Tickner, TURA Honored at National Event

Joel Tickner, program director for the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production

The Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) received a Most Valuable Pollution Prevention (MVP2) award and Joel Tickner was named a Pollution Prevention Champion at the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable in Washington, D.C., in September.

One of five honorees, TURA was a groundbreaking environmental statute in 1989, and provided enabling legislation to found the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at UMass Lowell. With TURI’s assistance, manufacturers have reduced their total use of toxic chemicals by 40 percent; byproduct releases by 70 percent; and side release to air, water and soil by 91 percent.

Tickner is an assistant professor in the Department of Community Health and Sustainability, and program director for the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production. He was one of just two people honored for playing a significant role in pollution prevention.

The Roundtable, an organization devoted solely to pollution prevention, provides a national forum for promoting the development, implementation and evaluation of efforts to avoid, eliminate or reduce pollution at the source.

- Sandra_Seitz