pollution prevention fundamentals and practice

McGraw-Hili Series in Water Resources and Environmental EngineeringCONSULTING EDITOR George Tchobanoglous, University of California, Davis Bailey and Ollis: Biochemical Engineering Funda

POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACTICE

International Editions 2000

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Copyright © 2000 by The McGraw-Hili Companies, Inc All rights reserved Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

I dedicate this book to my wife, Pam,for her patience, understanding, and encouragement, and for putting up with all of the time I spent on the preparation of this book.

McGraw-Hili Series in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering

CONSULTING EDITOR

George Tchobanoglous, University of California, Davis

Bailey and Ollis: Biochemical Engineering Fundamentals

Bishop: Pollution Prevention: Fundamentals and Practice

Bouwer: Groundwater Hydrology

Canter: Environmental Impact Assessment

Chanlett: Environmental Protection

Chapra: Surface Water-Quality Modeling

Chow, Maidment, and Mays: Applied Hydrology

Crites and Tchobanoglous: Small and Decentralized Wastewater Management Systems

Davis and Cornwell: Introduction to Environmental Engineering

deNevers: Air Pollution Control Engineering

Eckenfelder: Industrial Water Pollution Control

Eweis, Ergas, Chang, and Schroeder: Bioremediation Principles

LaGrega, Buckingham, and Evans: Hazardous Waste Management

Linsley, Franzini, Freyberg, and Tchobanoglous: Water Resources and Engineering

McGhee: Water Supply and Sewage

Mays and Tung: Hydrosystems Engineering and Management

Metcalf & Eddy, Inc.: Wastewater Engineering: Collection and Pumping of Wastewater Metcalf & Eddy, Inc.: Wastewater Engineering: Treatment, Disposal, Reuse

Peavy, Rowe, and Tchobanoglous: Environmental Engineering

Sawyer, McCarty, and Parkin: Chemistry for Environmental Engineering

Tchobanoglous, Theisen, and Vigil: Integrated Solid Waste Management: Engineering Principles and Management Issues

Wentz: Hazardous Waste Management

Wentz: Safety, Health, and Environmental Protection

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAUL L BISHOP is the Herman Schneider Professor of Environmental Engineering

at the University of Cincinnati Dr Bishop received a B.S in civil engineering fromNortheastern University and an M.S and Ph.D in environmental engineering fromPurdue University He spent 16 years in the Department of Civil Engineering at theUniversity of New Hampshire as professor and department chair, and for the past 12years he has been in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at theUniversity of Cincinnati, serving for 5 years as William Thoms Professor and head ofthe department He spent one year as visiting professor at Heriot-Watt University inEdinburgh, Scotland, and another in the same capacity at the Technical University ofDenmark, Lyngby, Denmark Dr Bishop's specialties are pollution prevention, biolog-ical waste treatment, and hazardous waste management He is the author or co-author

of two books and more than 200 technical papers He is a diplomate in the AmericanAcademy of Environmental Engineers, for which he served a term as a member of theBoard of Trustees, was a member of the Board of Directors of ABET, recently com-pleted a term as president of the Association of Environmental Engineering Professors(AEEP), is a member of the International Association on Water Quality U.S.A.National Committee (USANC), and chaired the IAWQ Environmental EngineeringEducation Specialty Group Dr Bishop has had a long history of involvement in pol-lution prevention activities This includes assistance with development of the U.S EPAAmerican Institute for Pollution Prevention, significant research on pollution preven-tion opportunities, presentations on pollution prevention at national and internationalconferences, consulting with industry on pollution prevention topics, and serving forthe past nine years on the Science Advisory Board of the U.S EPA National Center forClean Industrial and Treatment Technologies

Itis estimated that our materials-dominated society consumes about 10 metric tons ofraw materials per person per year in the production of consumer goods Within sixmonths of extraction or production of these materials, 94 percent of them becomeresidual material that is disposed of as waste More efficient practices for using mate-rials in manufacturing are needed to lessen the demands for raw materials and to reducethe amounts and toxicity of waste materials It is estimated that 70 percent of this wastematerial could be eliminated through better design decisions and re~se of materials

As currently structured, engineering education has evolved into fairly segregateddisciplines; each focuses on a narrowly defined design and manufacturing functionwithout consideration of its environmental consequences This is no longer the case inindustry, however, where pollution prevention and waste minimization have becomevery important This rapidly changing industrial emphasis was initially in response toregulatory pressure, but now it is driven primarily by economics Industries are striv-ing to minimize waste generation at the source, to reuse more of the waste materialsthat are generated, and to design products for easier disassembly and reuse after theiruseful life is completed The overall objective is to minimize "end-of-pipe" treatment,although some waste treatment will always be needed This new environmental ethic inmanufacturing is labeled "pollution prevention," "green engineering," or "environmen-tally conscious engineering." It is a collection of attitudes, values, and principles thatresult in an attempt by the engineering profession to reduce the rate at which weadversely impact the environment

Industry has accepted the concept of pollution prevention, because managementhas seen the economic benefits resulting from it However, most of our engineeringgraduates are not prepared to step into a role where green engineering principles areespoused It is essential that we quickly incorporate the green engineering principlesinto the engineering curriculum in all disciplines to ensure that all engineering gradu-ates are aware of environmental issues and understand the environmental and economicconsequences of engineering decisions The goal of this educational change should be

to reduce the necessity for end-of-pipe treatment by incorporating, at all stages ofengineering, measures that minimize wastes and permit recycling and reuse A knowl-edge of pollution prevention principles should allow the engineer to include environ-mental consequences in decision processes in the same way that economic and safetyfactors are considered Eventually, we must extend this way of thinking to others in thedecision-making process, including management, but this probably will not be suc-cessful until engineers embrace it

The objective of this book is to introduce the principles of pollution prevention,environmentally benign products, processes and manufacturing systems Students willlearn the impacts of wastes from manufacturing and post-use product disposal, envi-ronmental cycles of materials, sustainability, and principles of environmental econom-ics Materials selection, process and product design, and packaging are addressed

PREFACE vii

ORGANIZATION

This book is intended for use by novices to the field of pollution prevention as well as

by students majoring in environmental engineering or chemical engineering Sufficientbackground information is provided to those new to the field to understand the con-cepts discussed in later chapters

The book is divided into 14 chapters The first chapter introduces the concept ofpollution prevention, gives a historical perspective, provides definitions that will beused throughout the book, and discusses the important, but often overlooked subject ofenvironmental ethics and its role in pollution prevention Chapters 2 and 3 are back-ground chapters, providing information on properties and fates of environmental con-taminants and the impacts of industry on the environment Knowledge of environmen-tal regulations is essential to proper implementation of pollution prevention programs;regulations are covered in Chapter 4 Chapter 5, "Improved Manufacturing Operations,"

is intended to describe general design and manufacturing processes that are used inindustry and to show how changes in the manufacturing process can minimize pollu-tion generation The next three chapters deal with how we can assess the effectiveness

of a proposed process change and how effective pollution prevention programs are structed Chapter 6 describes the life-cycle assessment process, while Chapter 7 is anoverview of pollution prevention economics Chapter 8 focuses on pollution preventionplanning Chapters 9 and 10 then investigate in more detail technologies that can beused to minimize pollution Chapter 9 focuses on such topics as green chemistry,design for disassembly/demanufacturing, and improved packaging Chapter 10describes new procedures for minimizing the use of water, energy, and reagents in a'manufacturing process through the application of a procedure called "pinch analysis."

con-No matter how effective an industrial pollution prevention program is, there willalways be some waste that can't be eliminated and must be disposed of Chapter 11 dis-cusses options for disposal of these residuals Chapter 12 addresses another form ofindustrial pollution-fugitive emissions-that result from unintentional equipmentleaks or releases Chapter 13 discusses what can be done at the municipal level to reg-ulate industrial pollution emissions The book culminates in Chapter 14, which is aphilosophical discussion of the subject of sustainability and the role of pollution pre-vention in maintaining a more sustainable society

