Waste reduction approaches

As air pollution management moves forward, economics has a major role in reducing pollution. Multimedia considerations are forcing a blend of traditional emission reduction approaches and innovative methods for waste minimization. These efforts are directed toward full cost accounting of the life cycle of products and residuals from the manufacturing, use, and ultimate disposal of materials. 

El-Halwagi, M. M. (1993). A process synthesis approach to the dilemma of simultaneous heat recovery, waste reduction and cost effectiveness. In Proceedings of the Third Cairo International Conference on Renewable Energy Sources ( A. I. El-Sharkawy and R. H. Kummler, eds.), Vol. 2, pp. 579-594. ... 

A newly emerging concern of chemistry is sustainable development, the economical utilization and renewal of resources coupled with hazardous waste reduction and concern for the environment. This sensitive approach to the environment and our planetary inheritance is known colloquially as green chemistry. Where we s think it appropriate to draw your attention to this important development, we dis- I ( play the small icon shown here in the margin. 

Waste reduction should be geared towards increasing production efficiency in existing industrial plants that is, one must know what is going on inside the factory walls. In-depth knowledge about the production is essential for the implementation of a preventive approach to environmental protection that... 

One approach to waste reduction is to recover process materials for reuse. Materials used in metal finishing processes can be effectively recovered using available technologies such as dragout, evaporation, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, electrodialysis, and electrolytic recovery.22-26... 

Owing to its comprehensiveness, LCA is a powerful tool for comparing different options/products with respect to their potential impacts on the environment, and for identifying the critical points within the product life-cycle that contribute most to these impacts [15]. This approach can be used, for example, for comparing a product that includes ENMs with similar products without ENMs. The added benefits of the use of ENMs may be reflected in the differences in the energy consumption for production of materials or products [29, 30], or in the use of scarce resources in the production processes. In other words, LCA may be used to assess the relative environmental performance of nanoproducts in comparison with their conventional equivalents. Thereby, LCA may also quantify the expected positive potentials of nanoproducts for the substitution of hazardous chemicals, the reduction in the use of materials, and energy consumption, in addition to waste reduction. 

Numerous scholars of the environment have noted several major differences between the way some of the advanced European industrial nations and Japan approach the problems of waste reduction and pollution abatement, and the general approach adopted by the United States over the years, i he European countries referred to here notably are the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany and, of course, do not include the former Soviet Bloc countries. 

Make waste reduction a lasting part of corporate culture. Approach waste-reduction goals today as energy conservation was stressed a decade, oi so ago. 

Multimedia Analysis In order to properly design and then implement a pollution prevention program, sources of all wastes must be fully understood and evaluated. A multimedia analysis involves a multifaceted approach. It must not only consider one waste stream but all potentially contaminated media (e.g., air, water, land). Past waste-management practices have been concerned primarily with treatment. All too often, such methods solve one waste problem by transferring a contaminant from one medium to another (e.g., air stripping) such waste shifting is not pollution prevention or waste reduction. 

In order to explore all waste reduction opportunities in any process, it is desirable to have a systematic approach to consider all the important factors. These factors include the location of wastewater sources, the facility available to reduce this waste, and the determination of its economical feasibility. This requires a team of experts fix>m among management, plant operators, engineers, analysts, environmentalists, economists and the like, who have the following clear goals ... 

In the past few years a novel approach to chemical engineering has emerged. This new way of treating processes is called Process Intensification (PI). Although many definitions exist for PI, the main goal is to achieve considerable size reductions in chemical plants. Consequently a smaller plant will lead to improvements in the field of HSE, energy consumption and waste reduction. Recently an overview of PI incentives has been given by Stankiewicz et al.1... 

ETAD has also launched a waste minimization program at production facilities [S] and has provided advice for reduction of environmental releases from customer dyehouses [6]. Waste reduction parallels the worker exposure approach as an effective means of reducing possible risk levels. 

---