The first Stakeholder meeting was held on April 11, 1996. At the meeting, the Stakeholder Group approved the general structure and time line of the project, and had an energetic discussion about the drivers and barriers (key decision factors) that affect environmental performance for the batch chemical industry in New Jersey. The meeting gave all Stakeholders an opportunity to participate--one stakeholder commented that unlike litigation, which happens because of frustrations with the current system, it is a pleasure to talk directly to people.

What Is Backward Mapping?

     Each Sustainable Industry Project starts by learning about the relevant characteristics of the selected industry, including current economic and technological trends, demographics, and prevailing organizational culture--all traits that may promote or hinder environmental improvements. This technique, known as "backward mapping," includes understanding agency, corporate, and others' decision-making factors--the drivers and barriers that affect environmental performance. We define drivers as the incentives and barriers as the significant obstacles to improving environmental performance. All drivers and barriers are included: regulatory factors, organizational culture, information, technology, market trends, financial and human resources, etc. These factors represent the key leverage points for the industry. The policy recommendations developed by the project are based on knowledge of these industry traits, drivers and barriers. Backward mapping is intended to involve the most affected people in defining policy problems and identifying their solutions.

     We developed a series of questions about factors that affect environmental performance and decision making, which served as a guide for our backward mapping discussions with the Stakeholder Group.

What Are the Drivers and Barriers?

     The most common drivers cited were profit and cost containment, societal values other than dollars, foreign competition, fast pace of change in the batch industry, safety for workers and customers, desire to respond to community concerns, desire to be environmentally responsible, and pride in being "clean and green." The group believed environmental performance could be enhanced if we could reduce costs and time delays of compliance, if laws and rules would allow more recycling within and between plants, if there were positive rewards and incentives for good performance, if we focused more on environmental results than procedures and paperwork, if rules were less complex, and if companies, especially small businesses, had easy-to-understand information on how to comply.

Facility-Level Backward Mapping:

     At the first Stakeholder meeting, every one of the company Stakeholders expressed an interest in follow-up discussions with EPA of their facility-level drivers and barriers as well as ideas for possible pilot projects with EPA. We visited the industry Stakeholders in June 1996, and they told us of the unique characteristics, strengths, and challenges of their sites and operations. Our discussions of drivers and barriers echoed those presented at our first Stakeholder meeting, and the issues raised ranged from industry-wide to site-specific. Discussions with union Stakeholders highlighted the importance of worker safety and involvement of the workforce in production decisions. We also completed plant tours for approximately half of the Stakeholder companies.

Scoping -- Many Issues & Possible Pilots:

     After reviewing all of the information gathered from the first Stakeholder meeting and the facility-level interviews, we prepared summaries of each of the forty-five issues and possible pilot projects, including proposed alternatives. The issue summaries were then reviewed by NJ DEP and EPA Region 2, as well as selected programs at U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the NJ Department of Health, and EPA Headquarters. Most initial reactions reflected an enthusiastic desire to work together to find better alternatives. We then sent the issue list to each Stakeholder for their ideas about which issues to pursue for pilot projects. The results of this "straw poll" were summarized for the second Stakeholder meeting.

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Last Revision: March 13, 2000
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