USE OF THIS BOOK

Pollution Prevention: Fundamentals and Practice contains enough material to allow

flexibility in its use This book is intended for engineering students from any neering discipline, but it should also be useful to practicing engineers needing a com-prehensive book on pollution prevention This includes both environmental engineerswho are entering the pollution prevention consulting arena and engineers in industry

engi-viii POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRAcrJCE

who need to bring their knowledge of available pollution prevention options up to date.With selective reading, it will also be of use to nonengineers in industrial managementwho must make intelligent choices on implementation of pollution prevention alterna-tives or learn how to sell these alternatives to upper management

The book is specifically designed for senior- or graduate-level engineering dents from all engineering disciplines, but it may be used by junior-level students aswell It assumes no prior knowledge of pollution prevention or related concepts, insteadproviding all necessary background for the reader By careful selection of the topicscovered, the book can be used in a general course on pollution prevention intended forall engineering students, or in a pollution prevention course designed specifically forenvironmental engineering students

stu-The material in this textbook can be used in a variety of ways, depending on thediscipline and educational background of the students and the intent of the course.Suggested outlines are presented below for courses intended (1) as a general introduc-tion to pollution prevention for students with little environmental engineering back-ground, (2) as a more "rigorous course for environmental engineering students, and(3) as a course for nonengineering students, such as business or management majors

In addition, portions of this book may be used in a basic freshman-level engineeringcourse to introduce the need for the environmentally conscious engineering ethic tonewly developing engineers This might include Chapter 1, parts of Chapter 3, andChapter 6

A suggested outline for a cross-disciplinary course on pollution prevention fornonenvironmental engineering students is presented in outline A This introduces theconcepts of pollution prevention, describes the consequences of pollution emissions,and presents methods for setting up a pollution prevention program and assessing itseffectiveness Students from any engineering discipline should have the necessarybackground knowledge for this course

Outline A

Properties and fates of environmental contaminants 2 All

Improved manufacturing operations 5 5.1, 5.2.2, 5.4.2 through 5.4.4

A course on pollution prevention specifically designed for environmental neering students would differ from outline A Depending on their educational level,these students may already be familiar with the materials in Chapters 2, 3,4, and II.These chapters could be assigned as background reading The course could focus onthe organizational and technical aspects of pollution prevention Outline B suggests aplan for such a course

engi-Outline B

Pollution prevention economics 7 Depends on students' backgrounds

Design for disassemb1e/demanufacturing 9 9.1,9.3, and 9.4

Water, energy, and reagent conservation 10 All

Ultimately, the decision on whether to implement a pollution prevention program

is made by the industry management It is essential that managers become familiar withthe problems created by pollution and what the opportunities associated with pollutionprevention are It is unlikely that business schools can fit in a full course on pollutionprevention, but the essential material could be covered in a short minicourse, as sug-gested in outline C

Outline C

Industrial activity and the environment 3 All

Municipal pollution prevention programs 13 All

A teacher's manual that accompanies this textbook is available for qualifiedinstructors The manual contains solutions to all problems in the text, as well as a fullset of overhead teaching slides that can be used in presenting the course material.Please inquire with your McGraw-Hill representative I would appreciate any com-ments, suggestions, corrections, and contributions of problems for future revisions

This book could not have been written without the valuable assistance of a number ofpeople This textbook grew out of a grant I received from the Ohio EnvironmentalProtection Agency to develop a cross-disciplinary pollution prevention program forengineering students The agency's support is gratefully acknowledged Amit Gupta, aformer graduate student, provided invaluable assistance in developing the course, cre-ating many of the overhead teaching slides presented in the accompanying teacher'smanual, and reviewing the entire manuscript I would especially like to thank him forcontributing much of the writing for Chapter 14, "Toward a Sustainable Society." Hisinsights and perspectives on this subject were very perceptive I also extend my grati-tude to Anthony Dunams, another former graduate student, for writing much ofChapter 13, "Municipal Pollution Prevention Programs," and for serving as a soundingboard for much of the other material Tatsuji Ebihara and Hassan Arafat, two currentdoctoral students, contributed several of the design examples I have taught severalcourses using drafts of this textbook to students from a multitude of academic back-grounds Their helpful comments and corrections of the text have vastly improved it,and their asssistance is gratefully acknowledged I would especially like to thankthe outside reviewers of this text for their very valuable contributions These include

Dr C P L Grady (Clemson University), Dr Steven Safferman (University of Dayton),and Dr Angela Lindner (University of Florida)

I would also like to thank the entire team at McGraw-Hill for their great supportand assistance with this project Special thanks go to the sponsoring editor, Eric Munson;the copy editor, Carole Schwager; and the senior project manager, Jean Lou Hess

Paul L Bishop

3 Industrial Activity and

1 Introduction to Pollution Transport Processes / 2.3.3

1.1 The 3M Experience 1 Transformation Processes

3 Industrial Activity and

1.3.1 The 1ndustrial Revolution /

1.4.1 Waste Definition / 1.4.2 3.2.1 The Atmosphere / 3.2.2 Pollution Prevention Definition / Smog Formation / 3.2.3 Acid 1.4.3 Other Terms / 1.4.4 Rain / 3.2.4 Global Warming /

Prevention Hierarchy 13 3.3.1 Sources and Composition /

Pollution Prevention 14 3.3.3 Conservation

1.7 Environmental Ethics 15 3.4 Hazardous Wastes 114

Resource Conservation and

2 Properties and Fates of 3.5 Water Pollution

118

3.5.1 Minimata Disease / 3.5.2

2.1.1 Nomenclature of Organic 3.6.1 Historical Perspective /

Inorganic Nonmetals 39 Fossil Fuels / 3.6.5 Nuclear

2.2.1 Arsenic / 2.2.2 Cadmium / Energy / 3.6.6 Renewable 2.2.3 Chromium / 2.2.4 Lead / Energy Sources / 3.6.7

2.2.5 Mercury / 2.2.6 Cyanides Electricity / 3.6.8 Energy

the Environment 44 3.7.1 Earth's Structure / 3.7.2

xii

4.3.1 Laws Pertaining to Clean and the Regulatory

Clean Water / 4.3.3 Laws

6.4 Life-Cycle Assessment

Pertaining to Hazardous

Materials and Wastes / 4.3.4

6.4.1 Goal Definition and Laws Pertaining to Products /

Scoping Stage / 6.4.2 Inventory 4.3.5 Laws Pertaining to

Analysis / 6.4.3 Impact Analysis Pollution Prevention

Selection and Modification / 5.2.2 Concurrent Engineering /

6.7.4 Marketing Claims and 5.2.3 Manufacturing Processes

xiv POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACTICE

7.2 Microeconomics 298 8.5 Toxic Release Inventory 346

7.2.1 Market Mechanisms / 8.5.1 Toxic Release Inventory 7.2.2 Supply and Demand / Reporting Requirements / 7.2.3 Marginal Cost and 8.5.2 Toxic Release Inventory Marginal Benefit / 7.2.4 Market Chemicals / 8.5.3 Problems Externalities / 7.2.5 Control with Toxic Release Inventory

7.4 Estimating Long-Term 9 Design for the

7.5.1 Life-Cycle Costing / 7.5.2 9.1.1 Design for X / 9.1.2

Process / 7.5.3 Life-Cycle Cost

9.2 Green Chemistry 357

Assessment Case Study / 7.5.4

9.2.3 Alternative Reaction

Safer Chemicals / 9.2.5 Green

8 Pollution Prevention Chemistry Research Needs

9.3 Design for Disassembly/

8.2 Structure of the Pollution 9.3.1 Recycle versus Reuse /

Prevention Process 330 9.3.2 Recycle/Reuse Hierarchy / 8.2.1 Organizing the Program / 9.3.3 Recycle Legislation / 9.3.4 8.2.2 Preliminary Assessment / Requirements for Effective 8.2.3 Pollution Prevention Reuse/Recycling / 9.3.5

