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0 INTRODUCTION TO THIS MANUAL

0.1 Aim of the Introduction

The last decade of the XX century brought with it an important change in the way of dealing with environmental problems caused by human activity. This, in fact, was one step further in the evolution of environmental thought (table 0.1). However, if the 1990's had one specific characteristic, it was the progressive introduction of the concept of prevention, that is, of avoiding environmental problems at their source, instead of dealing with already existing problems. Over this long period of time, it was shown that avoiding negative environmental impact is far more cost-effective than correcting it once it has been created. The advantage of prevention has become clear when it has been necessary to make major investments in correcting the impact of earlier activity for which it had been wrongly assumed that there was no cost if environmental effects were externalised (in any case there was no cost for manufacturers who externalised pollution). Within this process of changing mentalities in favour of prevention at source, a significant role was without doubt played by Cleaner Production (CP). CP is the most widespread method of prevention throughout the world in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and this is why it is used in this manual.

The aim of this introductory chapter is to give the student an idea of:

Table 0.1 Evolution of environmental perspectives
PERIOD PERCEPTION OF THE PROBLEMS REGULATIONS, STANDARDS TECHNOLOGY
< 1970 Local problems Local actions Dilution
70s
  • Water pollution
  • Ecological disasters
  • Specific to the medium
  • Discharge limits
  • Polluter pays
  • Treatment after process
  • Energy efficiency
80s
  • Polluted land
  • Ozone layer
  • Acid rain
  • Minimising toxic substances
  • Cross-border agreements
  • Remediation
  • Exportation of the problem
  • Impact modelling
90s
  • Climate change
  • Sustainable development
  • Integration
  • Environmental management systems
  • Prevention, CP
  • Eco-design, LCA
  • Industrial ecology

0.2 Curricular Introduction

Universities educate specialists who, in the future, whether as educators at different levels or as professionals in industries and institutions, will have a major influence on the behaviour of business and society. Universities are therefore responsible for raising students' awareness, providing them with the knowledge they need and training them to use management tools that, when all is said and done, are what make sustainable development possible. Universities have the ability to develop the conceptual framework for reaching this goal. They should play this role in their own areas of training and research, in public information and in helping to develop the appropriate strategies and policies suitable for these objectives.

As part of this task, universities should:

0.3 Aim of the Manual

The aim of this document is to provide the student with an updated idea of the principles and methods of CP, and to prepare them for action in the future. It is aimed at university students and professionals who would like to acquire full training in CP, the most widespread method focused on prevention, or to learn about its main concepts in order to incorporate these into a more heterogeneous view of environmental techniques.

This manual is not intended to be purely informative or to be used as an encyclopaedia. Instead it is intended to be educational in the application of the different methodologies and in the elements supporting these methodologies. It is conceived as a guide to introduce CP to future professionals, using experience gained during the development period of CP.

The manual can be used for self-training or with the help of a teacher who makes a monitoring on the progress of the students. This monitoring is of particular interest for the case studies given at the end of the chapters, because often there is not one but several possible ways of interpreting the conclusions or focusing solutions. In specific circumstances it may even be possible to find a more appropriate answer to the self-assessment questions throughout the text than those given in the document. Tutors can apply their own training and experience to judge whether the students' interpretation is reasonable.

0.4 Scope and Content of the Manual

Like many other texts that aim to provide the results of a wide range of different experiences in the form of a methodology, chapters need to be divided depending on their content rather than by the industrial sector in which the experience may be applied. This would be another possibility for training in CP, that is thought to be less appropriate (and more difficult to apply) in a university context.

Fortunately, as a complement to this manual, there is a large quantity of reference material available that can be applied to almost all industrial sectors, which readers will have to use when they want to apply the methodology. A variety of books and manuals provide detailed descriptions for a specific sector. In addition, lots more information can be found on the Internet.

The manual is divided into the following chapters:

0.5 Document Structure

Each chapter contains a theoretical element with the corresponding table of contents and a practical section including a series of exercises intended to provide a pause for examination and reflection rather than for self-assessment.

In addition, the majority of chapters also contain:

1 PREVENTION AT THE SOURCE AND CP

1.1 Objective

Cleaner Production (CP) is associated with the industry and the environment. Industry is an economic and social instrument of well-being and quality of life, but at the same time industry has led to environmental conflicts. Therefore, it is included in the goals of sustainable development. In many countries CP has been adopted for pollution prevention at the source.

The goal of this chapter is to:

1.2 Sustainable Development and CP

The concept of sustainable development [1], [2] became part of everyday language after the publication in 1987 of the report Our Common Future [3], also known as the Brundtland Report, prepared by the United Nations Environment and Development Commission. The goal of the Commission was to link environmental problems to development problems, combining the fight against poverty with the economy and ecology. The first lines of action for sustainable development were defined in 1992 in the the Agenda 21 [4].

Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Whereas economic growth represents a quantitative increase in monetary units, sustainable development is interpreted as a qualitative growth that prevents the depletion of primary resources and environmental impacts.

