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See the Greatest Hits section for a full collection of the best publications on this topic,
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Cleaner Production and Pollution Prevention for Communities and Local Governments

Communities and local governments are rapidly becoming recognized as perhaps the most important channel for promoting CP to industries.  This is simply because the vast majority of companies are small.  Only local governments even know who they are and have any significant regulatory influence over them.  Any organization seeking to promote CP and P2 needs a strategy to work with local governments.

Fortunately local governments are very interested in CP once they become aware of it, for two major reasons.

1. CP and P2 apply to the daily operations of local governments.   After all, they are often the largest "businesses" in their communities in terms of employment, resource use, etc.  CP and P2 help local governments be more efficient and less wasteful in their operations.

2. When local companies and households use CP they reduce the burden on local governments for providing critical urban services including water and energy supply and disposal of wastewater and solid and toxic wastes.   This can save local governments a huge amount of money, because the infrastructure and operating expenses for these services is so large.

For an excellent example of this, read this success story from local governments in the Philippines. Here is a Powerpoint presentation with a summary of the issues.

CP is an important part of the concept of Sustainable Cities.   This page of Sustainable Cities program links identifies many programs for sustainable urban development and communities, and CP programs can and should cooperate with them to reach their targets.

CP and P2 can be implemented by everyone in the community.   The P2 for You site has an excellent collection of resources for households and individuals to make P2 happen every day.

Unlike the traditional engineering focus of CP assistance programs, communities use principles of social marketing to promote CP.  They realize that CP is a kind of behavior, not a rational analysis of opportunities, and it takes multiple drivers to encourage CP adoption.  Perhaps the best website and resource on this topic is Community-Based Social Marketing.  This site includes a free book, hundreds of case studies and articles, and graphics demonstrating how to encourage behavior change.  The book, Fostering Sustainable Behavior, should be required reading for anyone who wants to promote CP to companies and households.

There are several excellent examples of local governments successfully promoting CP to local companies.  One of the oldest and most successful is the Alaska Green Star program.  Their website includes all the details about how the program works.  Similar programs that recognize voluntary CP accomplishments by local companies are found in King County, Washington; the San Francisco Bay area; Boulder Colorado; Portland Oregon; and many other communities.  These programs are extraordinarily cost-effective; they often have a ratio of one local government staff person to about 100 participating companies.

CP in communities is increasingly being integrated with Environmental Management Systems for local governments.  The City of Seattle has put its EMS manual on line.  The US EPA has sponsored several projects on EMS for local governments.  See the Management Tools page for much more information about EMS.

The following sites have the best resources for CP in local government:

• The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives is the leading international program for sustainable communities.  It includes programs for energy, cleaner production, green purchasing, Local Agenda 21 and more.
  

• Getting Ahead of the Game: A Cleaner Production Handbook for Local Government is an extensive publication covering many aspects of local government operations.
  

• Pollution Prevention in Local Governments is an excellent collection of fact sheets covering most elements of local government operations.  The host website has many related resources.
  

• The US EPA Office of Solid Waste offers a broad range of publications on Source Reduction, another term for CP.
  

• The UN International Environmental Technology Centre has projects on EMS for Cities, Energy for Cities, Green Building and Construction, Innovative Communities, and Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems.
  

• Environmental Management Exchange and Resource Alliance for Development (EMERALD)
  is an Internet portal that assists urban managers in taking everyday decisions to manage their local environment.  The site has resources on a wide variety of topics.

• The Smart Communities Network has perhaps the most comprehensive collection of resources, covering most aspects of sustainable communities and specifically including Sustainable Business and Resource Efficiency.
  

• The Public Entity Environmental Management System Resource Center provides guidance for implementing EMS in cities.
  

• The Guide to Implementing Local Environmental Action Programs in Central and Eastern Europe is a useful companion resource for CP.  It explores how LEAPs can be launched at the community level; describes how to assess environmental issues and set environmental priorities; and explains how to implement selected actions and monitor and evaluate LEAP results.
  

• The US EPA Green Communities Kit is a web-based tutorial on how to organize a green community.
  

• City-Solutions.Net is a Canadian website for sharing experiences on sustainability for communities.
  

• The Cities Alliance is a major international network for sustainable development of communities.