Environmentally improved production processes

Abstract

Historically speaking, production rather than consumption has been, and in many countries still is, the major object of environmental concern. Thus it will come as no surprise that more work has been done on environmentally improved production than on environmentally ameliorated consumption. In this chapter we will deal with the possibilities within production facilities for the environmental improvement of their processes so as to implement cleaner technologies. The activities concerned are also called source reduction, waste minimization, or waste or pollution prevention. They aim at production processes which use inputs with relatively low environmental impacts, are highly efficient and generate little or no waste or pollution. In practice, waste prevention or cleaner technology in production has been developed very pragmatically. Changes in production practices which are profitable at current prices and, to a lesser extent, changes which are required because of government intervention, have dominated actual cleaner technology efforts. So far, technically speaking, neither environment-oriented fundamental research (e.g., the development of ‘green chemistry’) nor the concept of sustainable development have had much impact on actual production practices.