ECOSS: BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY WORKING TOGETHER BY CHARLIE CUNIFF ECOSS There is a young business/environmental organization based in the South Park neighborhood of Seattle that is helping both sides of the community. The group is called ECOSS, the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle, and it is a harbinger of a multi-faceted approach to development. In a time when most organizations find themselves pigeon-holed according to a select set of attributes such as environmental, political, business or community, ECOSS is seeking to bring people together across political and economic lines. ECOSS origins In 1992 and 1993, an unlikely trio came together to form what would become ECOSS. John Beal is a community activist and a former POW during Vietnam. He had been working to restore Hamm Creek, an urban tributary of the Duwamish River, and had recognized that the efforts to restore habitat had to include businesses. Tony Ferrucci is a longtime (over 70 years) resident of South Park, a business owner and a D-Day veteran who was a POW in Germany during World War II. Virtually the only time he has lived outside of South Park was when he was away fighting the war. When he returned from Europe, the neighborhood had undergone a dramatic change from the chiefly Italian farming community (his mother was a pioneer of the Pike Place Market) to an urban industrial neighborhood bordered by residential housing. He had been on a mission to keep it clean ever since. Gail Savina is an education coordinator for Metro. She understood that while Metro's mission was to help businesses with the issues of hazardous waste clean-up many business people would not approach Metro for help since it was a government agency, despite the fact that they are not a "regulatory" agency per se. These three came together, developed a charter board of directors composed entirely of south Seattle business people and received initial funding from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods through the Neighborhood Matching Fund. The ECOSS mission statement states: "The Environmental Coalition of South Seattle is a non-profit organization working with south Seattle businesses and citizens for a clean, environmentally responsible community. ECOSS provides environmental education to businesses and citizens and serves as a voice for the community on issues that impact south Seattle." As can be seen from this mission statement, the work of ECOSS covers a broad territory. Starting with a seven member board and a single $5,000 matching grant, we have added many programs over the last three years. Examples include organizing annual spring cleaning, waste oil removal for boaters at a local marina and providing a low cost residential tank pumpout service for unused oil tanks. Each year, there are two "milk-run" pickups of spent photo fixer for small print shops. This free service is coordinated with a local fixer recycler and it would normally cost the shops. Auto and machine shops need "secondary containment" for oil and hazardous wastes to ensure that if the tanks leak, the fluids do not contaminate the surrounding land and water. ECOSS works with Livingston Molded Products who supply large plastic cubes (that previously held fiberglass resin) that are cut in half and supplied free to the businesses for the secondary containment. This is a significant money savings to the businesses as well as an inventive recycling effort, saving Livingston in disposal costs. Since mid-1994, ECOSS has been working as staff and program support to the Water Quality Committee of the Duwamish Coalition. It ran the DuWa '95 Community Environmental Fair and the recent Duwamish Brownfields Environmental Technologies Seminar. It was at the brownfields seminar that a long-held dream of Tony Ferrucci's began to be realized. There is a 19.6-acre parcel of contaminated land in South Park, next to the Seattle Solid Waste Transfer Station. This is the site of the old Seattle city dump on land owned by King County. Ferrucci remembers how as a child he would watch workers dump everything there and then burn it. The result is a highly toxic (and empty) large parcel of land right in the industrial heartland. Ferrucci has wanted that land cleaned up and put back into productive use to create jobs. As a result of a collaboration between ECOSS, King County and local technology companies, that dream is a bit closer to being realized. Business programs ECOSS has worked on several projects for the business community, including the fight to get the King County Fire Marshall's Hazardous Materials Inspection Program fees reduced (saving thousands of businesses hundreds of dollars each year); initiating a new regulatory information access system in which one call to a city or county official will get you to the right person to help with your problem (this will be operational by autumn); and developing the Non-Regulatory Assessment Program in conjunction with King County Hazardous Waste and Surface Water Management Divisions. It is in this latter capacity that ECOSS has received much praise and