Chapter 14 - Environmental aspects in dairy processing

Abstract

Corporate environmental management has emerged as a global trend in the face of sustainable development and more stringent environmental regulations. Industries from different sectors have adapted this new scenario, including the dairy sector. Dairy production is an industrial activity with high consumption of natural resources, with great potential to generate impacts on the environment. In this context, the dairy sector has adopted environmental management instruments aimed at improving the environmental performance associated with the production process. Among the instruments, Cleaner Production (CP) strives for production process efficiency, reducing the use of natural resources and minimizing the environmental impacts associated with the industrial processes, leading to environmental, economic, and social gains. Thus this study aims to presents the CP instrument and the methodology necessary for its implementation. Based on the dairy industry production process the main environmental aspects and environmental impacts are highlighted. To control the consumption of energy and water, other inputs, waste generation, emissions, and effluents discharges, the dairy industries have adopted opportunities for using CP aimed at minimizing the environmental impacts. Such measures include the reduction of water and energy consumption, pollutants in wastewater and effluents, and gaseous pollutant emissions, as well as the use of cleaner fuels and the use of whey in the production of other dairy products (recycling). Finally, some opportunities are suggested for CP in the dairy industries.