An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Pollution Prevention (P2)

P2 National Emphasis Areas (NEAs)

The Pollution Prevention (P2) Program has adopted five national emphasis areas (NEAs) for the upcoming FY 2020/2021 P2 Grant request for applications (RFA). P2 grant projects selected under the upcoming RFA will be required to support at least one of these NEAs. Establishing these grant priorities is intended to help focus resources to generate more impactful and measurable results, and to facilitate sharing of information among grantees working on similar issues.

The following NEAs offer significant opportunities for pollution prevention, economic and environmental impact:

  • NEA #1: Food and Beverage Manufacturing and Processing: Carry out P2 technical assistance and projects to support more sustainable food and beverage manufacturing and processing entities in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 311 and 3121 resulting in reduced toxic air emissions or water discharges, water or energy usage, hazardous materials generation and use.  Technical assistance projects or activities associated with entities that are not included under NAICS codes 311 or 3121, such as restaurants, grocery stores and other retail establishments do not qualify for this NEA. 
  • NEA #2:  Chemical Manufacturing, Processing and Formulation:  Carry out P2 technical assistance and projects with businesses normally associated with NAICS code 325 and associated subsectors (4-6 digit NAICS codes under 325).  Projects under this NEA should facilitate and encourage businesses within this NAICS code to identify, develop, and adopt P2 practices in the production of their chemical products and formulations.  Projects can also include working with businesses within this NAICS code to promote research, development, and marketing of green chemistry products and processes that reduce or eliminate the generation of hazardous substances.
     NEA #3:  Automotive Manufacturing and Maintenance: Carry out P2 technical assistance and projects with businesses in the automotive industry, normally associated with NAICS codes 3361, 3362, 3363, and 8111 and associated subsectors.  Projects under this NEA should facilitate and encourage businesses within these NAICS codes to identify, develop and adopt P2 practices in manufacturing and maintenance of automobiles and automotive products.
  • NEA #4:  Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing and Maintenance: Carry out P2 technical assistance and projects with businesses in the aerospace industry, normally associated with NAICS codes 3364 and subsectors for manufacture and 488190 for maintenance.  Projects under this NEA should facilitate and encourage businesses within these NAICS codes to identify, develop and adopt P2 practices in any aspect of aerospace product and parts manufacturing and maintenance.  
  • NEA #5:  Metal Manufacturing and Fabrication:  Carry out P2 technical assistance and projects with businesses normally associated with NAICS codes 331 and 332, which are businesses associated with primary metal manufacturing and/or fabricated metal manufacturing and subsectors.  Primary metal manufacturing is associated with smelting and/or refining ferrous and nonferrous metals from ore, pig or scrap, using electrometallurgical and other process metallurgical techniques. Fabricated metal product manufacturing includes transforming metal into intermediate or end products, such as forging, stamping, bending, forming, and machining, used to shape individual pieces of metal; and other processes, such as electroplating, polishing, coating, welding and assembling. Projects under this NEA should facilitate and encourage businesses within these NAICS codes to identify, develop and adopt P2 practices in any aspect of primary metal manufacturing and/or fabricated metal manufacturing and subsectors.