Cleaner Production- A Move Towards Sustainability

1. Cleaner Production- A Move Towards Sustainability Abhilash Vijayan Charanya Varadarajan University of Toledo

2. Cleaner Production - Timeline • Late 1980’s • Environmental managers in the U.S. and Europe realized the importance of pollution prevention at the source • Stress on reducing waste and pollution at source rather than treating waste produced • Combined effort of production, administration and environmental specialist teams to reduce waste generation and improve efficiency • 1990’s • EPA decided on Pollution Prevention (P2) • National Pollution Prevention Act passed by Congress • P2 – the top priority for protecting the environment from pollution • Established that recycling is not P2 but finding use for something that’s already waste • New P2 programs established in many states • The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Paris made similar observations about the need for Pollution Prevention

3. Cleaner Production • In Developing Countries • Weak or no regulations regarding treatment of pollution • UNEP - major resource for Environmental Policy • Decided on cost effective prevention through improved efficiency and business management as the means to reduce industrial pollution • UNEP called this “CLEANER PRODUCTION” • Cleaner Production (CP) is the international term for reducing environmental impacts from processes, products and services by using better management strategies, methods and tools • A global movement for improving business performance and a profitable, cleaner, sustainable future • CP called Pollution Prevention (P2) in North America

4. Cleaner Production is a Preventive Integrated Environmental Policy applied to the entire Production and Service cycle • Processes: • Conservation of raw materials, • energy, water • Reduction of emission at source • Evaluation of technology option • Reduction of costs and risks • Products: • Reduction of waste • through better design • Use of waste for • new products • Services: • Efficient environmental • management in design • and delivery • Impacts: • Improved efficiency • Better environmental performance • Increased competitive advantage

5. Critical CP Factors • Management Systems • Ensures right tools are used properly • Environmental Management Systems (EMS) most common tool for CP and P2 • Other Management systems such as Balanced Scorecard and Balridge Quality Award are also in use • Assessments • To identify CP and P2 opportunities • Assessments get integrated with the management system as a continual improvement process over time • Measurements • To obtain data on what’s happening in an organization before applying CP and P2 • Performance indicators linked with the mission and strategy developed • Accounting tools used for developing the right data • CP and P2 projects evaluated financially and by risk and impact assessments

6. Critical CP Factors (Contd.) • Design • Product design - ultimate driver for CP and P2 process improvements • Process improvement follow proper Product Design • Purchasing • Critical for CP and P2 • Green Purchasing or Environmentally Preferred Procurement creates demand for better products that in turn creates better supply • Reporting • Public reporting of CP and P2 and social performances

7. CP Assessments in Industries • Cleaner Production assessment methodology is used to systematically identify and evaluate the CP opportunities and facilitate their implementation in industries • Assessment methodology is useful in organizing the CP program in a company and bringing together persons to be involved with the development, evaluation, and implementation of Cleaner Production measures

8. Phase 1: Planning & Organization • Elements important for the successful start of a Cleaner Production program: • Management commitment • Employee involvement • Cost awareness • Organize a project team • Identify barriers and solutions • Set plant-wide goals • Effective CP Planning Process ensures • Selection & implementation of the most cost effective CP options • Broader business planning investment analysis and decision-making (such as capital budgeting and purchasing) • Cleaner Production objectives and activities are consistent with those identified in the organization’s broader planning process

9. Phase 2: Assessment Procedure • Source Identification – material flow diagram with associated costs made to identify sources of waste and waste generation • Cause Diagnosis – investigation of factors that influence the volume and composition of waste and emissions generated • Option Generation – • create a vision on how to eliminate or control each of the causes of waste and emission generation • Option generation in turn considers the following elements

10. Technological Change Good Operating Practices PROCESS Product Changes Change in Raw Materials Onsite Reuse & Recycling

11. Phase 3: Feasibility Studies Evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of options • Preliminary Evaluation • Options are sorted to identify additional evaluation needs for complex processes • Technical Evaluation • Availability and reliability of equipment • Effects on product quality and productivity • Expected maintenance and utility requirements • Operating and supervising skills • Economic Evaluation • Collection (regarding investments and operational costs, and benefits) • Evaluation criteria (pay back period, Net Present Value (NPV) or Internal Rate of Return) and feasibility options • Environmental Evaluation • Determine the positive and negative impacts of the option for the environment • Selection of Feasible options • Elimination of technically non-feasible and environmentally insignificant options • Selection of the right option in case of competing options or limited funds

12. Phase 4: Implementation and Continuation Evaluates the feasible prevention measures which are implemented and provisions taken to ensure the ongoing application of CP Results of this phase include: • Implementation of feasible CP measures • Monitoring and Evaluation of the progress achieved by the implementation of the feasible options • Initiation of the ongoing CP activities

13. Case Study • Company A is a Drycleaner which cleans over 2500 garments everyday • Garments are loaded into an Ilsa dry-cleaning machine, in which they are immersed in perchlorethylene (solvent) • Perchlorethylene and soaps dissolve grease and oil • Solvent is removed and recycled in a still, where most of it is recovered • Process produces liquid waste residue which has to be legally disposed off

14. Cleaner Production Initiatives CP: Preventive Practices First Tier: Source Reduction • Product Modification • Input Substitution • Technology Modification • Good Housekeeping Second Tier: Recycling • On Site Recovery While a small business cannot apply product modification or input substitution, Company A introduced the other three CP practices: • Purchase of an advanced Dry-cleaning machine to replace two old machines • Installation of a Carbon Filter • Variety of Good Housekeeping measures

15. Benefits of Cleaner Production • Technology Modification – single dry cleaning machine replace two machines • 40% reduction in operating costs • Electricity to clean each garment reduced by 17% • Negative pressure within the cage prevents perc fumes from entering the work area • 80% decrease in perc consumption • Better equipment = Improved Safety • Improved Worker Productivity due to decrease in perc emission in work area

16. Benefits of CP(contd.) • On Site Recycling

17. Financial and Environmental Benefits

18. Payback Period