Understanding Cleaner Production
Presentation 1 – Understanding Cleaner Production
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What will we learn here?
1 Understanding Cleaner Production
The Concept of Cleaner Production
The Evolution of Cleaner Production
The Definition of Cleaner Production
Other Terminologies and their relationship to Cleaner Production
Barriers to Cleaner Production
Mainstreaming Cleaner Production
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The Concept of Cleaner Production
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The Concept of Cleaner Production
History of Responses to
Pollution
• Ignore the Problem
• The solution to pollution is
dilution
• Treat pollution by end-of-pipe
approach
• Prevention of pollution and
waste generation at source
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Understanding through case studies
Case study 1
Reactive Chemical Industries Corporation
Manufacturing
Case study 2
PAC Foods Inc.
Products
Case Study 3
Relax Hotels
Services
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Case Study 1 – Reactive Chemical Industries
Corporation
RCIC specializes production of additives for the processing of high
polymer materials
The story…….
Wastewater discharge kills fish in the river
Monitoring and assessment reveals high Chemical Oxygen Demand
(COD) in wastewater
RCIC builds Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP) – high capital cost
Tightening of COD standards
RCIC goes for dilution, lays down an outfall in river
Standards are further tightened
Corresponding upgradation in WTP not economically feasible
Change of perspective needed in looking at the problem
In-plant cleaner production assessment
Implements pollution prevention options within 6 months
RCIC now meets the effluent discharge standards and improves
productivity by 15%; Saves on water and raw materials consumption
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Case Study 1 – Reactive Chemical Industries
Corporation
What can we learn from this case study?
If reactive approach had been avoided,
substantial amount time, land, money and other resources could
have been saved
Pollution management need not be a liability if proactive approach is
employed
Minimizing resource use, reducing wastes can improve productivity
and profitability
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Case Study 2 – PAC Foods
PAC Foods supplies food-packaging solutions to restaurants.
The story…….
Father starts company three decades ago
Son takes over to find a difficult situation at hand
Solid waste management becoming an important issue
PAC Foods’ packaging waste is very high
In response, introduction of ‘LessWaste’ Initiative, through team work
First six months sees elimination of 7500 tons of superfluous packaging,
Innovative ideas on redesign of napkins, shipment boxes and paper
containers bring in major waste reduction and toxics elimination
Community appreciates the move
Net savings of US $250,000
Staff involved in ‘LessWaste’ Initiative are awarded
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Case Study 2 – PAC Foods
What can we learn from this case study?
Cleaner production not limited to manufacturing alone but also for product
design
LessWaste initiative at PAC Foods was not driven by regulations!
PAC Foods focused on proactive approach
Teamwork and Profit sharing amongst employees lead to better results
Benefits of initiative not limited to PAC Foods premises
- Trees were saved, fuel consumption was reduced, lesser environmental risk
and better worker health and community safety due to toxics use reduction
Improved market image means more business
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Case Study 3 – Relax Hotel
Smiths operated a 40-room hotel called Relax at a hill station The story…….
Lately, Relax was losing its business to increasing competition
Operating costs were high
Smiths began with an energy and water audit
Several options were implemented that lead to savings of US$ 26,000 and 3.4
MWh of energy
Operating costs came down
Sharing of these achievements improved hotel image
Smiths realized that there was much more they could do using a preventive
approach and further improve their profits
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Case Study 3 – Relax Hotel
What can we learn from this case study?
Cleaner production is not limited to manufacturing alone but also for the
Service sector
Cleaner production can be practiced based on findings of a water and energy
audit.
Audits should not be looked at as one time activity but as a recurring action in a
larger continual improvement process
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What next?
All three case studies suggest a strong link between productivity
and cleaner production:
Improvement in Productivity means increase in outputs and
decrease in inputs
To be able to understand this linkage, lets look at how both
productivity and cleaner production have evolved over time
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Evolution of Cleaner Production
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Evolution of Productivity
Milestones in Productivity
Quantity (cost reduction approach)
Quality and customer satisfaction (growing customer preferences
and competition)
Consistency in production (better quality in larger quantities on a
continuous basis– TQM, TPM, ISO 9000)
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Evolution of Environmental Management
As productivity concepts expanded, environmental management also
matured and broadened
Tightening of
environmental
regulations
Forces
influencing the
change
- resource availability and pricing,
- competition in business
- need towards image-building,
Milestones in environmental
management
- Ignore,
- Dilute,
- Treat, to
- Cleaner Production
Community
pressures on
defaulters
Environmental management internalized in
businesses through EMS / ISO 14001
Environmental factor integrated into productivity
improvements (TQM to TQEM)
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Tracking the paths of productivity
improvement and environmental management
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Definition of Cleaner Production
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Cleaner Production Definition
Cleaner Production is defined[1] as the
continuous application of an
integrated preventive environmental
strategy applied to processes,
products and services to increase
overall efficiency, and reduce risks to
humans and the environment. Cleaner
Production can be applied to the
processes used in any industry, to
products themselves and to various
services provided in society.