Program Plan Development / Disassembly Strategy / 9.3.6

Prevention Projects / 8.2.5 Recovery through Composting or Implementing the Pollution Energy Reuse / 9.3.9 Barriers

Measuring Pollution Prevention

10 Water, Energy, and Unit-Specific Correlation

Reagent Conservation 421 Approach

10.1 Introduction 421 12.4 Controlling Fugitive

for Cleaning 422 12.4.1 Equipment Modification I

Repair Programs

10.3 Pinch Analysis 430

10.3.1 Thermal Pinch Analysis I 12.5 Fugitive Emissions

Water Use I 10.3.3 Pinch 12.5.1 Emissions Estimation I Analysis for Process Emissions I 12.5.2 Emissions Control

11.4 Solid Waste Disposal 504 Amendments I 13.2.2

Emergency Planning and

Community Right-to-Know Act I

Pollution Prevention Act I

12 Fugitive Emissions 509 13.2.5 Regional Pollution

Prevention Initiatives: Great

12.1 Introduction 509 Lakes Water Quality Initiative

12.2 Sources and Amounts 511 13.3 Source Control and

12.3.1 Average Emission Factor 13.3.1 Mandatory Programs I Approach I 12.3.2Screening 13.3.2 Local Discharge

Ra,nges Approach I 12.3.3EPA Standards, Limits, and

Correlation Approach I 12.3.4 Authority

xvi POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACTICE

Pollution Prevention 14.4 Sustainability and

13.4.1 Voluntary Programs / 14.4.1 Definitions of

13.4.2 Regulatory and Sustainability / 14.4.2 What Is

13.4.3 Market-Based Programs 14.4.3 Conceptualization of and Pollution Prevention Sustainability / 14.4.4 Hurdles Incentives / 13.4.4 Measuring to Sustainability

Pollution Prevention Progress

14.5 Achieving Sustainable

Municipal P2 Program 558 14.5.1 Sustainable

Treatment Works Requests Sustainability Strategies /

Publicly Administered Sustainability / 14.5.4 What Is

Pollution Prevention Being Done to Achieve

Program Implementation 14.6.1 President's Council on

13.7 Internal Pollution Sustainable Development /Prevention in Publicly 14.6.2 Role of Local

14.2 Defming the Problem 574 14.8.1 The Role of Individuals /

14.2.1 Biodiversity / 14.2.2 14.8.2 The Role of Industry / Impediments to Achieving 14.8.3 The Four Elements of

Sustainability 576 14.9.1 Ecoindustrial Parks /

Sustainability Concept / 14.3.2 Principles

CONTENTS xvii

14.10 Measures of C Hazardous Waste

Product and Gross National Inventory Chemicals

14.11 Steps for Adopting E Present Worth of a

14.12 Summary 617 G Physical Properties

"Waste is a terrible thing to waste." The X-Files

We have learned the inherent limitations of treating and burying wastes A problem solved

in one part of the environment may become a new problem in another part We must tail pollution closer to its point of origin so that it is not transferred from place to place.With these words, William Reilly, then administrator of the U.S EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA), announced in 1990 the new EPA policy to decrease reliance

cur-on end-of-pipe treatment of industrial wastes and to promote eliminaticur-on of waste duction at the source Although new from a regulatory standpoint, this philosophy wasnot necessarily new from a practice standpoint Several industries had begun to put thisparadigm into practice years before, but it was revolutionary as an agency policy.Before examining in detail what pollution prevention is and how it can be more effec-tively accomplished, let us take a look at what one company, 3M, has accomplished

The 3M Company, a major multinational corporation with more than 130 ing sites in the United States as well as others in 41 countries, produces everything fromMagic Tape and Post-it Notes to heart-lung machines In addition to being one of thelargest producers of consumer products, 3M was also one of the largest producers ofwastes, both toxic and nontoxic Not only were wastes produced during manufacturing

manufactur-1

2 POLLlITION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACfICE

processes at 3M, but they were also produced during the processing and manufacture

of the goods and chemicals that went into 3M's products, during the transportation ofthese raw materials to the manufacturing plant and of the finished products frommanufacturing to the consumer, and after the consumer had finished with the productand discarded it

3M, as well as many other companies, began examining their waste managementpractices as a result of public pressure In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was amajor outcry by the public to clean up our environment and prevent further degrada-tion Congress quickly passed several pieces of important legislation designed to dojust that These included the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) in 1967, the NationalEnvironmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1969, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act(FWPCA) in 1972, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1974, and the ToxicSubstances Control Act (TSCA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act(RCRA) in 1976 These and other environmental statutes are described in more detail

in Chapter 4 As a result of this regulatory pressure, industries across the nation began

to examine ways to treat their wastes or, better yet, to minimize the amounts of wastethey were generating

When 3M started looking at the company's waste, management realized that theycould never reach their goal of a clean environment through treatment of these wastes.Most treatment technologies do not destroy wastes, but rather move them from onemedium to another, only delaying the eventual pollution problem Consequently, 3Mdecided that preventing the wastes from being created in the first place was its onlyviable solution In 1975 the company became the first to initiate a companywide pol-lution prevention program and adopted a new corporate policy preventing pollution atthe source wherever and whenever possible The policy asserts that 3M will:

• Solve its own environmental pollution and conservation problems

• Prevent pollution at the source wherever and whenever possible

• Develop products that will have a minimum effect on the environment

• Conserve natural resources through the use of reclamation and other appropriatemethods

• Assure that its facilities and products meet and sustain the regulations of all federal,state, and local governments

• Assist, wherever possible, governmental agencies and other official organizationsengaged in environmental activities

Pollution prevention thus became the foundation of 3M's approach to all ronmental policies (Zosel, 1993) Rather than using waste treatment as the basis forwaste management, 3M first looks at the feasibility of process modifications, recycling,reuse, reclamation, and augmenting efficiency The goal of 3M's Pollution PreventionPays (3P) program is to make pollution prevention a way of life throughout 3M, fromthe boardroom to the laboratory to the manufacturing plant It is based on the premisethat prevention does pay-in terms of environmental benefit, lower disposal and treat-ment costs, operating savings, improved product quality, and a more positive corporateimage (Bringer and Benforado, 1989)

envi-The 3P program has been a success It has evolved into a fully integrated, quality environmental management system, creating an environmentally sensitive cor-

high-INTRODUCTION TO POLLUTION PREVENTION 3

porate culture at 3M Environmental engineers are assigned to business unit facilities

to assist in 3P implementation, employees are given awards for identifying ways to vent waste generation or ways to recover and recycle materials, and meetings and con-ferences are held throughout the company by employee groups to exchange ideas onpollution prevention Each year, 3M budgets approximately $150 million for researchand development related to environmental issues, such as reducing the environmentalimpacts of products and processes These activities have resulted in a 20 percent cut inenergy consumption and a 35 percent cut in waste generation; by the year 2000, 3Mplans to cut waste generation by 50 percent and release of pollutants to the environment

pre-by 90 percent Not only has this resulted in a major reduction in environmental stress,but the company has realized savings of more than $150 million in lower costs forenergy, process chemicals, and waste treatment (Bringer and Benforado, 1992)

3M is only one example of how a reexamination of the way a company deals with itspollution problems can lead to significant environmental improvement, as well as costsavings to the company Many other companies have also come to the realization thatpollution prevention does indeed pay (see Table 1.1 for some other examples of early

