Definitions of terminologies
- Wastes – Resources at wrong place in wrong form
- Environmental Pollution – It is throwing away of part of resources, introduction of harmful substances or pollutants into the natural environment.
- Cleaner production – Continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes, products and services to increase efficiency and reduce the damage and risk to human and environment.
Optimization area of the clear production –
- Source reduction – minimizing waste of resource at the point of generation.
- Resource recovery – converting unavoidable wastes to products with economic value
- Product redesign – innovation and creativity.
The specific goals of Cleaner Production
Production efficiency – By improving the productivity using natural resources, enterprises can reduce the cost and increases their profits, reduce the waste and optimize their product.
Environmental management – aim to minimize the impact of industries activities to environment, reducing hazardous materials, conserving resources, minimizing the wastes.
Human development – reduce risk to workers, consumers, promoting the sustainable development of the communities
National Cleaner Production Centres (NCPCs)
UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and UNEP (UN Environment Programme) create NCPCs (National cleaner production centres)
Prerequisites for success of Cleaner Production
- Top management commitment
- Involvement by everybody
- An organized approach
- Be flexible and open minded
- Be innovative and creative
Cleaner Production Assessment Methodology (CPAM)
- Start – getting started
- Analyze – Analyze process steps, generate the CP (Cleaner Production) opportunities
- Improve – Select CP opportunities, implement the CP solutions.
- Integrate – Sustain CP solutions.
Getting started
- Understand the organization
- Top management commitment
- Awareness for all
- CP Team
- Training for CP Team
- Initial walkthrough
- Audit focus
Process Analysis
- Process steps
- Process flow diagrams
- Resource flows – Inputs & outputs
- Quantification of resource flows
- Costing – Loss of economic value
- CP Potential
- Input = Output+losses
- Losses = discharges & emissions, degraded materials, low value outputs, rejects,defects
Cleaner Production techniques
- Good housekeeping – regular maintenance of equipment, proper storage of materials, and remove unnecessary items.
- Input substitution – replacing materials, chemicals with less hazardous or more environmental friendly.
- Better process control – minimize waste and increase efficiency
- Product Modification – Modification using recycled materials, reducing packaging reduce waste and more environmental friendly
- Equipment modification – modifying or upgrading equipment to improve efficiency and reduce waste generation, e.g. installing energy-efficient motors
- Technology change – update the technologies for improve efficiency and reduce waste generation
- On-site recovery/ reuse – recycling wastes, water, materials, reuse the wastes heat.
Cleaner Production Options
Screening –
- Direct implementation,
- Rejection
- Need feasibility evaluation
Feasibility evaluation –
- Financial feasibility
- Technical feasibility
- Environmental feasibility
Low hanging fruits –
- No cost options
- Low cost, short term
Investment oriented –
- Medium cost – medium term
- High cost, long term
Implementation planning
- Conducting a big cleaning day
- Sorting out all items and labeling
- Preparing suitable infrastructure.
- Placing all items in right order
- Progress evaluation
- Reimplementing with the changes
Sustaining Cleaner Production
- Set up organizational structure for CP
- Employee investment through training
- Long term CP strategies and policies
- Integration into technical development
- Involve floor level employees
- Get positive result by small changes
- Informed all about positive results.
- Share the benefits.