WATER SAVING IN INDUSTRY BY CLEANER PRODUCTION

Abstract

According to Cleaner Production (CP) strategy, industrial companies have a number of options for exploring improvements of the water resource management and reducing pollution generation, e.g. input substitution, product/production process modification, optimization of technological processes, improvement of process control, technology substitution. The value of simple good-housekeeping measures should not be underestimated too. This chapter deals with water saving, reuse and recycling in Lithuanian industrial companies by Cleaner Production strategy, which is achieved by applying know-how, by improving technology and/or by changing attitudes. Cleaner Production strategy included the following prevention methods: good housekeeping, input substitution, better process control, equipment modification, technology change, product modification and on-site recovery/reuse. In Lithuania, CP strategy was introduced in 1993. Since then 12 Cleaner Production programmes have been implemented in different economic sectors (three CP programmes were integrated with implementation of environmental management systems). To facilitate implementation of CP innovations that require investments, a special revolving facility to finance CP investments was created in the Nordic Finance Corporation (NEFCO) in 1998. The main objective of the facility is to provide soft loans for the implementation of high-priority CP investments with rapid payback that yield environmental and economical benefits. The results of innovations on water saving and reuse by applying CP methods from 69 companies, representing 12 branches of industry is presented.