It is at the Conference of the United Nations on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, that a first action plan was established for the 21st century, which was called Agenda 21. This global agenda must serve as a reference for governments, enterprises and all kinds of organizations in their search for sustainable development. Agenda 21 focuses on improving the quality of life of citizens while preserving the carrying capacity of the eco-systems that support it. This goal implies an appropriate It is at the Conference of the United Nations on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, that a first action plan was established for the 21st century, which was called Agenda 21. This global agenda must serve as a reference for governments, enterprises and all kinds of organizations in their search for sustainable development. Agenda 21 focuses on improving the quality of life of citizens while preserving the carrying capacity of the eco-! systems that support it. This goal implies an appropriate conservation and management of resources and reinforcing the role of the groups concerned, including the industry. These targets are thoroughly reviewed every five years. Agenda 21 has acted as a stimulus for step-by-step implementation of CP programmes worldwide.

While seeking to define sustainable development, the concept of Cleaner Production (CP) was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1989 as the form of production that requires taking into account, conceptually and in their implementation process, all the stages of the life-cycle of a product or process, with the aim of preventing or minimizing human and environmental risk, in the short and the long term.

1.3 Hierarchy of Approaches to Environmental Management

When the dilution of pollutants in the environment proved to be an unsustainable form of environmental management, end-of-pipe treatments were implemented to eliminate or reduce the problems of waste streams, by treating them externally to the manufacturing process they originate from. Within the hierarchy of approaches to environmental management (list 1.1), waste stream treatments are currently considered the next-to-last option. In order of preference, they come just before controlled disposal.

End-of-pipe treatments are currently viewed as a materially and economically inefficient form of resource management. They can lower the risk associated to waste flows, although they mainly transfer pollution to another medium (for example, the waste from the cleaning of emissions to air is transferred to wastewaters, the treatments of water effluents leave solid waste, etc.).

List 1.1 - Hierarchy of approaches to environmental management
  1. Reduction at the source
  2. Internal and external recycling
  3. Material and energy valorisation
  4. Waste stream treatments
  5. Controlled disposal when there is no other solution

CP allows to prevent or reduce the need for end-of-pipe treatments of waste streams. For example, in the tanning industry, applying a technique of highly spent chromium baths as a CP measure, leads to savings in raw materials while reducing the pollutant load of effluents.

1.4 Definition of CP

UNEP [5] Cleaner Production has defined PNUMA as:

The definition of CP covers a wide scope, although in the nineties it was best applied to existing manufacturing processes and particularly as a programme for eco-efficiency aimed at SMEs. In the 21st century its progression is evident in the product and service areas.

The target of cleaner production is zero pollution, even though all waste is potentially polluting and some waste is inevitable. If it were possible to eliminate all waste, by fully recycling it for example, the problem of cleaner production would be easy to solve, at least in theory. However, although absolute clean production may be impossible to attain, it is a goal, the same as zero emission that leads to a continuous progress in eco-efficiency. This is why the term of Cleaner Production, is used, to avoid the dilemma deriving from the use of the term "clean production".

The continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy applied to processes, products and services to increase overall efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment. CP is applied to:

CP implementation requires a change in attitudes, aimed at guaranteeing responsible environmental management and creating conducive national policy environments and evaluating technology options.

The definition of UNEP has been adopted as such, or with minor differences, in most Mediterranean countries [6]. Only in European Union (EU) countries that associate CP directly with Sustainable Development (Italy) or that equate it with Best Available Techniques (Greece), there is no official definition or unofficial formulation of CP.

1.5 The Origin of CP

1.5.1 "Waste Minimization" and "Pollution Prevention" in the USA

Since the seventies, the need to evolve to more efficient forms of industrial management has spread in the United States. There are examples from those years, such as the 3P programme: Pollution Prevention Pays. Implementation of a minimization program was intimately linked to soil pollution. During the sixties, the use of abandoned wells and ditches was common in most countries, to dump hazardous waste. These were often located near inhabited areas, on low cost sites that were cheap for transport to access. Events like the Love Canal, with unfortunate consequences due to toxic substances that had been buried under areas that were subsequently urbanized, increased citizen concern driving the US Congress to approve the Resource and Recovery Act in 1970, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in 1976.

The RCRA was debated in Congress at the same time as the Toxic Substances Control Act that dealt with the problem of new chemical substances introduced on the market. Possibly stimulated by the high costs involved in the cleaning of soils included in multimillion programmes, the National Research Council, in 1985, and the Office of Technology Assessment, in 1986, recommended waste minimization as a more economical alternative for pollution control. Almost immediately, the USEPA published its analysis of preferred alternatives for the reduction of pollution defined as waste minimization" [7]. For the USEPA, waste minimization refers to any action aimed at reducing the volume or toxicity of regulated hazardous wastes. Therefore, it not only includes reduction at the source but also waste recycling and treatment.

Considering that, as it was officially defined, minimization did not sufficiently prioritize the reduction of pollution at the source, in 1990 the Pollution Prevention Act, was approved in the USA defining pollution prevention as "any practice which reduces the amount of any hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant entering any waste stream or otherwise released into the environment (including fugitive emissions) prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal".

(In the English terminology, pollution is the preferred term to designate the contamination that can produce damages).

During the eighties, the government of Ontario, Canada, also promoted reduction at the source and published an advanced Manual on Industrial Waste Audit and Reduction [8] in 1987.

For the Canadian Federal Government, pollution prevention is any action aimed at reducing or eliminating the generation of pollutants or waste at the source, through activities that aim to promote, encourage or boost changes in the basic performance of industrial, commercial or institutional generators of the community, government or individuals.Pollution prevention includes practices aimed at eliminating or reducing the use of materials that are hazardous or not, energy, water, or other resources as well as those that protect natural resources through an improved preservation or more efficient use.

