concerns for environment

8/3/2019 Concerns for Environment

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Environment Concepts


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The Staircase of Concepts

The concepts of environmental managementpractice should be understood to be a kind ofstaircase.

The various concepts make up the steps.Concepts higher up the staircase include theconcepts below, and add additional elementsof scope and complexity.

The art and science of business managementincreases as one moves up the staircase


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There are three types of concepts on the staircase. Themacro-scale concepts of sustainable development

and industrial ecology extend far beyond the firm andinclude relationships between companies,

social institutions, the public and the environment in all itsfacets.

The firm-wide concepts of environmental managementsystems and cleaner production address all aspects of thefirms operations, from use of natural resources to suppliers

to production to product use to product disposal. The remaining operational concepts address specific

functions of the business.


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Macro-Scale Concepts


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Sustainable Development

Definitions:

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs ofthe present without compromising the ability of future generationsto meet their own needs.

It contains within it two key concepts:

the concept of "needs", in particular the essential needs of theworld's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and

the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology andsocial organization on the environment's ability to meet presentand future needs.

Thus the goals of economic and social development must bedefined in terms of sustainability in all countries -- developed ordeveloping, market-oriented or centrally planned.


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Sustainable development is thus the long-

term goal of individual companies rather than

a business practice.


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Industrial Ecology

Definition:

Industrial ecology is the means by which

humanity can deliberately and rationally

approached and maintain a desirable carrying

capacity, given continued economic, cultural and

technological evolution.

The concept requires that an industrial system beviewed not in isolation from its surrounding

systems, but in concert with them.


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It is a system view in which one seeks to

optimize the total materials cycle from virgin

material, to finished material, to product, to

waste product, and to ultimate disposal.

Factors to be optimized include resources,

energy and capital.


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The aim of industrial ecology is to interpretand adapt an understanding of the naturalsystem and apply it to the design of the

manmade system, in order to achieve apattern of industrialization that is not onlymore efficient, but that is intrinsically adjustedto the tolerances and characteristics of the

natural system. The emphasis is on forms oftechnology that work with natural systems,not against them...


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management and technical program

including:

1. The creation of industrial ecosystems

2. Balancing industrial input and output to naturalecosystem capacity

3. Dematerialization of industrial output

4. Improving the metabolic pathways of industrialprocesses and materials use.

5. Systemic patterns of energy use

6. Policy alignment with a long-term perspective of

industrial ecosystem evolution. The concepts below industrial ecology are all

fundamental to making industrial ecology successful.


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Firm-Wide Concepts

These are concepts that affect the whole

scope of the business enterprise, not just

parts of it.

They are essentially management

philosophies and practices rather than

technical practices and as such are best

directed to the top levels of management.


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Cleaner Production

Definitions

Cleaner production means the continuous application of anintegrated preventive environmental strategy to processes andproducts to reduce risks to humans and the environment.

For production processes, cleaner production includes conserving

raw materials and energy, eliminating toxic raw materials, andreducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and wastesbefore they leave a process.

For products, the strategy focuses on reducing impacts along theentire life cycle of the product, from raw material extraction to theultimate disposal of the product. Cleaner production is achieved byapplying know-how, by improving technology, and by changingattitudes.


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The conceptual and procedural approach to

production that demands that all phases of

the life-cycle of products must be addressed

with the objective of the prevention or

minimization of short and long-term risks to

humans and the environment.


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Pollution Prevention

The term ''source reduction'' [or pollution prevention]means any practice which

(i) reducesthe amount of any hazardous substance,pollutant, or contaminant entering any

waste stream or otherwise released into theenvironment (including fugitive emissions)

prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal;

and (ii) reduces the hazards to public health and the environment associated with the release of such

substances, pollutants, or contaminants.


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The term includes equipment or technology modifications,process or procedure modifications, reformulation orredesign of products, substitution of raw materials, and

improvements in housekeeping, maintenance, training, orinventory control.

The term ''source reduction'' does not include any practicewhich alters the physical, chemical, or

biological characteristics or the volume of a hazardoussubstance, pollutant, or contaminant

through a process or activity which itself is not integral toand necessary for the production of a product or theproviding of a service.


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Pollution prevention is the use of materials,

processes, or practices that reduce or

eliminate the creation of pollutants or wastes

at the source. It includes practices that reduce

the use of hazardous materials, energy, water,

or other resources and practices that protect

natural resources through conservation ormore efficiently use.


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Operational Concepts


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Waste Minimization

Definition

Waste Minimization (WM) is the reduction, to the extentfeasible, of hazardous waste that is generated orsubsequently treated, sorted or disposed. It includes any

source reduction or recycling activity undertaken by a generator that results

in either

(1) the reduction of total volume or quantity of hazardouswaste, or

(2) the reduction of toxicity of hazardous

waste, or both, so long as such reduction is consistent withthe goal of minimizing recent and future threats to humanhealth and the environment.


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Recycling

Recycling is a step on the staircase below wasteminimization. There are almost always some

wastes created by production processes, so they need to berecycled as much as possible. Recycling

can be broken down into closed-loop recycling (which isreally just a production process extension

rather than recycling), on-site recycling and re-use, off-siterecycling, and reclamation.

Reclaiming wastes usually involves some kind of separation

technologies such as distillation, filtration, etc., whereas straight recycling usually is understood to

mean that the waste is simply reused

somewhere else or back in the original process.


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There is an important distinction to be madebetween on-site and off-site recycling. Askingothers

to recycle for you is risky. Many toxic waste sitesin the U.S. were created by poorly managed

firms recycling other companies wastes, and nowthe companies are faced with cleanup costs.

Off-site recycling is really a form of waste disposalfor the company which creates the waste and

so is a low priority for action compared topreventing the waste in the first place.


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Pollution Control

Pollution control systems to reduce waste volume or toxicity are anecessity to manage wastes that cannot be prevented orexchanged.

Pollution control requires high capital and operating costs, andthere are numerous risks associated with system failures and the

use of treatment chemicals. Pollution control options should be considered only after all the

higher level concepts have been thoroughly investigated.

Compared to the cost of buying, installing and operating pollutioncontrol systems, improving production processes and other cleanerproduction strategies may be quite affordable and of course they

also usually provide a return on investment. In contrast, pollutioncontrol always remains an operating cost with no payback.


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Waste Disposal

The bottom of the staircase of industrialenvironmental management is waste disposal.Since some waste is an inevitable part of

almost any operation, wastes need to bemanaged responsibly. This requires carefulconsideration of what will happen to thewastes once they have been disposed, and

selection of the best disposal options tominimize risks to people and the environment.

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