TABLE 1.1

Selected industrial pollution prevention programs and goals

Amoco: Waste Primary focus on minimizing Eliminate the generation and Minimization Program hazardous waste disposal as disposal of hazardous wastes

well as minimizing and tracking nonhazardous wastes

BP America: Waste Adopts EPA's environmental Annual waste minimization goals Minimization Program management hierarchy, with source for all facilities

reduction preferred General Dynamics: Industrial source reduction, toxic Eliminate all RCRA-manifested Zero Discharge chemical use substitution, recycling, wastes leaving company facility

treatment, and incineration 3M: Pollution Eliminate pollution sources through By 2000, cut all hazardous and Prevention Pays product reformulation, process nonhazardous releases to air, land,

modification, equipment redesign, and water by 90% and reduce the recycling, and recovery of waste generation of hazardous wastes by materials for resale 50%, with 1987 as the base year Monsanto: Priority One Source reduction, reengineering, A 90% reduction in hazardous air (TRI waste) process changes, reuse, and recycling emissions from 1987 to 1992; a

to reduce hazardous air emissions 70% reduction in TRI solid, liquid, and TRI solid, liquid, and hazardous and gaseous wastes from 1987 to

Xerox Toxic chemical use substitution, Reduce hazardous waste generation

materials recovery and recycling by 50% from 1990 to 1995

4 POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACfICE

proponents of pollution prevention) This book examines the sources and impacts ofindustrial pollution and how industry can minimize the negative environmental effects

of manufacturing processes in a cost-effective way These effects are not limited to acompany's internal activities, but also include those of their suppliers and those of theconsumer through use and disposal of the product

The production of waste throughout the United States and the rest of the world

is accelerating at a rapid pace As countries become more industrialized and the wealth

of their citizens increases, there is an increased demand for goods and services.Corporations looking to increase sales and therefore profits often feed this craving withadvertising for their products The result is an ever-spiraling demand for goods, result-ing in more and more wastes (see Figure 1.1) The environmental impacts of this havebeen all too evident: despoiled air and water, hazardous waste dumps leaking their tox-ins into our groundwater supplies, increased rates of cancer and other diseases fromexposure to these chemicals, rapidly depleted resources, global warming, and damage

to the protective ozone layer over Earth Many people have come to the realization thatthis desecration of Earth cannot continue without causing insurmountable problems.Attempts to eliminate the problem through end-of-pipe treatment of wastes after theyare produced have helped, but the problems are too large for this to be the solution.What is needed is a major overhaul of the way we manage wastes and the environment.Pollution prevention requires a holistic approach to waste management Ratherthan waiting until after a waste is produced and then attempting to make it innocuous,the pollution prevention approach considers the entire life of a product, from extraction

of the raw materials from the earth through manufacturing to product use and finally toproduct disposal and possible recycling or reclamation, in order to find ways to mini-mize all environmental impacts This may mean using materials that are less toxic orthat are less scarce in the earth, finding more efficient manufacturing processes orprocesses that demand less energy, designing new products that make recycling afteruse easier, or creating new packaging materials that reduce the amount of packaginggoing to landfills or incinerators

In the past, industry showed little concern for the types or amounts of wastes erated, and the public had little knowledge of the impacts of these wastes on the envi-ronment These wastes were usually just discharged into the air or a nearby river, or theywere dumped or buried on land (see Figure 1.2a). Disposed materials that were thought

gen-to be gone forever through dilution in air or water or by burial in the ground came back

to haunt us (see Figure 1.3) As these impacts became known, industries began to treat

their wastes to remQve the most egregious ones (Figure 1.2b) Eventually, some

indus-tries began recycling and reusing some of their waste materials (Figure 1.2c). Otherindustries, recognizing that product marketing and pollution prevention are intimatelyrelated, began marketing the environmental "greenness" of their products as a way toattract new customers This was the beginning of the pollution prevention era We can

do more, though What is needed is a goal of "zero pollution," in which most processwaste production is eliminated through process changes, and as much remaining waste

as possible is recycled, reused, or reclaimed, at either the facility of origin or anotherfacility (Figure 1.2d) The little residue remaining after recycling and reuse can betreated and disposed of in an environmentally acceptable fashion

The goal of pollution prevention is zero pollution, but this is a goal only; not allwaste can be prevented or recycled and there will always be some waste to finally bedisposed of The objective should be to make the volume of this waste small enoughthat it can be managed effectively in an environmentally safe manner

Before investigating the workings of a pollution prevention program, it is useful

to look at how industry has grown over the last few hundred years, bringing us to thepoint where we are now

The process of industrialization describes the transition from a society based on culture to one based on industry Modem industrialization is often dated as having its

agri-INTRODUCTION TO POLLUTION PREVENTION 7

origins in the Industrial Revolution, but environmental pollution can be traced to ufacturing in ancient times Goods have been produced to some extent since the dawn

man-of civilization Pottery works and factories for the manufacture of glassware andbronze ware have been discovered in Greece and Rome In the Middle Ages, large silkfactories were operating in the Syrian cities of Antakya and Tyre During the latemedieval period, textile factories were established in several European countries Thesewere all fairly small operations, though, and had little impact on the environmentbeyond their immediate area

During the Renaissance (fourteenth to seventeenth centuries), industrializationincreased in many areas, primarily following advances in science and the development

of new trading partners in Asia and the New World Factories were created to producesuch goods as paper, firearms, gunpowder, cast iron, glass, clothing, beer, and soap(Kaufman and Farr, 1995) These factories differed from those found today, though;generally they were large workshops where each laborer functioned independently.Industrial processes were largely carried out by means of hand labor and simple tools;mechanization or machinery was rare Organized factories could be found, but homeproduction was still the norm The guilds were very strong at that time and resisted anyattempts to increase the expansion of factories Consequently, environmental impactsdue to goods production were still minor and spread out over a large area

This all changes with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, which began with theapplication of power-driven machinery to manufacturing The Industrial Revolutionbrought many changes to the way people lived and worked It led to the movement ofpeople from rural to urban areas and a shift from home to factory production It alsowas the impetus for the creation of a new working class The Industrial Revolution isconsidered to have begun in Britain in the early 1700s and then to have spread rapidlythroughout much of Europe and North America in the early nineteenth century A form

of Industrial Revolution is still under way or is just beginning in many less developedcountries

By the early eighteenth century, Britain had burned up much of its forests to vide heat for its inhabitants and for its limited industry However, large deposits of coalwere available as a fuel, and there was an abundant labor supply to mine the coal andiron What was needed was a way to transform the energy in coal into a form that could

pro-be used in manufacturing Machines were being used in manufacturing in England atthat time, but on a limited basis only Matthew Boulton built a factory in 1762 whichemployed more than 600 workers to run a variety of lathes and polishing and grindingmachines Josiah Wedgwood and others used waterwheels and windmills in Stafford-shire to turn machines which mixed and ground materials for making chinaware(Rempel, 1995)

The first major use of mechanization in industry, though, came in the British tile industry The industry was fraught with severe inefficiencies: it took 4 spinners tokeep up with the demand of 1 cotton loom and 10 persons to prepare yarn for 1 woolenweaver Weavers were often idle because of the lack of needed yarn A way to spin yarnmore quickly was required In 1764, James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny

tex-8 POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACTICE

This was quickly followed by the water frame for spinning yam invented by RichardArkwright in 1769, and the spinning mule by Samuel Crompton in 1779 The readysupply of yam created by these inventions led to the invention of the power loom byEdward Cartwright in 1785, which enabled women to do the weaving in place of men

At about the same time, a machine was patented that printed patterns on the surface ofcloth by means of rollers Prior to these developments, most spinning, weaving, andtextile manufacturing was done in the home However, the new machines were gener-ally too large to operate in a home and were often waterwheel driven, so textile manu-facturing had to move to factories The result of the use of all these machines was a 50percent to 90 percent drop in the cost of manufacturing textiles, reflecting the reducedlabor requirement, and an explosive growth in the sale of textiles, both in England andabroad Another revolution in the textile and garment industries occurred in 1846 whenthe American Elias Howe invented the sewing machine The American Civil War sooncreated another impetus for growth in the industry-the need for uniforms Clothingmanufacturers were forced to develop standardized sizes for uniforms, and eventuallyother clothing, to meet the needs of mass production practices

