, they can also provide you with posters.

How can I get a copy of the PPG?

You can access the interactive online version of the guide. You can put your answers directly into the checklists. Once you click the Action List button, an action list based on your responses will be generated, you can print it, save it or edit it to suit your company. Also, if you choose to register with the online PPG, you can also save your responses and retrieve, or update them later.

PPG modules

The Pollution Prevention Guide is made up of 6 modules; see below for a brief description of each:

• Drainage
  Do you know the difference between the drains on your property?
• Storage and Handling
  Appropriate storage and handling of substances on your site can help reduce the risk of polluting the environment.
• Spills
  Need to know more about how to prevent or handle a spill in your workplace?
• Air
  Is your site a source of air pollution and what can you do about it?
• Housekeeping
  Good housekeeping makes preventing pollution easy! Find out how.
• Waste
  See how you could reduce your waste, and maybe your costs.