1.5.2 CP background in Europe

Since 1977, el UNEP, together with the Economic Commission for Europe (EEC), carried out a series of activities aimed at promoting environmentally sound forms of production, defined as low- or non-waste technologies, which were referred to in the eighties at some European events, as Clean Technologies [9].

One of the first experiences of CP in Europe was a waste minimization project carried out in Landskrona (Sweden).

The Landskrona study began in 1987 and aimed to explore the economic and environmental benefits associated with the reduction at the source of effluents and gaseous emissions. In 1988, a study was carried out in Holland, with CP characteristics, called PRISMA. The study concluded that it was feasible in the short term to reduce waste generation, leading to improvements in product quality and to an increase in productivity. Following the success of PRISMA a European project called PREPARE (Preventive Environmental Protection Approaches in Europe), was organized to promote projects in various European countries, applying the CP methodology.

In order to establish a network for the exchange of information and to promote the transfer of cleaner technologies, a group of experts under the auspices of PNUMA in 1988-89 89 recommended publishing a journal called Cleaner Production, which would be the beginning of the dissemination of the CP concept.

The Rio 1992 Conference incorporated environmental, economic and social factors, as a framework for sustainable development. In order to modify the previous patterns of production and consumption, the need was confirmed to develop and transfer cleaner technologies, giving a decided boost in the direction appointed by CP.

In a short time, the CP approach has been diffused by UNEP and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in more than twenty countries of economies in transition (Eastern and Central Europe) and developing countries (in Latin America, Asia and Africa) transferring between the countries, specific experience acquired in various industrial sectors. Simultaneously to UNEP/UNIDO, a programme, some North American and European countries, aware that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) do not always have the means and time required to adapt to the new paradigm, have also chosen to diffuse similar concepts based on their own experience, with a strong incidence in Mediterranean countries.

1.5.3 CP in the Mediterranean region

One of the first CP initiatives developed in the Mediterranean region, was carried out by the government of Catalonia in Spain, in 1991 with the publication of a Guideline for the assessment of opportunities to reduce waste in industrial processes [10]. Later on, after gathering experiences from various sectors, an eco-management methodology was published, that was called:Minimization Opportunities Environmental Diagnosis (MOED) [11]. At an institutional level, the Centre of Cleaner Production Initiatives was created in 1994 later called the Centre for the Enterprise and the Environment, CEMA, aimed at promoting the goals and advantages of pollution reduction at the source among Catalan firms.

Generally, in Mediterranean countries, while there were no specific CP centres, the Ministries of Environment or their Agencies, (such as ADEME in France) along with the environmental associations, Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and Universities, have acted as agents to promote awareness and disseminate environmentally sound technologies, as well as CP understood as the sum of management and technology.

CP centres and similar bodies have been progressively established in East and South Mediterranean countries with Malta and Tunisia as the first countries in the region along with Catalonia, to open centres specialized in CP. There has been a Clean Technology Centre in Malta since 1994, under the Department for Environmental Protection that is located in the University of Malta. In Tunisia, since 1996, the International Centre for Environmental Technologies (CITET) has been promoting and implementing CP very actively, initially supported by USEPA and then through a UNIDO/UNEP, CP programme [12]. Later, almost all the countries in the South and East Mediterranean have established, or are in the process of setting up, CP centres with support from international agencies for cooperation and development, in most cases.

The EU Mediterranean countries generally don't devote any particular effort to CP, as they consider it to be included in the activities imposed by the EU, environmental Directives, particularly environmental Directives, particularly through the IPPC and the Best Available Techniques (BAT) published; there are exceptions such as Spain, where the CEMA in Catalonia and the IHOBE in the Basque country are specific centres for CP.

1.5.4 Basic Principles of CP Sustainability

According to the European Environment Agency EEA [13], the basic principles regulating the CP strategy are:

  1. The Precautionary Principle

    It is explained in Principle 15 of the Rio 1992 Declaration, appealing to the States to implement it as far as possible in order to protect the environment. The precautionary principle establishes that "Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation".

  2. The Prevention Principle

    The difference with the previous principle is basically that when it is known that a product or process is harmful, changes must be made to the cause. Prevention requires going upstream in the production process to prevent the problem at the source instead of trying to remedy the end damage. It also encourages the use of renewable energies and energy efficiency instead of ineffectively consuming fossil fuels.

  3. The Principle of Integration

    Integration implies adopting a holistic view of the production cycle aimed at protecting environment in an integrated way and thus avoiding pollutant transfer between environmental compartments: air, water and soil, while taking into account the entire life-cycle of products.

  4. The Democratic Principle

    The democratic principle involves all those concerned by the way in which the industrial activity is managed, including the workers and the local community. The principle is detailed, for example, in the European Directive EMAS II (of voluntary compliance), concerning issues of communication and external relations and the involvement of workers. The democratic principle also points clearly to the right to environmental information.

The experience accumulated in CP implementation shows that, in manufacturing activities, the best way to introduce principles 2 and 3 is to integrate environmental protection in the production process [14].

