Pollution Prevention

There are many ways that you can reduce your personal footprint and contribute to pollution prevention in your community.

• Carpool or vanpool to work to reduce the number of vehicles on our roads.
• Walk or bicycle with your child to school instead of driving them.
• Start a Walking School Bus program in your community. 
• Plan ahead so you can combine errands/trips.
• Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon. The best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it. No more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days is needed. Anything more simply wastes fuel and increases emissions.
• Do not top off the tank when refueling. Make sure the gas cap fits properly to avoid spills. Refuel before 7 am or after the sun goes down.
• Don't tamper with a vehicle's pollution controls and have the vehicle inspected regularly.
• Keep track of your fuel economy. A loss of economy usually means an increase in emissions. Poorly inflated tires can also cause a loss in fuel economy.
• Watch the exhaust. If it is black, there is too much gas in the mixture and the fuel injection system needs to be checked. If the exhaust is blue, the car is burning oil and releasing excess hydrocarbons.
• Fix air conditioning leaks immediately.
• Pay attention to dashboard warning lights. Have the car checked out as soon as possible.
• Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration, and hard braking) wastes gas. It can lower your highway gas mileage by up to 33% and city mileage by 5%.
• Avoid high speeds. Above 60mph, gas mileage drops rapidly. The fuel economy website shows how driving speed affects gas mileage.
• Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas.
• Clear out your car; extra weight decreases gas mileage.
• Reduce drag by placing items inside the car or trunk rather than on roof racks. A roof rack or carrier provides additional cargo space and may allow you to buy a smaller car. However, a loaded roof rack can decrease your fuel economy by 5%.
• Leave early to avoid morning rush-hour traffic.
• Take your lunch to work or school.
• Combine errands into one trip. Cold start emissions from vehicles are responsible for 80-90% of the total emissions emitted from vehicles.
• Avoid drive-through lanes to prevent long-term idling.
• Minimize the use of gasoline-powered lawn and garden equipment until after 6 pm.
• Schedule painting projects during cooler months, and when painting, use water-based paints.

Tips for the Business Community

• Shift employee work schedules to allow employees to avoid morning rush-hour traffic.
• Allow employees to work from home or telecommute.
• For employees who carpool/vanpool, provide a "Guaranteed Ride Home" should an emergency arise.
• Schedule meetings that don't require driving (meet on-site or make conference calls).
• Fuel fleet vehicles before 7 am or after dark.
• Put off all nonessential trips and activities that require a vehicle on High Pollution Advisory Days.
• Alter production schedules to avoid heavy production on High Pollution Advisory Days.
• Arrange lunch schedules so employees can carpool.
• Limit strenuous outdoor activity by employees on High Pollution Advisory Days. During strenuous work we breathe more often and draw more deeply, which increases our intake of air by as much as 10 times our level at rest.
• Consider purchasing alternative fuel or electric fleet vehicles.