Requirements for Membership

Sustained Compliance
Members must have a good record of compliance with environmental laws, be in compliance with all applicable environmental requirements and commit to maintaining the level of compliance needed to qualify for the program.

No Criminal Activity
No ongoing criminal investigation/prosecution or corporate criminal conviction or plea for environmentally-related violations of criminal laws involving the corporation, a corporate officer on an employee within the past 5 years.

No Civil Activity

• Three or more significant violations by the facility, related entity, or company owning the facility within the past 3 years.
• Unresolved, unaddressed Significant Non-Compliance (SNC) by the facility, related entity, or company owning the facility.
• Planned, but not yet filed, judicial or administrative action against the facility, related entity, or company owning the facility.
• Ongoing federal, state, or county initiated litigation against the facility, related entity, or company owning the facility.
• The facility, related entity, or company owning the facility is not in compliance with the schedule and terms of an order or decree.

Annual Reporting

Each member will be required to complete an Annual Performance Report to demonstrate its environmental accomplishments over the year, its continued high level of environmental performance, and its maintenance of the Performance Track membership criteria. Annual Performance Reports are due on April 1 of each year, beginning with the April 1st following the year in which a member is accepted into the program. The Annual Report will have the following components.

Continuous Improvement
Facilities need to demonstrate past environmental achievement(s) and commit to continued improvement in their environmental performance. To qualify for admittance into the AzEPT Program, applying facilities must demonstrate past achievement in at least two environmental aspects; and commit to future improvements in at least four environmental aspects, drawn from two or more of the following categories:

• Upstream Stage: Material Procurement and Suppliers' Environmental Performance
• Inputs Stage: Material Use, Water Use, Energy Use and Land Use
• Nonproduct Outputs Stage: Air Emissions, Discharges to Water, Waste, Noise and Vibration
• Downstream Stage: Products

Commitments for improvement should relate to the facility's significant environmental aspects identified in the EMS and should take into account local environmental priorities and pollution prevention opportunities. Facilities with 50 or less full-time employees are only required to demonstrate 1 past achievement and commit to 2 future improvements.

Community Outreach
Public outreach activities may vary across facilities depending on their size, setting, and type of operation, but should include the following:

• Identifying and responding to community concerns.
• Informing the community of important matters that affect it.
• Reporting on the facility's EMS and performance commitments.
• Provide a short list of community/local references and to list any ongoing citizen suits against the facility.

Pollution Prevention
In addition to the independant EMS assessment, members must have an operational pollution prevention program or plan, which includes goals and actions to significantly reduce releases of pollution or the use of resources beyond the reductions required by law or permit.

Environmental Preferable Purchasing
Members must make a demonstrable commitment to using products or services that have a reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services.