1.6 CP and Eco-efficiency

Eco-efficiency is a strategy combining environmental improvement and economic benefits. As such, it allows to achieve production processes that are more efficient while reducing the consumption of resources and pollution (diagram 1.2). Eco-efficiency boosts innovation and competitiveness and can therefore open up significant business opportunities. Its goal is to make economies grow in quality rather than in quantity. In other words, it seeks to increase value with less impact.

Diagram 1.2 CP and Eco-efficiency in Pollution Prevention at the source

The concept of eco-efficiency has been adopted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD, World Bussiness Council for Sustainable Development) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The WBCSD has gone from using eco-efficiency as a simple concept concepto simple (as it did in 1991) to using it as a vehicle to improve the business performance. The WBCSD has acknowledged a parallel between eco-efficiency and CP; both concepts appeared almost at the both concepts appeared almost at the same time and have developed simultaneously through the exchange of knowledge and experiences, leading to their mutual strengthening [15], [16].

For the WBCSD, which is supported by some of the major business corporations worldwide, eco-efficiency can only be achieved if we can deliver goods and services produced competitively, that meet human requirements and improve our quality of life, while progressively reducing the ecological impact and the use of resources to a level that is at least in line with the carrying capacity of the earth.

The OCDE also promotes an eco-efficient approach Opportunities are open to all kinds of enterprises although the eco-efficiency implementation formula tends to vary from large corporations to SMEs.

For the OCDE, eco-efficiency means the efficiency with which resources are used to meet human needs. It can be considered as the relation between the production or services obtained (output) and the sum of environmental pressures generated (input). This relation can refer to either a company, an industrial sector or to the economy as a whole. The OECD studies confirm the CP experience whereby manufacturers have found cost-effective ways of reducing the use of materials, energy and water by 10-40 % per production unit. Likewise, proven technologies can reduce the use of toxic substances by at least 90 %.

For the OECD, there are four areas of eco-efficiency opportunities:

  • Optimizing processes, reducing the use of resources, impacts and operating costs.
  • Revaluating by-products through cooperation between companies aimed at improving economic efficiency while moving towards the zero-waste target.
  • Redesigning products.
  • Innovating products and services to deliver better designs and functions, minimizing their impact and increasing participation in the market.

Large corporations have a series of resources of their own that allow them to incorporate eco-efficiency from an internal perspective and with internal means. This is the big difference with the limited capacity of many SMEs. Thus, CP was organized as a specific methodology aimed at offering SMEs access to eco-efficiency, initially in a few industrialized countries and then, through international programmes, in industrialized and developing countries.

1.7 The Role of Governments regarding Prevention

The OECD attributes to governments the responsibility for establishing a political framework, aimed at reducing the gap between social and private targets and reinforcing the efforts to be applied by companies in order to improve their economic, environmental and working conditions. As instruments to be used, the OECD supports regulations and economic incentives as well as the creation of a climate that encourages innovation and allows to boost new options improving those conditions. The governments must also play an important role in communication, raising community awareness regarding the difference between waste prevention and more traditional activities, such as recycling [17].

As regards the environmental conditions, in the government's options of either requiring the producer, guaranteeing the consumer or verifying the honesty of the message, the political framework developed must strive to:

  • ensure the coherency and consistency of the economic incentives,
  • internalize the costs of environmental damage whenever possible,
  • develop policies that include eco-efficiency as an objective in the planning of soil utilization, technological education and innovation.

For the OECD, CP and eco-efficiency are the instrumental stimuli that have allowed to increase waste prevention efficiency. This organization calls for a governmental strategy that will prioritize waste or materials presenting an intrinsic risk or a significant indirect impact during their extraction, use and management.

A waste prevention strategy focuses on four aspects:

  • A life-cycle perspective aimed at identifying points of intervention with optimum benefits.
  • Evaluating the goals, instruments and assessing the results separately for the different types and categories of material flows.
  • A substantial integration of the social and economic aspects in the debate on the environmental waste reduction policy.
  • Institutional mechanisms to facilitate the cooperation between the traditional structures, aimed at achieving a synergy.

1.8 Case Study: CP in Mediterranean Countries

Since the mid-nineties, Mediterranean countries have shown a continuous progress in the adoption of measures that have either directly or indirectly encouraged CP[6], [12]. centres have been created, or are in the process of starting up in most East and South Mediterranean countries.

This progress has not only been boosted by the national CP centres but other institutions have also participated including, chambers of commerce and industry, universities and other centres as well as some specialising in energy.

Many of these countries are undergoing an industrial modernization process and their public institutions have considered that CP could be a tool aimed at improving the environmental action of companies while increasing competitiveness at the same time, even in those cases in which the environmental authorities have relaxed the enforcement of the legislation. Most countries that have developed or modernized their National Action Plans for Environment, have generalized CP as a key element for implementing sustainable development in the industrial sector.

On the other hand, in North Mediterranean countries there are very few centres specifically devoted to CP, except in Spain, where CP is considered as part of the general programmes adopted by the agents responsible for waste management.

1.8.1 Measures to Boost CP

Most of the Mediterranean countries have approved and regulations with a preventive approach in the protection of the environment, that can include, among other measures, environmental impact assessments of industrial projects, integrated pollution prevention and control, eco-labelling schemes, etc.

Disparities arise in the effective application of the regulations. Differences subsist from one country to another, that can be attributed to various reasons, such as a lack of pressure from the public opinion, insufficient economic and human resources required in environmental organizations, as well as a lack of coordination between these organizations.