The textile industry may have been the one that ushered in the IndustrialRevolution, but the invention that usually is most associated with it is the steam engine.Because waterpower had been the only way to run machines, factories had to be locatednext to a river or stream Steam engines released company owners from this restriction,allowing them to locate factories near the raw materials supplies, manpower, and mar-kets, rather than basing factory location on the water supply The first piston engine,developed in 1690 by the French physicist Denis Papin for pumping water, was neverpractical The first modem steam engine was built by an English engineer, ThomasNewcomen, in 1705 to pump seepage water from coal, tin, and copper mines It wasnot very efficient, but it was used to pump water from mines The breakthrough insteam engine design came in 1763 when James Watt, a Scottish engineer, invented thereciprocating steam engine, changing it from one that operated on atmospheric pres-sure to a true "steam engine." He also added a crank and flywheel to provide rotarymotion (Rempel, 1995) The value of these engines was quickly recognized, and Wattproduced hundreds of them over the next several years, freeing industry from the needfor water power The development of the steamship by Robert Fulton in 1807 and ofsteam locomotives in the 1830s, both of which were driven by steam engines, vastlyexpanded the markets for industrially produced goods and helped to speed the spread

of the Industrial Revolution

Other major events that sped the Industrial Revolution along were the ment of ways to inexpensively produce electricity, which could be used to powermachines in factories that did not have ready access to coal for steam production; theinternal combustion engine; the automobile along with the assembly line techniquesdeveloped by Henry Ford in 1913 to mass produce autos; aviation; and rapid world-wide communications systems Inrecent years, there has been a new revolution in man-ufacturing practices with the advent of sophisticated factory equipment, often run bycomputers Automation has significantly and rapidly changed the size and the skills ofthe factory work force These advances in manufacturing have greatly reduced manu-facturing costs and produced major increases in consumerism

develop-INTRODUCflON TO POLLUTION PREVENTION 9Before 1860, approximately 36,000 patents for new inventions had been issued

in the United States Between 1860 and 1890, an additional 440,000 patents wereissued In 1899, Charles H Duell, U.S commissioner of patents, stated that "every-thing that can be invented has been invented." However, an additional 900,000 patentswere issued in the ftrst quarter of the twentieth century The total is currently in excess

of 5,500,000 Obviously, Commissioner Duell was wrong and industrialization hascontinued to grow at an ever-increasing rate

1.3.2 Impacts of Industrialization

The result of all this improvement in mechanization was a great increase in industrialproductivity, lower costs for manufactured products, and usually an increase in thestandard of living of the population However, this did not come without cost Factoriesdumped waste materials from manufacturing processes into the water, air, and land.Because industries are usually clustered together near or in cities, these discharges have

a negative cumulative effect on a small area The rapid growth in production alsogreatly increased the demand for energy, raw materials, and natural resources, oftentaxing our supply of them and causing environmental damage due to resource extrac-tion processes Typically, industries have been set up to use only virgin materialsbecause of the expense and complexity of renovating recycled materials into usablequality for manufacturing new products Therefore, there is often no market for thematerials in a product after it has served its useful purpose and it is discarded into alandfill, creating more pollution It has only been in about the last decade that this prac-tice has begun to change

The Industrial Revolution has also brought with it a change in the social ture of industrialized countries Industrialization usually results in increased wealth foreveryone, although it is not equally distributed, resulting in new class distinctions.Because of the increased wealth, populations tend to increase The population rapidlyshifts from a mainly rural one to an urbanized culture as people move to where the jobsare The clustering of industries in a common area and the resulting urbanization cre-ates severe stress on the environment Areas that could previously assimilate the wastesfrom the rural community can no longer handle them and environmental degradationoccurs Some of these impacts are discussed in Chapter 3 In many cases, the environ-mental threats can be reduced by more efficient utilization of resources by industry and

struc-by better design of products so that they can be more easily recycled after use Theintent of this book is to show how pollution prevention can often be easily accom-plished and how it will benefit industry as well as the environment

Congress, the EPA, and environmental professionals came to the conclusion in the 1980sthat a new industrial waste management philosophy was needed if the ever-expandingindustrial pollution and resource depletion problems were to be solved Indiscriminateuse of virgin resources in manufacturing and subsequent end-of-pipe treatment of result-ing wastes would not provide the resource sustainability and environmental quality

10 POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACTICE

demanded by the public As a result, a new paradigm was developed which emphasizedminimizing the use of harmful or overexploited resources and eliminating or minimiz-ing waste production at the source in the industry's production area This philosophybecame known by many names, including waste minimization, source reduction, wastereduction, green engineering, and sustainable engineering, but the name that is mostoften associated with it is pollution prevention. Pollution prevention, or P2 (said as

P-two, not P-squared, because we do not want to square the amount of pollution!), is

the term adopted by EPA and the term usually used in federal legislation

1.4.1 Waste Definition

Before we can discuss how waste reduction or pollution prevention programs should

be structured, waste must be defmed Congress developed a legal definition, included

in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which is described in detail in Chapter

3, but there are many other defmitions that can be used more readily

We usually tend to think of waste as a solid product left over at the end of aprocess or action, but waste is a much broader issue than that It encompasses wastage

of energy or water in producing or using a product We must focus on the total picturewhen we are describing waste For example, home beverage can recycling programs can

be very beneficial in conserving natural resources and decreasing the amount of landfillspace required, but driving several miles to deposit a few newspapers, empty cans, andglass or plastic bottles in collection bins can be very wasteful of gasoline The resourcesconsumed in doing this, together with the further resources needed to take the materialsfrom the collection point to a reprocessing center, could exceed the resources saved bynot throwing them away It is wasteful to allow food, which has consumed resources andenergy in its production, to be damaged or spoiled Extreme measures to reduce pack-aging may have the effect of reducing the use of paper, metals, glass, and plastics at theexpense of the food they would protect, despite the value of the wasted food being manytimes greater than the value of the now-avoided packaging (World Resource Foundation,1996) Thus we must be careful in how we define waste

Industrial waste is usually described as materials coming from a manufacturingprocess that are not directly used within the corporation and that are marked for dis-posal or release to the environment (Graedel and Allenby, 1995) They may be a waste

to that process or that company, but they may still have value to someone else Forexample, the spent pickle liquor from a steel mill is considered a significant wasteproblem by the steel industry, but it has great potential as a neutralizing agent and coag-ulant in other applications The problem is that the cost of marketing and transporting

it to the potential user often makes its use uneconomical Thus the same industrialprocess by-product could be categorized as a waste or a usable commodity, depending

on its quality and the ready accessibility of a market for it A waste may not ily have to be a waste There is a better defmition of a waste:

necessar-A waste is a resource out of place

It is the responsibility of pollution prevention personnel to find the right place to turnthe waste into a resource

INTRODUCTION TO POLLUTION PREVENTION 11

Pollution prevention is a term used to describe production technologies and strategiesthat result in eliminating or reducing waste streams The EPA defines pollution pre-vention as

the use of materials, processes, or practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of tants or wastes at the source It includes practices that reduce the use of hazardous mate-rials, energy, water or other resources and practices that protect natural resources throughconservation or more efficient use

pollu-Thus pollution prevention includes both the modification of industrial processes tominimize the production of wastes and the implementation of sustainability concepts

to conserve valuable resources

Pollution prevention activities range from product changes to process changes tochanges in methods of operation This wide variety of activities is depicted in Figure 1.4.The main premise underlying pollution prevention is that it makes far more sensefor a generator not to produce waste than to develop extensive treatment schemes toensure that the waste poses no threat to the quality of the environment (Freeman, 1995)

