Source reduction

One powerful way to reduce the environmental impact of a package (or product) is to use less material in its manufacture. That translates immediately into less 

The replacement of LDPE films by thinner LLDPE films for a wide variety of packaging applications has already been mentioned. Metallocene polymers can provide similar benefits. 

Additional savings accrue during distribution, due to the weight difference. It takes three trucks to haul as much peanut butter in glass jars as two trucks can haul in plastic jars [11], 

Many medical products have moved from rigid to flexible packages. Kendall Health Care switched from a thermoformed tray to a flexible pouch for a urine collection assembly used in hospitals and achieved a waste volume reduction of about 50%. Medchem changed hemostat packaging from a glass jar inside a foil-lined container to a plastic tray in a pouch and achieved an 80% reduction in packaging by weight [13]. 

Of course, not all packaging reduction innovations meet with consumer success, and what is successful in one country may not be so in another. DuPont Canada estimated in 1990 that switching from HDPE gallon bottles for milk to twin-pack 2-quart LLDPE pouches could reduce the weight of discarded packaging by 58%. They further calculated that replacement of the mix of then-current milk packaging by pouches could reduce the landfill volume of discarded milk packaging by nearly 93% [17]. While such pouches have enjoyed some success in Ontario (where there is a deposit on HDPE milk bottles but not on pouches), they have not met much success in the United States. 

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Options. Traditional control options for overexposure are material substitution, process change, containment, enclosure, isolation, source reduction, ventilation, provide personal protection, change work practices, and improve housekeeping. A simple way of looking at selection of control options is to find the cheapest option that results in the desired amount of exposure reduction. It is not actually that simple, however, because the various options differ in ways other than cost and degree of control. Some of the other factors to consider in selection of control options are operabiUty, rehabiUty, and acceptabihty. 

Fig. 6. An iategrated approach to the management of municipal soHd waste (MSW), advocated by the U.S. EPA, that links source segregation, recycling, waste-to-energy (WTE), and landfilling ia a single system. Source segregation refers to the separation of compostable and recyclable components from the balance of the trash at the poiat where MSW is collected. In source reduction (not shown), another action to reduce waste to landfills, changes are made ia...

Many of these techniques involve source reduction— the preferred option on the EPA s hierarchy of waste management (24). Others deal with on-and off-site recycling. The best way to determine how these general approaches can fit a particular company s needs is to conduct a waste minimization... 

The North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources has pubhshed a report on the reduction of poUution sources in textile wet processing and a workbook for poUution prevention by source reduction in textile wet processing which includes dyes (312). 

B. Smith, "Identification and Reduction of Pollution Souices on Textile West Piocessing," A WorkbookforPollution Prevention by Source Reduction in Textile Wet Processing Pollution Prevention Piogiam, Noith Caiolina Depaitment of Enviionment, Health, and Natuial Resouices, Raleigh, N.C., 1986,1988. 

As discussed in the introduction, the hierarchy set forth by the USEPA in the Pollution Prevention Act establishes an order to which waste-management activities should be employed to reduce the quantity of waste generated. The preferred method is source reduction, as indicated in Fig. 25-1. This approach actually precedes traditional waste management by addressing the source of the problem prior to its occurrence. 

Waste minimization generally considers all of the methods in the EPA hierarchy (except for disposal) appropriate to reduce the volume or quantity of waste requiring dispos (i.e., source reduction). The definition oi source reduction as applied in the Pollution Prevention Act, however, is any practice that reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant entering any waste stream... 

The treatment of waste is the third element of the hierarchy and should be utilized only in the absence of feasible source reduction or recychng opportunities. Waste treatment involves the use of chemical, biological, or physical processes to reduce or eliminate waste material. The incineration of wastes is included in this categoiy and is considered preferable to other treatment methods (i.e., chemical, biological, and physical) because incineration can permanently destroy the hazardous components in waste materials (Ref. 4). It can also be employed to reduce the volume of waste to be treated. 

Figure 25-2 provides a more detailed schematic representation of the two preferred pollution prevention techniques (i.e., source reduction ana recychng). 

Managerial information environmental policies and procedures prioritization of waste-management concerns automated or computerized waste-management systems inventory and distribution procedures maintenance schediiling practices planned modifications or revisions to existing operations that would impact waste-generation activities and the basis of source reduction decisions and policies... 

For VOCs, control options are multiple. Source reduction or removal includes product substitution or reformulation. Particleboard or pressed w ood has been developed and used extensively in building materials for cabinet bases and subflooring and in furniture manufacturing for frames. If the product is not properly manufactured and cured prior to use as a building material, VOCs can outgas into the interior of the residence or building. Other sources of VOCs may be paints, cleaning solutions, fabrics, binders, and adhesives. Proper use of household products will lower volatile emissions. 

It would obviously be desirable to eliminate the generation of waste. Practical alternatives are to minimize it by reduction at source or to recycle it. Table 16.7 illustrates the hierarchy of waste minimization practices. Source reduction includes increased process efficiency economies in the use of energy are also relevant, e.g. it may result in a decrease in the consumption of fossil fuels ... 

Elimination Source reduction Complete elimination of waste Avoidance, reduction or elimination of waste, generally within the confines ... 

Industrial Source Reduction Practices that reduce the amount of any hazardous... 

Toxics Use Reduction This term refers to the activities grouped under "source reduction" where the intent is to reduce, avoid, or eliminate the use of toxics in processes and/or products so as to reduce overall risks to the health of workers, consumers, and the environment without shifting risks between workers, consumers, or parts of the environment. 

Waste Minimization source reduction, certain types of recycling and reclamation. Waste minimization does not include recycling activities whose uses constitute disposal and burning for energy recovery. 

Waste Reduction The term has been used by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and INFORM to mean source reduction. On the other hand, many different groups have used the term to refer to waste minimization. Therefore, care must be employed in determining which of these different concepts is implied when the term "waste reduction" is encountered. 

Source reduction includes any in-plant actions to reduce the quantity or the toxicity of the waste at the source. Examples include equipment modification, design and operational changes of the process, reformulation or redesign of products, substitution of raw materials, and use of environmentally benign chemical reactions. 

The various waste-management options namely, source reduction, recycle/reuse, treatment, and disposal. 

Which units should be manipulated for source reduction By what means ... 

Hamad, A. A., Varma, V., El-Halwagi, M. M., and Krishnagopalan, G. (1995). Systematic-integration of source reduction and recycle reuse for the cost-effective compliance with the cluster rules. AIChE Annu. Meet., Miami. 

There are significant opportunities for industry to reduce or prevent pollution at tlie source tlirough cost-effective changes in production, operation and raw materials use.. . . The opportmiities for source reduction are often not realized because existing regulations, and tlie industrial resources tliey require for compliance, focus upon treatment and disposal, rather tliaii source reduction.. . . Source reduction is fundamentally different and more desirable tlian waste management and pollution control. 

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