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Back to the TP3 Households front page.
How can I practice air pollution prevention and conservation?
How can I conserve energy in the home?
What is hazardous in the home and how can I reduce it?
How can I practice land and water conservation?
What resources are there to help me reduce, reuse, and recycle?
There are four levels of participation and recognition in the TP3. They are Prospect, Pledge, Partner, and Performer
(taken from the TP3 main page)
Membership Information
The TP3 boasts a diverse membership of households, schools, government agencies, organizations, businesses, and industries. We welcome members who are new to pollution prevention principles, as well as those who really have a well-developed environmental management system in place. No matter what your interest, there is a TP3 membership level to suit your needs and goals. Click here for the TP3 Criteria Overview.
Prospect -- Shows interest in protecting the environment by signing up for TP3.
Pledge-- Commits to positive environmental action by pledging to initiate simple pollution prevention practices. Not necessarily captial projects, but more often commitment to changes in behavior.
Partner -- Develops a five-project TP3 plan that will prevent pollution of our air, land, and water while conserving natural resources. Completion of one project and submission of a Success Story earns Partner status.
Performer -- Completes the four remaining projects, and submits success stories that detail measurable improvements. Involves the community in pollution prevention activities and mentors others in the partnership.
Going in Depth
Prospect
The Prospect level is the entry level of the TP3. It simply involves filling out the sign up form and sending it to the TP3. You might have gotten the form from the brochure you might have picked up at one of our outreach activities and mailed it in, or you might have filled out the online form. This form lets us know that you are interested in learning more about the TP3 and have an interest in the environment. It does not commit you to anything further.
Pledge
In the packet you get from sending in your Prospect card is the Pledge Card as well as other information that might help you with ideas for projects that you can do at your home. Select some projects in each of the five areas (Clean Air, Energy Conservation, Hazardous Materials Management, Land and Water Conservation, Waste Reduction) that you would consider doing at your home or maybe even list some that you are currently doing (like perhaps recycling aluminum cans). Perhaps even browse through the success stories of other TP3 members to get some additional ideas. Simply fill out this Pledge Card, list some potential projects you are interested in doing, and send it in. These projects should not necessarily be captial projects (though several might be), but more commitments to changes in behavior, such as recycling or composting an item rather than throwing it in the garbage. This is also a great time to begin formulating your Plan that will carry you into becoming a Partner and implementing it. Because the Plan will help determine how you are going to measure your success with your project. Many people simply list projects they have done or are currently doing, but often they don't have a plan for collecting information that will help them show and share their success. Within a few weeks you should receive a certificate thanking you for your commitment to positive environmental action as well as information you will need for the big step to becoming a Partner.
Partner
This is where the real work begins. You will receive a Partner Packet that details what all is required to acheive Partner status. These include:
- An Environmental Policy Statement
- A TP3 Plan with at least one new project in each of the five areas: Clean Air, Energy Conservation, Hazardous Materials Management, Land and Water Conservation, Waste Reduction
- Selecting one of those projects as your initial project . One completed within the last 2 years may qualify
- Doing a project and measuring the results
- Writing a success story and submitting it for review
The first part, the Environmental Policy Statement, may sound like something more akin to what you would find at a business, but it is important for a household too. Put simply, its a statement of why are you are doing all this. The statement can be as simple or elaborate as you want, but a few sentences should suffice.
The TP3 Plan is likely going to be similar to the list of projects submitted on the Pledge card, though it is not necessarily the same. But this time, you need to consider how you are going to measure your success. You can find information that can help you figure out how much energy replacing an incandescent light with a compact fluorescent lamp will save you and more in the different resource pages for the five different areas found at the top of this page. Here is a sample plan to give you some idea of how one might look. It also includes an Environmental Policy Statement that described some of the goals that the Grimwood Household had in working towards Partner level. Once your submit your TP3 Plan, it will undergo review and you may be asked to clarify some projects or ideas.
Depending on the complexity of the project and the amount of measurement needed, you may be ready for a success story very quickly or it may take some time to build up some records. Once you have completed the project or have gathered some records if its an ongoing project (such as a recycling project that you plan to continue), write a success story. The Partner Packet will have some guidelines for writing a success story and you can get more ideas by looking through the other success stories that have been submitted to the TP3. Once submitted, the success story will undergo review. Again, there may be some clarifications that are asked for or some editting of the success story before it is in its final form.
Once this process has completed and all the reviews have been passed, your household will be recognized as TP3 Partners. Some of the recognition includes the TP3 banner, certificate of acheivement, and maybe even an article in the newspaper on the accomplishment. To maintain Partner status, don't forget to submit at least one success story every three years. And now that you have reached Partner, you are ready to take on the final level: Performer.
Performer
The Performer level is the pinnacle of the TP3 program. At this time, there are no TP3 Household Performers. Perhaps you will be the first. The Performer level is similar to the Partner level in that you have to complete projects and submit success stories. But this time, you have to complete a project in each pollution prevention area and write up a success story on each of them. These stories will also go under review, just like before. The key difference is for the Performer level, you have to submit documentation of community outreach pollution prevention activities and submit documentation of mentoring or training others in pollution prevention. Curtis Hopper of the Office of Environmental Assistance can help you with how to go about submitting this paperwork for review. But things like getting your neighbors or friends involved in the TP3, starting up a recycling program at your church or local school, or any of several other possibilites are opportunites for public outreach and mentoring activities. Once your application for Performer status has passed review, you will get recognition as one of the leaders of positive environmental action in the state of Tennessee that includes the green TP3 Performer Flag and recognition in the local newpaper and maybe more.
For more information about the Tennessee Pollution Prevention Partnership, please contact Curtis Hopper at 615-253-1729 or 1-800-734-3619 or by email at Pollution.prevention@tn.gov.