12 POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACTICE

We can avoid confusion by defining a few more terms that are commonly used to

describe pollution prevention before we move on Source reduction is an activity that reduces or eliminates the waste at the step where the pollution is created Waste mini-

mization and source reduction are often used interchangeably Emission reduction is an

activity that reduces or eliminates pollutants within the industry boundary limits so thatthey are not emitted into the environment Waste reduction is any activity that reduces

the amount of waste that is generated at any step of manufacture, use, or disposal Thus,changes to an industrial process to increase efficiency of process chemicals utilization

is deemed source reduction, while treatment of the residual chemicals leaving theprocess to either destroy them or recycle them back to the process is emission reduc-tion Waste reduction encompasses both of these Recycling refers to the recovery and

direct reuse of a material from a waste stream For example, chromium can be ered from the drag-out water from a plating bath rinse system by reverse osmosis or ion

recov-exchange and recycled back to the plating bath for reuse Reclamation generally cates that the recovered chemical is used in some other application An example is therecovery of spent pickle liquor from a steel mill operation and its use as a neutralizingagent in another industry

A final definition is that of sustainability or sustainable waste management Another

synonymous term that is enjoying current favor is integrated waste management These

are difficult terms to define and have different meanings to different people Discussion

of how sustainability should be defined was initiated by the Bruntland Commission, agroup assigned to create a "global agenda for change" by the General Assembly of theUnited Nations in 1984 They defined sustainable very broadly:

Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable-to ensure that it meets theneeds of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirown needs (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987)

Professor Robert K Ham of the University of Wisconsin, a leading authority onsolid waste management, states that "sustainable" means an action or process can con-tinue indefinitely No resources are used to extinction or faster than they are naturallyreplenished "Sustainable waste management" implies that there would be no degrada-tion of land, water, or air by wastes; however, this is not feasible and regulatory author-ities generally allow some degradation to levels deemed to be acceptable Ham findsthe term "integrated waste management" to be more practical in that it requires use ofmultiple waste management techniques to minimize resource, environmental, and eco-nomic impacts It includes waste reduction, recycling, treatment, and environmentallysafe disposal (Thurgood, 1996)

N C Vasuki, chief executive officer of the Delaware Solid Waste Authority, saysthat a society has attained its sustainable development goal when the material and eco-nomic aspirations of its members are satisfied through optimum materials management

INTRODUCTION TO POLLUTION PREVENTION 13

and minimum use of natural resources Essential prerequisites for attaining such a goalinclude the following (Thurgood, 1996):

• A free and democratic system to develop consensus on materials use policies

• A relatively free market system which adjusts to supply and demand of materials

• Timely use of appropriate technology to minimize environmental degradation

• Recognition that a risk-free society is not feasible

• Elimination of hidden subsidies and equitable allocation of costs

• A regulatory framework for establishing a rule of law and an adjudication system forequitably enforcing laws

Finally, Dr Peter White, principal scientist at Procter & Gamble, states that anintegrated waste management system should manage all of the waste in an environ-mentally and economically sustainable way He defines environmental sustainability as

reducing overall environmental burdens by optimizing both consumption of resources

and generation of emissions Economic sustainability means that the overall costs areacceptable to all sectors of the community that are served-householders, businesses,institutions, and government Integrated waste management considers both of these toachieve the most acceptable result based on overall environmental burdens and costs

It involves the use of a range of different waste minimization schemes and treatmentoptions (White, 1996)

The topic of sustainability is a vital one to any discussion on pollution tion It is discussed in more detail in Chapter 14

Integrated waste management provides the flexibility to use an almost limitless variety

of waste minimization, waste treatment, and waste disposal techniques Until recently,only the last two were seriously considered This changed with passage of the PollutionPrevention Act (PPA) of 1990 (see Chapter 4 for more details) The preamble to thePPA says:

The Congress hereby declares it to be the national policy of the United States that tion should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible; pollution that cannot

pollu-be prevented should pollu-be recycled in an environmentally safe manner, whenever feasible;pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safemanner whenever feasible; and disposal or release into the environment should beemployed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner.Thus Congress made pollution prevention a national policy rather than just adesired goal, and it established a hierarchy for determining how pollution should bemanaged It established source reduction as the preferred method to be used for wastemanagement, if it is feasible and cost effective Congress realized that all pollutioncould not be eliminated through source reduction alone, and it set recycling (and pre-sumably other methods of waste reuse such as reclamation) as the preferred alternative

FIGURE 1.5The pollution prevention hierarchy.

for management of residuals that remain after all viable source reduction measures aretaken Anything that remains after these steps should be treated to render it less haz-ardous and more compatible with the environment Disposal into secure chemical land-fills or direct release into the environment is allowed only as a last resort These optionswere depicted in Figure 1.2

In almost all cases, total pollution elimination through source reduction or cling will not be possible There will always be some residuals that cannot be prevented

recy-or reclaimed Recovery systems are not 100 percent efficient, and residual streams maynot be pure enough to recycle directly or to recover economically The remaining pol-lution requiring treatment after source reduction and recycling should be greatlyreduced in volume, however, thus making treatment easier and much less expensive.Again, it is unlikely that treatment will detoxify all pollution Some will always need

to be disposed of, either to a secure chemical landfill or directly to the environment atlevels that the environment can safely assimilate This amount should be much reducedfrom the amount of the original waste, though Thus the pollution prevention hierarchycan be depicted as an inverted triangle, where the area of the band denoting the man-agement option is indicative of the amount of pollution involved (see Figure 1.5) Theobjective of pollution prevention is to make the pointed base as small as possible

1.6 RECYCLING VS POLLUTION PREVENTION

A close examination of the EPA defmition of pollution prevention indicates that itrefers only to elimination of pollution at its source Recycling or reprocessing of arecovered material into a form that can be used in another process is not deemed pol-lution prevention by the EPA This is a much narrower definition than that used bymany states, which include recycling and reuse in their definition of pollution preven-tion, because all three options lead to a reduction in the amount of material wasted tothe environment or needing treatment before discharge

In this book we use the broader defmition of pollution prevention that includesrecycling and reuse of residuals from industrial processes Most of the book is devoted

to source reduction, recycling, and reuse, but treatment and final waste disposal are cussed as necessary to complete the picture of integrated or sustainable waste manage-

dis-INTRODUCTION TO POLLUTION PREVENTION 15

ment The reader desiring more knowledge on industrial waste treatment can find itelsewhere (Conway, 1980; Eckenfelder and Dasgupta, 1989; Nemerow and Dasgupta,1991; Sell, 1992)

Most pollution prevention activities are initially begun because of regulatory pressure, anunderstanding that there could be cost savings associated with minimizing waste gener-ation, or a desire to improve a corporate image In recent years, however, some compa-nies have moved beyond these impetuses to espouse pollution prevention on a moremoral basis They base their pollution management decisions on environmental ethics.Environmental ethics is a systematic account of the moral relationships betweenhuman beings and their natural environment It assumes that moral norms can and dogovern human behavior toward the natural world (Des Jardins, 1997) Environmentalethics is concerned with humanity's relationship to the environment, its understanding

of and responsibilities to nature, and its obligation to leave some of nature's resources

to posterity Pollution, population control, resource use, food production and tion, energy production and consumption, the preservation of the wilderness and ofspecies diversity all fall under the purview of environmental ethics (Pojman, 1994).The inspiration for the recently developed study of environmental ethics was thefirst Earth Day in 1970, when environmentalists started urging philosophers who wereinvolved with environmental groups to do something about environmental ethics.Discussions on environmental ethics go back much further than this, however, andinclude the writings of Henry David Thoreau, John Pinchot, and John Muir Manybooks have been written recently discussing environmental ethics Among the betterones for developing an insight into this rapidly developing field are those by Callicottand Da Rocha (1996), Des Jardins (1997), Gunn and Vesilind (1986), Hayward (1994),

distribu-and Pojman (1994) The book Management for a Small Planet, by Stead distribu-and Stead

