Technical Assistance

Comprehensive Assessments

We provide industrial facilities with a customized, hands-on assessment of production processes to reduce energy and water consumption, minimize carbon footprint, reduce waste, increase productivity, and drive innovation.

Learn more about our comprehensive assessments, including the assessment process.

Compliance Assistance

We advise clients on permitting and reporting requirements related to a variety of environmental regulations at all levels of government. We can also facilitate contact and communication with relevant regulatory agencies. ISTC is a non-regulatory agency, so when we visit your facility, we do so solely to help you identify and implement opportunities to improve your environmental performance, efficiency, and cost savings. We don’t issue citations or gather information for regulatory agencies. That said, we can assist you in ways that not only ensure environmental compliance but often take you beyond compliance, becoming an example of best practices for others to emulate.

Implementation Assistance

In addition to initial site visits and resulting recommendation reports, we often help clients implement recommendations to improve operational sustainability and achieve sustainability goals.

In special cases, we may also assist clients by evaluating materials, material substitutions used in a specific process, or by evaluating/demonstrating equipment or techniques to remove hazards from processes or waste streams.

Pollution Prevention Assistance

According to the U.S. EPA, pollution prevention (P2) is reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of non-toxic or less toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and reusing materials rather than putting them into the waste stream. P2 involves source reduction, in-process recycling, clean technologies, preventative maintenance, and materials substitution. National P2 policy was established by the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990.

We currently have U.S. EPA funding to provide P2 assistance at no cost to certain industrial or market sectors. See Advancing Beverage Resilience through Pollution Prevention, Mississippi River Corridor Pollution Prevention, and Pollution Prevention at Food Focused Businesses within DuPage & Kane Counties for details.

Process Optimization Assistance

Our team can perform deep analysis and mapping of a process line through a sustainable lens to minimize costs while maximizing throughput and efficiencies. We can assist with lean facility planning, efficient material handling, and creating high-quality products that are as close to zero defects as possible. We also help companies identify innovative green and sustainable production tools, methods, and alternatives that reduce toxin use and save money.

Climate Resiliency Planning

Our staff can guide organizations and government units as they shift policies, procedures, or products and services to mitigate climate change and/or continue operating in a world facing new climate realities. This may include helping clients determine how climate change could affect their operations and identifying strategies to reduce or eliminate negative impacts, as well as the pros and cons of pursuing those strategies. This may also involve climate resiliency planning or integrating climate resiliency into sustainability or solid waste management plans. Additionally, we may provide guidance on communication and stakeholder engagement around relevant aspects of climate change.

Sustainability Communication Assistance

Communicating your sustainability vision, goals, and progress to internal and external stakeholders is essential to motivating your team, prioritizing activities, and ensuring continuous improvement in your operations. ISTC can help you engage internal and external stakeholders as you define and pursue your sustainability goals.

Explore how we can support your sustainability communication efforts.

Supply Chain Sustainability Assessments

We can provide assessment and implementation support to a company’s suppliers to help them meet the company’s sustainability performance criteria.

Sustainability Planning

Our team can provide customized visioning sessions, help you identify and articulate sustainability goals in line with your organizational values, and develop effective plans for sustainable change and progress tracking. We can also help establish the regional and global context of your organizational goals and efforts to show their significance to internal and external stakeholders.

Water Use Assessment and Benchmarking

Analyzing a facility or operation’s water use provides key data for measuring performance. All industrial and commercial operations use water to create products and deliver services, but that “embedded” water is not immediately obvious at every step of the production process or to the end consumer. When uncovered, this “hidden” water helps clients understand their true water footprint, enabling more realistic and effective decisions about water consumption and conservation efforts. Gallons per employee, or per product manufactured or service provided, support valid performance comparisons and true benchmarking within and across organizations.