In most Mediterranean countries, the number of programmes, initiatives and different tools for CP, promotion has increased, either as a result of the implementation of their own strategies for environmental development and protection, or due to international cooperation.

A large number of initiatives related to CP are aimed at (SMEs), that had previously not been given much attention by the institutions, nor had they participated in sustainability commitments, although this group represents the prevailing productive sector.

1.8.2 Obstacles to CP Implementation

Despite the obvious progress achieved, the efforts of many Mediterranean countries still come up against all sorts of difficulties that prevent the effective implementation of CP programmes. These barriers go from the absence of a collective awareness and ignorance of the advantages of CP to a lack of financial support required for the implementation of efficiency measures included in CP.

Ignorance, associated with a lack of available information, training, lack of experts and dissemination of positive experiences, are the most frequent problems in many countries, and highlight the lack of specialized human resources to boost CP. All this is coupled with a lack of technical literature written in the local language, that particularly affects its diffusion among SMEs.

Economic aids for promoting CP are limited and insufficient. In some countries, the lack of financial support from the government to start carrying out CP assessments in companies can be interpreted as the scarce influence of CP centres in national policies and regulations.

1.8.3 Position of the Companies

In a period in which many Mediterranean developing countries are experiencing a major economic transformation, with a notable trend for privatizing public companies, a deeper governmental commitment is missing as well as institutional support to progress in CP. CP implementation. In most cases, the plans of action for industrial restructuring do not explicitly include any form of CP. Without the necessary administrative mechanisms and, bearing in mind the lax enforcement of regulations, the industry is not encouraged to adopt CP initiatives.

In many cases, a certain fear of innovation has been detected among both top and intermediate management levels. These are examples of the reluctance of companies to change existing management practices and production processes. SMEs, specifically show very conservative attitudes in this sense.

As a result of the scarce capacity of SMEs for calculating costs and the lack of expert support, the managers are not convinced of the direct benefits of CP with regard to their manufacturing procedures.

Moreover, the possibilities of the private sector, particularly SMEs, of direct financial support from banks for specific CP projects, are very limited. The same financial institutions do not have systems that allow to carry out simple economic evaluations of CP projects and therefore they are reluctant to finance them.

The chances of obtaining financial support are remote without prior cost-comprehensive analyses, the implementation of cost-benefit analytical methods or assessment procedures regarding the intangible advantages of the different technological alternatives.

1.8.4 Economic Policies and SMEs

At a macroeconomic level, the international political scenario still does not recognize the complex dependence existing between the environment and the economy, which is necessary to achieve sustainable development. The current National Accounting System is the reference for the main economic indicators which are then used as a basis for preparing national policies and for monitoring their effectiveness.

Politicians, businessmen, the media and even the public concerned, make decisions based on these figures. However, the National Accounting Systems do not take into consideration the depletion or the degradation of natural resources, therefore ignoring sustainable development needs. These lacks are one of the main obstacles to progressing in the internalization of environmental costs and that allow the arbitrary subsidy of the price of some of the non-renewable resources.

Some Mediterranean countries continue to subsidize energy and water consumption industries. The relatively low cost of water and energy is a clear example of the negative effect this has when trying to get the industry to commit to a rational use of the resources; quite the opposite, it discourages savings and even leads to excessive consumption.

At a microeconomic level, problems appear when a potential CP has to compete with other investments required, such as safety improvements or an increase in process quality, if the company does not have sufficient own resources to cover all the projects. Often, and particularly in the case of SMEs, companies do not have the capacity to carry out sufficiently thorough evaluations of their environmental costs.

The company may renounce to investing in CP options, despite their cost-effectiveness, if it has to obtain financing from external sources and the economic conditions are not favourable, which is not at all unusual in the production sector.

The managers do not know the origin of the environmental expenses carried out by the company. As they are not accounted for or recorded as allocations to corresponding products, the managers cannot show when end-of-pipe treatments or waste disposal have a higher cost that the preventive approach. This economical information is lacking at the time of decision-making.

Another financial barrier is the rigid position adopted by private credit institutions, whose decision for financing CP initiatives, does not take into consideration project viability in itself, as this decision is made exclusively on the basis of economic and financial data that the company usually has and that may not be at the same level as the specific CP project proposed.

With the exception of a few cases in which revolving funds are used, that are administrated institutionally to finance CP projects, the situation is far from satisfactory.

In recent years, after acknowledging that project financing was one of the critical aspects for providing a favourable framework for CP, UNEP and other agents involved in boosting CP have devoted particular attention to finding a solution to this problem. The community of CP experts also seek appropriate mechanisms that enable to make these investments attractive to financial institutions. Despite the efforts, it cannot be said that any system has been found to overcome such a critical obstacle.

CP promoters cannot do much on a macroeconomic scale. However, they can be of much help to companies by providing knowledge on environmental accounting. For the aid to be effective, collaboration must be sought from the administrative/accounting departments of companies, supplying procedures of verified efficiency for an analytical cost evaluation and the allocation of environmental costs.