(1996), should be required reading for anyone interested in the need for corporations

to develop an environmental ethic for their corporate practices

Rather than attempt to condense the philosophy into a few paragraphs, the reader

is directed to the references just mentioned We only briefly discuss the impact of thesephilosophies on corporate management

There are several philosophies used to describe environmental ethics One of the

early ones, defined by Gifford Pinchot, is conservationism. Its basis is the view thatwilderness is a resource that must be utilized and protected at the same time The valuesystem that is expressed in this philosophy puts people's needs above all others.Wllderness, as such, receives no moral standing beyond needing to be available forhuman consumption in a sustained manner Conservationists work to protect naturaland wilderness areas from nonessential forms of permanent destruction, ensuring thefuture existence of the areas for human utilization The Sierra Club is an example of anorganization that espouses this philosophy Its mission statement includes the line "topractice and promote the responsible use of the earth's ecosystems and resources."Another philosophy, which dates back to the writings of Henry David Thoreau

and John Muir, is that of preservationism. This philosophy promotes the ethic that

16 POLLlITION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACTICE

nature is meant to be enjoyed and experienced by humans and that it is our duty to tect the wilderness for our future enjoyment This philosophy again places the value ofnature on human utilization of it, but it is directed at benign uses of nature (enjoyment),rather than on sustainable extraction of resources

pro-A third environmental ethics philosophy, which has developed only over the past

decade or so, is often referred to as deep ecology, a term coined by Arne Naess Deep

ecology extends the base of morality to include all life on Earth, including plants andanimals According to this philosophy, decisions should be made from a viewpoint thatincorporates other positions in addition to human ones In some respects this is notreally a "new" ethic; as it is similar to the philosophy long espoused by many NativeAmericans and by many other cultures around the world The most well known, andmost notorious, organization espousing deep ecology is the group Earth First! Its slo-gan is "No compromise in defense of mother earth," and its belief, often expressed vio-lently, is that Earth must be actively defended from development for its own sake andfor the health of its ecosystems

Recently, a new philosophy, termed social ecology, has begun to develop Social

ecology places a strong value on human existence while still recognizing the ness of nature It identifies human interactions as the main problem to be solved Theultimate goal is to create an environment where humans interact with one another andthe environment in a responsible manner (Knauer, 1997)

unique-All of these philosophies have a common element-there is a responsibility forall people to minimize their impact on the environment as much as they can Thisincludes organizations and businesses Since the Industrial Revolution, societies allover the world have based their hopes on the concept of unlimited economic wealth.The desire for economic growth has been raised to almost the same status as religion(Stead and Stead, 1996) As eloquently stated by Campbell and Moyers (1988), youcan tell which institution a society considers most important by the relative height ofits buildings In medieval times, the churches were the tallest buildings After theRenaissance, the tallest buildings were the seats of government Today, the tallestbuildings are the centers of economic activity This philosophy of unlimited economicgrowth must now be tempered by a need to maintain sustainability This necessitates arethinking by industry of acceptable methods of doing business In other words, indus-try must develop an underlying set of environmental ethics upon which corporate deci-sions are made

Corporate ethics involves the moral issues and decisions confronting tions and the individuals working in those corporations, including moral conduct, char-acter, and ideals Corporate environmental ethics concerns the way corporations con-duct business in relation to their impact on the environment Values are the keyingredients people use to judge right and wrong Thus a person's ethical system is thesum total of the values he or she holds dear Corporations have ethical systems that areprimarily composed of the dominant values of the key strategic decision makers in thefirm This means that ethical considerations are an inherent part of corporate strategicdecision-making processes Effectively incorporating Earth into strategic decision-

corpora-INTRODUCTION TO POLLUTION PREVENTION 17

making processes means extending the firm's ethical reasoning to include the planet(Stead and Stead, 1996)

Sustainability should be the core value for a corporation's ethical system; itallows for positive economic success and environmental responsibility It is based on

an understanding that economic success and ecosystem survival are both worthy andnecessary goals for individuals and organizations Acceptance of this tenet would allowenvironmentalists and industrialists to cooperate to achieve common goals of adequateindustrial growth within the constraints of resource preservation

One way of achieving this cooperative style of industrialism is for businesses to

use what is referred to as stakeholder management Stakeholders are persons or groups

that can affect or are affected by the achievements of the business's objectives.Stakeholders include customers, shareholders, suppliers, competitors, activists, andadvocacy groups, all of whom have an interest in the practices of the corporation.Stakeholder management refers to serving the varied, often conflicting, needs of thesemultiple stakeholders (Stead and Stead, 1996) It requires giving weight to the ethical,social, and political dimensions of a situation along with the economic dimensions,bringing ethical considerations to the forefront of strategic decision making It is based

on the theory that organizations that serve the needs of the greater society are morelikely to prosper than are self-serving organizations

Consumers are becoming more demanding and are insisting on high-qualitygoods that save time and energy and preserve the environment They are searching outmanufacturers that they perceive as socially and environmentally responsible Aboutone in seven Americans is actively involved in "green organizations" (Bhat, 1996).These people are concerned about the impact that products have on the environment.They are more likely to buy products in recyclable or biodegradable packages, and theyare willing to pay for this We now have large numbers of "green consumers" buying

"green products" and then recycling the wastes Green products are those that are ofhigh quality, durable, made with nontoxic materials, produced and delivered usingenergy-efficient processes, packaged in small amounts of recyclable material, not tested

on animals, and/or not derived from threatened species As environmental standardsbeing developed by the International Organization for Standardization (under ISO

14000, to be described more fully in later chapters) become widely adopted, it willbecome easier for the public to decide what are and are not environmentally soundproducts There are now several investment groups specializing in "ethical stock funds,"investing only in companies that practice environmentally conscious manufacturing

In 1990, the members of the Chemical Manufacturers' Association (CMA)agreed to a set of guidelines designed to improve the way chemical manufacturers man-age the environmental aspects of their businesses The following nine guidelines arecontained within the Responsible Care program:

1. To safely develop, produce, transport, use, and dispose of chemicals

2 To make health, safety, and the environment priority considerations in planning forboth current and new products

18 POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRACflCE

3 To promptly report any chemical or health hazards and to be prepared to deal with

them if they occur

4 To inform customers how to safely transport, store, and use chemicals.

5 To always operate plants in a safe manner.

6 To support research on the environmental impacts of products, processes, andwastes

7 To contribute significant efforts to resolve problems caused by past practices.

8 To participate with the government to develop laws and regulations that promote a

safer, more environmentally sound industry

9 To share environmental management experiences and information with other firms

in the industry

Many members of the chemical industry have signed on to these guidelines and aremaking a serious effort to comply, as are organizations from other industrial sectors.Based on their environmental performance, Bhat (1996) classifies companies as

red, yellow, or green (see Table 1.2) Red companies are those that, because of recent

negative experiences such as permit violations or accidents, have decided to supportimproved compliance with environmental laws and regulations They usually have ashort-term planning horizon of a week to a month, and they concentrate on waste treat-ment or incineration as their mode of pollution prevention All company decisions are

based solely on cost Yellow companies are more proactive Companies typically go

from red to yellow as a result of regulations that significantly increase pollution trol costs or when they are attempting to counteract bad publicity arising from someincident Yellow companies have moved beyond a frrefighting mode and have set a goal

con-of zero violations Management is oriented toward preventing environmental problems.The planning time frame is usually about a year Yellow companies try to prevent envi-

ronmental problems by engaging in preventive activities Green companies represent

the ultimate stage in environmental responsibility Companies become green not onlybecause they want to comply with laws, improve their image, and reduce costs, but alsobecause they believe that it is the right thing to do The company management hasclearly articulated its environmental policies Rules and regulations are not seen as con-straints, but rather as cost-reduction and profit-improvement measures Source reduc-tion is the primary waste reduction technique Life-cycle assessment, benchmarking(i.e., comparison of P2 results with established goals), and environmental audits arewell-established practices in the company Several corporations have developed envi-ronmental codes of conduct that are used in all corporate decision making, for exam-ple, the 3M Corporation, cited earlier