[1] United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) - Cleaner Production. Available at:
http://www.uneptie.org/pc/cp/understanding_
cp/home.htm
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Key elements of the CP Definition
• Encourages continuous application
• Is not limited only to manufacturing industries or businesses of a certain
type or size
• Does not deny or impede growth but insists that growth can be
ecologically sustainable
• Considers life cycle impacts of producing goods and providing services
• Includes health and safety and emphasizes risk reduction
• Improves immediate efficiency as well as long term efficacy
• Win-Win-Win situation – for environment, community and business
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Cleaner Production Options
• Housekeeping
Improving inventory management, material
storage, material handling, organization of
workplace, awareness and training to staff
• Process Optimization
Rationalize and optimize production processes or
operational practices, modify process sequence,
modify operating parameters
• Raw Material Substitution
Substitute hazardous / banned raw materials with
safer and eco-friendly alternatives in the processes
• New Technology
Replace outdated, inefficient technologies with
innovative, more efficient technologies
• New Product Design
Redesign products & byproducts to lessen damage
to environment during manufacturing or useful life
of products, improve product packaging
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Cleaner Production and Other Terminologies
Next
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Cleaner Production and other Terminologies
Reactive
approaches
Preventive
approaches
Regulation
driven
1
CLEANER
PRODUCTION
3
2
4
5
Responsibility
driven
Waste focus
1.
End-of-the-pipe
technology
2.
Recycle, reuse
and recover
3.
Waste
minimization
4.
Pollution
Prevention
5.
Design for the
Environment
6.
Eco-efficiency
6
Facility
Life-cycle
focus
focus
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Cleaner Production and EMS
• ISO 14001 offers a common standard
approach based on the PDCA cycle
• While ISO 14001 integrates the basics
of impact assessment and scenario
building it does not clearly distinguish
between pollution control and pollution
prevention
• Thus, ISO 14001 certification is
possible with end-of-pipe efforts alone
and need not mandate improvement in
environmental performance
• Cleaner production places emphasis on
pollution prevention rather than control
with clear improvement in environmental
performance
Use Cleaner Production within
EMS framework
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Barriers to Cleaner Production
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Barriers to implementing Cleaner Production
• Resistance to change
• Lack of information, expertise and adequate
training
• Lack of communication within enterprises
• Competing business priorities - in particular,
the pressure for short-term profits
• Perception of risk
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Barriers to implementing Cleaner Production
• Difficulty in accessing cleaner technology
• Accounting systems which fail to capture
environmental costs and benefits
• Difficulty in accessing external finance
• Overwhelming regulatory approaches
• Perverse economic incentives e.g. subsidies on
resources
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Overcoming barriers to cleaner production
Strong need to mainstream cleaner
production to overcome the barriers
Role of CPCs / NCPCs has been crucial in
mainstreaming cleaner production in many
countries
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National Cleaner Production Centres /
Cleaner Production Centres around the world
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Role of CPCs / NCPCs in Mainstreaming
Cleaner Production
CPCs have conducted numerous awareness programmes, training / capacity
building activities and established partnerships with key institutions
CPCs have successfully used Cleaner Production Assessments and
Demonstration Projects as tools to promote and establish cleaner production
One of the important roles the CPCs have played is information sharing. In
many cases, CPCs have operated clearinghouses to provide case studies,
contacts and guidance materials
CPCs, especially in the CEE region have taken a lead interfacing with financial
institutions. Here, CPCs have played a role in developing CP projects as well as
for carrying out project appraisals to promote CP investments
More recently, CPCs have started to play a catalytic role to orient the policy and
regulatory framework towards cleaner production. Some CPCs have worked
closely with the government to develop national CP policies and action plans
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Key questions: Revisiting cleaner production
1. Isn’t cleaner production an obvious concept? Will it not be practiced by businesses and
communities some time some day? Does it need to be marketed at all?
2. Based on your experience, which stakeholders and sectors of economy in your country
are currently least aware of the cleaner production concept? What can be done to
influence them?
3. What are the other concepts, tools, management systems etc according to you are close
to cleaner production that make communicating cleaner production difficult? Why?
4. There are more than 1000 cleaner production demonstration projects completed all
over the world today with hundreds of cleaner production case studies. Is there a need
to demonstrate today that cleaner production actually works? Have you come across
instances where cleaner production hasn’t worked?
5. Unsustainable Consumption is an issue of great concern today. How can cleaner
production be promoted to influence the current consumption patterns?
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