thanks from the business community. The program was started out of what seemed to be an obvious need. Businesses had questions about the use and handling of hazardous materials and other environmental regulations, but were reluctant to call the agencies for help out of fear of possible reprisals. Metro Hazardous Waste (later King County) was interested in helping the businesses but needed to be asked to come out. ECOSS negotiated a program where the parties would get together in a non-regulatory setting, inspect the businesses and answer questions. Later King County Surface Water Management would also work with ECOSS on this program. It has been wildly successful. There have been scores of visits and the businesses have had their issues, both practical and regulatory, addressed in a non-threatening manner. Here are some comments from the businesses who have participated: "I view ECOSS as a much needed and very effective resource within our community. By providing the mechanism for business and citizen alike to address regulatory and environmental issues in a non-threatening, non-adversarial manner and providing inspections and regulatory advice while maintaining anonymity for the business or citizen requesting assistance, ECOSS fills a need not met by any other organization. I also applaud ECOSS's efforts for their common sense approach toward regulatory reform and education. An organization with this ideology was long overdue. -- Rich Miller, Poor Boy's Auto/Marine "I'd like to thank you for your technical assistance during our recent `walkaround' with the local hazardous waste and surface water management people. I'm not sure that you are aware of how much you improve the atmosphere of one of these audits by your presence. Face it, most of the business operators in this area truly want to be doing the right thing. And let's also face it, the regulatory agencies have a horrible reputation (probably undeserved) for arrogance and bad attitude. I think it was very useful for my company and the folks from Metro and King County to have an interpreter like yourself available to lend an air of reasonableness and common sense. Thank you again for your valued time and perspective." -- Dale Ballard, Fruehauf Trailer ECOSS is also working with six businesses in the area, helping them develop their Best Management Practices (BMP) plan for stormwater pollution prevention. The businesses are a large grocery store, an automotive repair shop and four that comprise an industrial business park. They are taking the steps necessary to be pro-active on their plans. These plans are necessary to comply with a recent King County mandate. In addition to helping them develop these plans, ECOSS has organized special discounts on some BMP Materials and arranged to get other materials free of charge. When all the BMPs are in place, King County Surface Water Management will publicly recognize them as "Businesses for Clean Water" and ECOSS will host educational tours of the model sites early this fall. Educational projects Currently, ECOSS is working on two major educational projects. First, it is working with auto, machine and manufacturing shops to help them use fewer cleaning solvents. Solvents are the single largest constituent in small business hazardous waste and ECOSS has a program to help businesses reduce their use and waste in solvents. Secondly, it has started a project working with residents on a Household Hazardous Waste Prevention Program. Much of the marginal pollution in neighborhoods is coming from residents, since over the last few years enormous strides have been made in limiting pollution at businesses. Businesses have a license, a sign, MSDS sheets, relationships with hazardous waste haulers and the regulators have been visiting them often. By contrast, residences are often less knowledgeable about the hazards in their home and how to handle and dispose of them properly. This new ECOSS project is unique in that it is in coordination with the local food bank. Educational outreach will be in Spanish and Samoan (there are large numbers of native speakers of these languages in the South Park neighborhood) as well as English. The project will work with people in their homes to analyze the hazardous and toxic materials they use, suggest alternatives and give advice on proper handling and disposal. They seek to teach that less toxic materials are not only better for the environment, but are healthier for families and less expensive to use. ECOSS is a member organization. Membership is growing as ECOSS helps people find answers to questions they have about their business and home. The organization's philosophy is to recognize that all the elements of society -- business, community, environmental and government -- need to work together for the greatest prosperity. As the regulatory environment and compliance issues change, ECOSS hopes to remain of service to the community - in all its various aspects. Charles Cunniff is the director of ECOSS. He has worked in the energy conservation industry for many years in Seattle and was chair of the Seattle Solid Waste Advisory Committee.