Concepts of environmental protection

In general, a manufacturing process can be described by the following relation 

There are two approaches for achieving minimum waste in industry, as illustrated by Fig. 1.2 [2], briefly explained below. 

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Corporate environmentalism is an evolving concept for environmental protection. In this case, business takes a pro-active stance independent of regulatory authorities. This can be in recognition of social responsibilities, but is more successful when compelled by competition in the market place. Thus, a hrm can conscientiously target environmentally aware consumers (through marketing environmentally friendly products or processes) or can be better placed for hnancial support from ethical investment funding bodies. 

For ecosystems, there is a concept of environmental services (e.g., soil function). Soil conservation provides a range of obvious benefits, including the preservation of land use and fertility, supporting the production of fibers, food, or biofuels. These services have widened over time to encapsulate benefits of carbon sequestration or biodiversity protection. It is relatively easy to place values on the productive capacity in the former examples. It is somewhat harder to find the value of the latter uses, but as the Stern report (Stem 2006) illustrated, it is by no means impossible to calculate the value of, say, an upland peat bog. 

The outlined concept can be naturally transferred to several areas of industrial food production. The intentions of this research area are located at the development of techniques, which fulfill the conditions of environmental protection with costs to a minimum. 

If we consider -faclor (defined as the mass ratio of waste to desired product) (4]. fine chemical processes arc "the dirtier one.s with -factors of the order of 5 50 kg waste per kg product, compared with values of I - 5 for bulk chemicals and 0,1 for refinery operations [5], Consequently, especially in the case of Fine Chemistry, there seems to be room for the design of more efficient and selective acid-base processes and acid-base catalysts achieving the dual goal of environmental protection and economic benefit involved in Sustainable/Oreen Chemistry concept [6). 

In EEC terminology an environmental queJity objective expresses the maximum pollution levels to be satisfied in the environment in order to safeguard an effective protection of the ecosystem by taking into accoimt the so -called zero-effect evaluation (EEC, 1973). The term is comparable with the water quality criteria applied by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA, 1987) and by the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Committee (Uoyd and Ctilamari, 1987), and also with the concepts of environmental concern level of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 1992) and maximum permissible concentration... 

Of course, not all problems of environmental protection in the chemical industry can be solved by new process concepts based on the principles of prevention and utilization of residues. In many cases, additive processes are still necessary. 

Because this is still an ongoing process, this chapter follows the traditional concept of environmental radiation protection therefore, focus is given on the various sources, the transport of radionuclides in the environment, and the concentration levels of radionuclides in environmental media and edible biota. The exposure levels of the population due to the various sources of radiation (natural and artificial radionuclides, cosmic radiation, diagnostic medical examinations, atmospheric nuclear tests, etc.) are presented and the principles of the emergency countermeasures for radiation protection of the public and workers are briefly discussed based on ICRP Publication 60 and 63 (ICRP 1991, 1991a). 

Safety in water supply is defined as a state of water management that enables to cover the current and future water demand, in a technically and economically justified way, by the requirements of environmental protection (Berg et al. 2010, Ezell et al. 2000, Kolowrocki 2001, Li et al. 2009, Mays 1989, Rak 2009, Tchorzewska-Cieslak 2011, Tchorzewska-Cieslak 2011 et al. 2012). The basic and primary entity to which the water safety concept is directed is water consumer. The secondary is water supplier—water manufacturer. That is why... 

Offsets Policy Offsets were EPAs first application of the concept that one source could meet its environmental protection obligations by getting another source to assume additional control actions. In nonattainment areas, pollution from a proposed new source, even one that controls its emissions to the lowest possible level, would aggravate existing violations of ambient air-quahty standards and trigger the statutory prohibition. The offsets policy provided these new sources with an alternative. The source could proceed with construction plans, provided that ... 

DUTY OF CARE The concept of the duty of care for waste is set out in Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act (1990) which states that it is the duty of any person who imports, produces, carries, keeps, treats or disposes of controlled waste to keep that waste properly under control. 

Environmental protection and resource use have to be considered in a comprehensive framework, and all of the relevant economic and natural scientific aspects have to be taken into consideration. The concepts of entropy and sustainability are useful in this regard. The entropy concept says that every system will tend toward maximum disorder if left to itself. In other words, in the absence of sound environmental policy. Earth s energy sources will be converted to heat and pollutants that must be received by Earth. The concept of sustainability has to do with... 

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