Chapter 4.1 Cleaner Production
Notes on this chapter
Cleaner Production and conventional end-of-pipe pollution control both have the same
goal: reducing environmental impacts from wastes and emissions. However, Cleaner
Production takes the consideration upstream by focusing on optimising the production
process and the product, to ensure greater resource efficiency and to achieve a generic
reduction in all unwanted residuals, whatever their nature. The key difference between
pollution control and Cleaner Production is therefore one of timing. Pollution control is
an after-the-event, ‘react and treat’ approach. Cleaner Production is a forward-looking,
‘anticipate and prevent’ philosophy. The focus on specific waste streams is replaced by a
focus on specific manufacturing processes.
On the other hand, waste minimisation – identifying a given waste and developing ways
for reducing its volume and toxicity – is a valuable first step towards improving
hazardous waste management that can bring some quick and beneficial results, although
these may be on a ‘one waste at a time’ basis. (See Chapter 4.2 Waste Minimisation)
Because of this ‘front end’ approach, the responsibility for introducing and pursuing
Cleaner Production measures cannot lie with the waste management sector alone but
must involve all who have a part to play in production as well as policy makers.
The Cleaner Production concept has been recognised as an important contribution to
sustainable development. Equally important, it has been shown to reduce costs and
increase profits.
The issues addressed in Chapter 4.2 Waste minimisation and Chapter 4.3 Recycling and
waste exchanges have some overlaps with this chapter, and should be read in conjunction
with this one.
List of slides
Title Slide
Slide 2 What’s in a name?
Slide 3 The production process
Slide 4 Waste hierarchy
Slide 5 Sustainable consumption
Slide 6 Elements of a product policy for waste prevention
Slide 7 Key players in Cleaner Production
Slide 8 Cleaner Production Centres
Slide 9 Case study: China
Slide 10 Tools for waste prevention and Cleaner Production
Slide 11 Support systems and delivery mechanisms
Slide 12 Waste prevention and the waste industry
Slide 13 Summary
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Background notes
1 The non-production of waste is widely acknowledged to be preferable to any form of
waste treatment. It reduces costs and, for industry, can increase profits. However,
achieving improved resource efficiency and a reduction in waste generation (let alone an
absence of waste) is difficult. Such change may seem beyond the reach of waste
managers who have little or no direct access to other aspects of industrial production, or
to policy setting.
2 Nevertheless the waste prevention approach is already evident in many production
companies, under general corporate policies of improved environmental performance and
regulatory compliance, as well as in company initiatives to reduce operational costs.
3 Recent experiences in companies and some governments show more precisely how the
prevention approach can be integrated with traditional waste management actions. It
requires a partnership with other professionals in other activity areas to define a common
goal eg cost reduction or environmental compliance. Many companies and governments
have extensive literature and first-hand field experience in minimisation of selected waste
streams.
4 Not all changes can be made through process optimisation. Recent evolution of the
Cleaner Production concept has started to look at the potential contribution product
design can make. Attention to product design which includes all aspects of the product’s
manufacture, use and disposal (or preferably reuse or recycling), can enable many
difficult challenges in hazardous waste management to be avoided. Here, the partners are
industrial designers, marketing and advertising professionals and even consumer
organisations.
5 The end-point in this life-cycle approach is the consumer. Various studies and policy
initiatives are now under way to identify and promote more sustainable consumption
patterns that satisfy consumer needs but which also have a smaller environmental and
social footprint.
6 All of this points to a dual role for waste managers in future. First, to attend to present
problems through competent and strategic application of waste management procedures,
including waste minimisation. Second, to become involved in the wider movement on
waste avoidance that includes Cleaner Production, product-cycle issues and the growing
dialogue on sustainable consumption patterns. This second aspect requires contact with
new professional groupings at a variety of levels not usually associated with the waste
industry.
Sources of further information
Jackson, Tim (1993) Clean Production strategies: developing preventative environmental
management in the industrial economy Lewis Publishers ISBN 0-87371-884-4
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OECD (1998) Achieving basic level capacity in Cleaner Production
Queensland Cleaner Production Task Force (1998) Cleaner Production Self Assessment
Guide, Brisbane City Council (available as pdf file from www.qldrxr.lgaq.asn.au)
Sogaard, Michael Editor (1997) Inventory on Cleaner Production Education and
Training, Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers TEK, ISBN 952-5005-11-9
Tia, PR (2000) The use of economic instruments with a view to identifying sustainable
solutions for the environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, report for the
Secretariat of the Basel Convention
UNEP (2002) International Declaration on Cleaner Production -- Implementation
Guidelines for Companies, Governments and Facilitating Organizations
UNEP (2002) Sustainable Production Patterns -- Learning from the Experience of
National Cleaner Production Centres, ISBN 92-807-2073-2
UNEP (2000) Cleaner Production Assessment: Dairy, Fish and Meat Processing, ISBN
92-807-1843-4, 92-807-1843-6, 92-807-1843-8
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) & UNEP (1998)
Cleaner Production and Eco-efficiency, complementary approaches to sustainable
development
(available as pdf file from www.wbcsd.ch/newscenter/reports/1998/cleanereco.pdf)
Web sites
Australian Cleaner Production home page www.environment.gov.au/epg/environet/eecp/
UNEP Industry & Environment Programme www.uneptie.org/pc/cp/understanding_cp/
Information on the Cleaner Production programme in China www.chinacp.com/eng
Additional list of references
1.
2.
3.
Cleaner Production - The Search for New Horizons; Edited by Ralph Meima,
1997, Published by the International Institute of Industrial Environmental
Economics, Lund University, Sweden.
Inventory on Cleaner Production Education and Training, Edited by Michael
Sogaard Jorgensen et.al., available with The Finnish Association of Graduate
Engineers TEK, ISBN 952-5005-11-9
*UNEP (2002), International Declaration on Cleaner Production -Implementation Guidelines for Companies, Governments and Facilitating
Organizations.
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4.
5.
6.
7.
*UNEP (2002), Sustainable Production Patterns -- Learning from the Experience
of National Cleaner Production Centres, ISBN 92-807-2073-2
UNEP, Industry and Environment Review; Vol. 24 No 1-2 2002, Vol. 24 No 1
1999, Vol. 21 No 4 1998.
UNEP (2000), Cleaner Production Assessment: Dairy, Fish and Meat Processing,
ISBN 92-807-1843-4, 92-807-1843-6, 92-807-1843-8
Journal of Cleaner Production, published by Elsevier Science Ltd. U.K.
* Available on website www.uneptie.org/pc/cp
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