Environmental issues economic incentives

Worldwide, the taxation and payments for resources and emissions are devised in such a manner as to make it more profitable for the manufacturer to resolve the environmental issues in-plant, rather than to shift them off to the consumer area. A combination of sanctions with economic incentives for a cleaner production will make the latter not a recipient from, but rather a donor to the government budget.Yet even domination of a cleaner economy policy will not soon guarantee survival of the population under a deep economic crisis like the current one. The anthropogenic damage already caused to nature may prove too heavy and not lending itself to repair within the life span of one or even more generations. 

The toxicity of phosgene has spawned a lot of research into alternates for both MDI and TDI, as well as polycarbonates. In addition to safety, there are economic incentives for developing alternate routes. In the conventional MDI process, methylene diphenylmethane diamine (MDA) is formed by reacting aniline with formaldehyde. Separating excess aniline from crude MDA is an expensive operation. Also, by-product HCl formed in the conversion of MDA to MDI is an environmental issue. The final isocyanate product contains hydrolyzable chloride compounds that are difficult to separate and dispose of. The reactants must be kept bone dry to prevent corrosion, and the introduction of water can cause a runaway reaction. Similar concerns influence the search for nonphosgene routes for TDl. Conventional routes to polycarbonates also employ phosgene, which produces chlorine waste products, primarily sodium chloride, that present disposal problems. The elimination of chlorine from the polycarbonate process would constitute a major improvement. 

Another important issue that influences the environmental incentives of emissions trading is related to closures. If operators lose their allowances to closed installations30, they have an incentive to keep old, inefficient installations running - or at least not close them completely. This may be environmentally and/or economically inefficient. If, on the other hand, companies were allowed to keep allowances to closed installations, they might get an incentive to move part of their production to countries outside the EU. Earmarking of allowances from closed installations to new installations could solve this problem. This was discussed in connection with the first Danish NAP, but not implemented31. 

Properly addressing this issue by the next Biowaste Directive in Europe would be a further incentive to the development of products from RRM, with the aim of maximising environmental, economic, and social benefits. Bioplastics can also develop in sectors, such as in agricultural mulches, where retrieval of plastics is difficult or costly and bioplastics are perceived as a best fit. 

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