1.8.5 Availability of CP Information

The lack of information has been considered another of the main obstacles for the implementation of CP. However, there are currently very comprehensive dossiers with information on CP and other related subjects, such as pollution prevention and eco-efficiency, prepared by centres such as UNEP/DTIE and the CP/RAC operating on an international and regional scale, respectively. In the case of the CP/RAC, the centre's website contains a variety of information on the application of CP in the Mediterranean region, including a number of case studies (MedClean) undertaken by real companies that have modified their production systems in order to minimise their environmental impact (see, for example, MedClean file no. 6, concerning a case of CP application in the textile industry in Turkey).

In the last few years, a large amount of information, resources and training material covering all the CP issues, has become available in hard copy or on the Internet: handbooks and guides, studies of real cases in most industrial sectors, tools to improve professional activities (ecodesign, green purchase procedures, environmental accounting, etc.), reference manuals on environmental management systems, etc.

the centre's website contains a variety of information on the application of CP in the Mediterranean region, including a number of case studies (MedClean) undertaken by real companies that have modified their production systems in order to minimise their environmental impact (see, for example, MedClean file no. 6, concerning a case of CP application in the textile industry in Turkey).

At present, CP experts can communicate with each other from any part of the world, via e-mail or on forums for experts. The main organizations offer their websites on the Internet, links to other portals on the subject, and links to the best resources on CP and pollution prevention.

Although most of this information can be downloaded freely from internet, many companies in the industrial sector, particularly SMEs, do not have access to Internet. Another backdraw could be an excessive proliferation of information that is not always useful, and can discourage business managers who do not have much time. Another point to be mentioned is the difficulty faced by many companies when the information is not available in their language (most of the information is in English) and is therefore inaccessible to a large section (or all) of the company's personnel.

CP centres and universities can play a very important role in information dissemination and expert training. Unfortunately, the unsatisfactory relationship between universities and the industry is well known. Even in those cases in which a collaboration has been reached between both parts, it is far from meeting the needs of companies. Universities, as training centres for future professionals that will join the economic sector, could play a more relevant role in CP by including its principles and methodologies in their programmes for knowledge transfer.

1.9 Activities

Identify the Targets and Goals of Sustainable Development

Sustainable development involves achieving goals at three levels: biological (ecological), economic and social. Fill in the spaces corresponding to each level with the targets and typical goals listed below [18].

Systems Targets Typical goals
Biological (ecological)
Economic
Social

Targets:

  • Forcing an equitable distribution of resources among the population, including future generations.
  • Maintaining sustainable material and energy flows so as not to overload the biosphere's carrying capacity.
  • Obtaining an allocation of funds in accordance with the consumer's preferences and payment capacity.

Typical goals:

  • Meeting basic needs or reducing poverty
  • Social justice
  • Genetic diversity
  • Cultural diversity
  • Equal rights for men and women
  • Participation
  • Increasing the production of goods and services
  • Biological productivity
  • Recovery capacity
  • Improving equity

Exercises

  1. Indicate whether the following statements are in agreement with sustainable development or not:
    • Takes into account environmental, social and economic aspects
    • Only involves environmental improvement
    • Gives priority to social impact
  2. List in the right order the historic stages of environmental management evolution:
    • Prevention at the source
    • Dilution in the environment
    • Sustainable technologies
    • End-of-pipe treatment
  3. Tick the box corresponding to the correct CP targets:
    • To supplement what has not been achieved by end-of-pipe treatment processes
    • To finance environmental projects
    • To constitute a complete system for environmental management
    • To help SMEs to implement eco-efficiency
  4. Tick the correct statements on the way CP, is applied:
    • It acts on resource consumption
    • It acts on end-of-pipe treatment of wastewater
    • It acts exclusively on product design
    • It helps to identify the most polluting stage of the process

2 CP AND THE ENTERPRISE (SME)

2.1 Objective

Cleaner Production is equally convenient and applicable to any size of enterprise, although the means available for its implementation are not the same. The goal of this chapter is to review the relationships between CP and the enterprise, with special focus on small and medium enterprises (SME):

2.2 Industrial Production Structure

Industrial production takes place in enterprises of very different characteristics, based on:

Even in the most industrialized countries, there are enterprises with very simple structures and functions. At the other end of the scale, there are large corporations with multiple production centres and many companies that, independently from their size, apply modern production processes that are also quite complex.

Modern industrial production processes typically fit into one of the following categories:

  • they use a wide range of raw materials,
  • these raw materials are processed using complex technologies,
  • they are part of production chains between enterprises,
  • they involve specific and sophisticated machinery,
  • their work force is clearly divided into qualified tasks,
  • they require diversified expertise of middle management positions and skilled operators.

Eco-efficiency can be implemented in all kinds of firms. In fact, many firms included in the definition of small and medium enterprises SME often have the capacity to implement innovative improvements that large companies, with excessively centralized structures, do not have.

2.3 What is a Small & Medium Enterprise (SME)?

SMEs generally have features which distinguish them from large enterprises, such as [19]:

SMEs do not respond to a specific definition but depend to some extent on the territory in which they operate which changes over time, particularly with regard to financial factors. A distinction should also be made between small and medium enterprises and micro-enterprises.

If we take as reference the definition of the European Union, (EU), SMEs are companies that have:

  • less than 250 workers, and
  • an annual turnover of less than 40 million euros,
  • a balance of less than 27 million euros,
  • and less than 25 % is owned by a non-SME enterprise.