The International Chamber of Cornmerce has adopted the Business Charter forSustainable Development in cooperation with the United Nations EnvironmentalProgramme and other international business organizations The charter contains 16principles; the first is to "make environmental management a corporate priority," andthe second is to "integrate environmental management into all corporation levels andfunctions." The goal of this book is to demonstrate how this can be accomplished

TABLE 1.2

Classification of companies on the basis of environmental performance

I'ature Red Corporation Yellow Corporation Green Corporation Mmagement approach Problem solving Problem preventing Opportunity seeking

Manager responsible Legal department Plant or legal department Chief executive

Driving force Laws and regulations Costs of compliance Opportunities

Pollution-reduction Treatment, landfilling, Recycling and better Source reduction and

Public relations Responds to accidents Responds to accidents Systematic and well

organized Supplier selection Price only Price and selected green Price and selected

Use of resources Ineffective Somewhat effective Efficient and effective

Green perfonnance Violations, permit Amount of waste reduced, Cradle-to-grave, audits,

denials, discharges, disposal costs life-cycle assessment,

Reward system Blame for violations Blame for violations and Green perfonnance

and accidents small reward for com- major factor

pliance Technology Compliance-oriented Reduced compliance costs Continuous integration

in products and services

20 POLLUTION PREVENTION: FUNDAMENTALS AND PRAcnCE

Callicott, J B.; and da Rocha, E, Jr.Earth Summit Ethics. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996.Campbell, J.; and Moyers, B.The Power of Myth. Garden City, NY: Doubleqay, 1988

Conway, R A.Handbook of Industrial Waste Disposal. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1980.Des Jardins, J R.Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy. 2nd ed Belmont,CA: Wadsworth, 1997

Eckenfelder, N L.; and Dasgupta, A.Industrial Water Pol/ution Control, 2nd ed New York: McGraw-Hill,1989

Freeman, H M "Pollution Prevention: The U.S Experience."Environmental Progress 14 (1995): 214-23.Graedel, T E.; and Allenby, B R.Industrial Ecology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995.Gunn, A S.; and Vesilind, P A.Environmental Ethics for Engineers. Chelsea, MI: Lewis Publishers, 1986.Hayward, T.Ecological Thought. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Press, 1995

Kaufman, J J.; and Farr, G N "Factory System." InMicrosoft Encarta 96Encyclopedia. Ramsey, NJ: Funkand Wagnalls, 1995

Knauer, J Environmental Ethical Theory Applied in the Modern Environmental Movement http://www.envirolink.org/elib/enviroethics/essay.html (1997)

Nemerow, N L.; and Dasgupta, A.Industrial and Hazardous Waste Treatment, 2nd ed New York: VanNostrand Reinhold, 1991

Pojman, L P.Environmental Ethics: Readings in Theory and Application. Boston: Jones and Bartlett, 1994.Rempel, G., The Industrial Revolution.http://mercury.acnet.wnec.edu/-grempel/rempel/wc2/industriaI.rev.html (1995)

Sell, N J.Industrial Pol/ution Control: Issues and Techniques, 2nd ed., New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold,1992

Stead, W E.; and Stead, J G.Management for a Smal/ Planet. 2nd ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: SagePublications, 1996

Thurgood, M "Definitions."Warmer Bul/etin 49 (1996): 2-6

U.S EPA.Pol/ution Prevention 1991. EPA 21P-3003 Washington, DC: U.S EPA, 1991

U.S EPA.Facility Pol/ution Prevention Guide. EPN600{R-92/088 Washington, DC: U.S EPA, 1992.White, P "So What Is Integrated Waste Management?"Warmer Bul/etin 49 (1996): 6

World Commission on Environment and Development.Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 1987

World Resource Foundation Waste Minimisation.http://www.wrfound.org.uk/WasteMin-IS.html(1996).Zosel, T W., Pollution Prevention Research Directions and Opportunities Paper presented at the AEEPResearch Opportunities Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1993

PROBLEMS

1.1 Waste can be defined as "a resource out of place." Examine the contents of your home

trash and determine the potential uses for the materials being discarded How difficultwould it be to recycle/reuse these materials? What fraction of your waste is potentiallyrecyclable/reusable?

1.2 The quantities of waste generated by almost all activities can generally be reduced.Consider a typical business office, such as your university engineering department office.What are the sources of waste in the office and how could they be reduced? Consider allwaste sources

1.3 Many photographic processes use chromium salts Washing the photographic platesresults in excess hexavalent chromium being discharged into wash waters and eventuallyinto our waterways Considering the pollution prevention hierarchy, what options areavailable to reduce these discharges and which would be the most preferable?

1.4 Describe what you feel the term "environmental ethics" means

INTRODUCITON TO POLLUTION PREVENTION 211.5. Using the Internet, find a corporation that has established a corporate environmental ethicspolicy, then describe and critique the main components of the policy Into which Bhat clas-sification would you place this company?

1.6 The concept of sustainability maintains that present practices should be designed to ensurethat future generations will have the ability to meet their own needs However, based onpast experience, it can be argued that people are adaptable and find ways to cope with achanging world For example, known petroleum reserves may soon (in a few decades) runout Some argue that this is not a reason to cut back on gasoline use now, because by thenother undiscovered petroleum reserves may be found or alternative fuels will have beendeveloped Petroleum-based fuels may be of little value in the future Discuss the pros andcons of this argument and give your views

1.7 Underground injection wells used to be one of the major forms of ultimate waste disposalfor many industrial wastewaters in the United States, but their use has drastically declined

in the 1990s Research the use and operation of injection wells, describe their drawbacks,and explain why their use has declined

1.8. You are an engineer for a large manufacturing facility One of your responsibilities is toevaluate pollution emissions at your plant and to suggest ways to minimize them Thecompany previously produced and emitted large quantities of a toxic chemical from one

of its processes To reduce emissions, the company recently replaced the process with anew system that produces only negligible quantities of the chemical You are told thatsince this is a new low-polluting process, you do not need to investigate it However, dur-ing your inquiries into another process line, you discover that the new process is emittinganother potentially harmful compound This compound has not yet been proven harmfuland is not on any EPA lists, but recent literature you have read indicates that it may be apotential endocrine disrupter Should you report this to your supervisor? The process costmillions of dollars to install and its shutdown would cause irreparable damage to the com-pany If you do report it and your supervisor tells you to ignore it until firm evidenceproves its harmful, what should you do?

1.9 For the scenario presented in Problem 1.8, the company is appealing a fine for violationsdue to its previous process, based on the fact that the company has already spent millions

of dollars to install a new, nonpolluting process You are called on to describe the merits

of the new process before EPA, and to state that the process is environmentally benign.You are instructed by your upper management to say nothing about your concerns relative

to the new chemical being emitted What do you do? If you do testify as instructed, andare asked about the new chemical by an EPA official, what do you say?

1.10 Obtain an annual report from a chemical company (e.g., Du Pont, Eastman Kodak, Dow

Chemical, Monsanto) These can be found in your library or on the Internet Find thecompany's environmental policy statement and comment on its adequacy

Pollution prevention and waste minimization techniques may be successful inreducing the amount of contaminants that enter the environment However, for thesetechniques to be useful and to be applied in an effective way, they must be sound fromeconomical, environmental, and public health standpoints No pollution preventionactivity will be implemented by industry if it prices the product out of competition withsimilar products or if the activity makes only a minimal impact on environmental qual-ity or public health safety Thus one of the main objectives of this book is to assist theengineer or business manager in deciding whether a particular waste minimizationstrategy will be beneficial to the company involved.

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