The small enterprise particularly has:

  • less than 50 workers, and
  • an annual turnover of less than 7 million euros,
  • a balance of less than 5 million euros,
  • and less than 25 % is owned by a non-small enterprise.

A microenterprise can be defined as having less than 10 workers.

2.4 SMEs in the Mediterranean

The relative contribution of SMEs to the environmental impact in the Mediterranean cannot be specified, although it is probably significant as at least 80-90 % of all enterprises are SMEs, their contribution to the total production is important and they prevail in traditionally polluting sectors such as the textile, tanning, printing, and surface coating industries, etc.

In some countries, the availability of industrial land, the demand for cheap consumer products and the abundance of unskilled labour have led to the development of SMEs with a low level of technology within the cities. Many of these enterprises have been favoured by government protection and tolerance, which has allowed them to continue managing their businesses in an inefficient and not very productive manner. In these cases, the development model has led to the appearance of pollution black spots.

In some countries the industry has realised the unsustainability of this model in the long term, recognising the need for pollution prevention or reduction and introducing preventive measures to encourage the implementation of CP programmes. In these countries, the production and consumption patterns are progressively getting better. The role of SMEs in the improvement of environmental impact should be significant to match their importance in the overall industrial production.

Some North-Eastern Mediterranean countries are undergoing economic restructuring programmes as a result of the political reform following the collapse of Communism and the beginning of a gradual market liberalisation process. The end of central planning has led to legal and institutional reform and a privatising process. Although they are not all developing at the same speed, these countries are showing a high level of social commitment and implementing technological improvements that coexist with obsolete and polluting technologies. In this situation, the SMEs have started their own process of development and contribution to industrial production.

2.5 Environmental Performance and Competitiveness

In order to link their processes with the environmental requirements, large companies usually have their own team of experts in environmental management, or sufficient resources to engage the external services that adapt to their extra requirements. On the other hand, SMEs often have a biased perception of what CP is and difficulties in implementing it and converting part of the standards required into a favourable factor.

When SMEs do not devote enough attention and resources to environmental management, they generally allege one of the following causes: lack of time, lack of money, lack of adequate technology. Therefore, their excuses are frequently that their qualified personnel are too busy with other jobs to be able to spend time looking for a proactive answer to environmental requirements, or that their financial resources are aimed at other priorities, or that they are lacking the necessary information to design a strategy of change. In such cases, the excuse given is combined with the perception that the environmental factor only has negative repercussions for the enterprise

Nevertheless many SMEs have a capacity for innovation and flexibility to adapt to present conditions that is higher than for large enterprises. These SMEs can benefit from the fact that the industrial complexity requires decentralized and flexible production systems able to adapt more readily to the waves of changes that the market imposes CP has the necessary ingredients to be the stepping stone for them to advance towards an innovative strategy. On the other hand, enterprises that have a narrow perception of environmental issues, can take the opportunity to become more competitive by implementing eco-efficient measures, thus securing themselves a place in the industrial future.

2.6 Incentives for CP Implementation

The first reason enterprises are given for implementing environmental management including CP is to comply with legal requirements. However, whereas other environmental measures are costly, CP measures are self justifying as they represent a tangible economic benefit or a less evident business performance improvement.

There are many opportunities to adopt CP measures when enterprises are forced to internalize environmental costs after being subjected to some form of the "polluter pays" principle, they must adopt end-of-pipe treatments or pay a waste management firm to take care of their waste.

The financial reasons are often accompanied by other reasons such as the need to preserve their business image, or the liability that could arise from human injury or environmental damage caused by a type of pollution that the public would link to the enterprise's operation.

Therefore, some of the many incentives which can be identified to implement CP, are:

2.7 The Customer-Supplier Chain

There is another reason for certain enterprises to implement a CP programme. Some large enterprises often require SMEs suppliers to have a sustainable policy and performance. Contrarily, an SME may be excluded from the supplier catalogue. More and more, SMEs will will find themselves having to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) that meets with the customer's approval, as integral part of a production chain.(SGA) que satisfaga al cliente, como parte integrante de una cadena de producción.

Adapting to certain requirements from industrial customers and consumers and being able to show an appropriate ecolabel could be as important at present as quality requirements or just-in-time (JIT) supplies. In the same way that the supplier can be requested to have a quality standard, such as ISO 9000, he can also be requested for an environmental quality guarantee, such as an Environmental Management System (EMS) (chapter 3) which includes some form of CP.

2.8 Difficulties in CP Implementation

In return for the mentioned incentives, CP shall have to overcome a series of difficulties for its implementation. In order to bridge the obstacles, these difficulties shall need to be identified and overcome, at the same time as the benefits of CP are explained. There are still serious obstacles in many Mediterranean countries for the implementation of CP [20].

Among of the main difficulties found in some countries, are the following:

On a macroeconomic scale, the international political scenario does not acknowledge the complex relationship between economy and environment, required for sustainable development. The national accounting system, from which the main economic indicators derive, that are used to develop policies and measure their effectiveness, does not take into consideration the depletion of the natural resources or the pollution of the land. Therefore, they do not consider sustainable development nor do they encourage the internationalisation process of environmental costs

Moreover, some Mediterranean countries continue to subsidise the industry's energy and water costs, leading to a lack of motivation for adopting techniques that make a rational use of the resources.

2.9 Characteristics of Enterprises

The implementation of a CP programme is made easier when there is a good perception of the particular characteristics of the company in which it will be implemented. During the initial stage and particularly if the CP simplementation is carried out with an external consultant, aside from the specific details of the company such as address, persons in charge, industrial sector, size, etc., it is convenient to obtain a characterisation of the industry with regard to the following aspects:

2.10 Functional View and Process

There are two main views for an organisation; the functional view and the process view. The classic division of work has led enterprises to set up departments for their organisation. Each functional department contributes to the creation of a product or service through tasks that can be managed separately. However, many activities cross over the borders of the departments with the so-called work flows or processes between departments. Total cost management systems are behind this view of the processes because, amongst other advantages, they allow to assign general costs on the basis of the cause-effect relationship (chapter 4).

The functional view is linked to the company's organisation chart. The resources belong to the departments. The specialized functions are gathered in the departments, which relate structurally with one another through a hierarchy of information. The functional improvement programmes seek to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the specific functions and the departments.

The process view focuses on the work itself, identifying the work elements (processes) that must be developed for the company to function. This way of seeing the company is advantageous in the customer-supplier relationship because it corresponds to the way in which the customer interacts with the enterprise: hiring, quality assurance, reception of products and services, payments and after-sales service requirements. The basic processes are divided into sub-processes, which in turn are divided into activities. A clear understanding of which (work) processes occur in an enterprise will allow the businessman to apply continuous improvement measures and achieve a total and effective management based on costs in activities (chapter 4).

Following are some examples of typical operation sub-processes:

  • product planning
  • pricing of materials
  • procurement
  • planning of equipment and facilities
  • conversion planning
  • quality control
  • maintenance

Example of activities analysis applied to a purchase process of material:

The process view focuses on the work itself, identifying the work elements (processes) that must be developed for the company to function. This way of seeing the company is advantageous in the customer-supplier relationship because it corresponds to the way in which the customer interacts with the enterprise: hiring, quality assurance, reception of products and services, payments and after-sales service requirements. The basic processes are divided into sub-processes which in turn are divided into activities. A clear understanding of which (work) processes occur in an enterprise will allow the businessman to apply continuous improvement measures and achieve a total and effective management based on costs in activities (chapter 4).

Following are the six basic processes [22]:

2.11 Environmental Activity Indicators

In order to see the evolution of some of the key aspects of the environmental performance of an enterprise and easily communicate this behaviour, it is advisable to use environmental indicators [23], [24]. These indicators offer information on the current situation and allow to carry out a comparative follow up of improvements achieved over time. For many enterprises, it may be very important to formally adopt the concept of environmental performance assessment developed as a ISO 14031 Standard [25].

For the OECD, an indicator is a parameter or a value derived from parameters, that points to/provides information on/describes the state of an issue/environment/area in terms that go beyond those directly associated with the value of the parameter [26]. A parameter is a measured or observed property, just as an index is a series of aggregated or weighted parameters or indicators. The analytic framework that is generally adopted for environmental indicators is the pressure-state-response (figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1 Framework for Environmental Indicators: Pressure-State-Response

The assessment of the environmental performance is an internal process and a management tool designed to provide reliable and verifiable information to the management aimed at determining on the spot if the company's environmental performance meets the criteria fixed by the organisation's management.

From a business management viewpoint, the indicators fulfil three basic functions:

The effectiveness of the indicators depends on the extent with which they manage to:

Generally, a group of indicators is adopted--not too many--covering the different environmental aspects.

ISO14001 Standard [27] determines the environmental aspects, such as the elements of the operations, products or services of an organisation, that can interact with the environment, some of the most important of which are:

  • emissions to air
  • discharges to water
  • waste management
  • soil pollution
  • use of natural raw materials and resources
  • other local environmental issues affecting the community

Lowell University has focused on six main aspects of sustainable production [24] to be taken into consideration when a series of environmental indicators is proposed (see case study in section 2.12):

  1. Consumption of resources: reduce consumption of materials, water, energy; use renewable energies, etc.
  2. Waste flows: reduce impacts on the natural environment; toxicity, greenhouse effect, etc.
  3. Economy of the system: environmental costs; faulty refunds, etc.
  4. Workers: accident tax, training, etc.
  5. Products: recyclability, packaging biodegradability, etc.
  6. Social and community development: relations with the neighbouring community, local workers, etc.

2.12 Case Study: Pollution Prevention in Process Industries

For Haas, there is a huge difference between an operational view (how can we improve?) and a strategic view (how can we use that improvement to outdo our competitors?) [28]. Eight aspects of production that are interrelated need to be taken into account. Decisions are essential in these eight aspects of manufacture to achieve strategic improvements. Berglund [29] has reintroduced the eight aspects that Haas identified as the basic aspects and has studied what role pollution prevention plays in all of them:

  1. Product Design

    Products must be designed that are less toxic, less persistent, easier to recycle or to treat. The focus should be on:

    • preventing certain products from entering the environment (eliminating CFCs for example);
    • making them easier to eliminate from the environment (use of recyclable plastic, for example)
    • making them easier to reuse (vehicles that are easy to dismount, for example).
  2. Process Design

    From their experience in Union Carbide, the authors have concluded that prevention in industrial plants advances in stages:

    • Phase I: the first efforts focus on alternatives that are simpler, more obvious and cost-effective; these include Good Operating Practices, waste segregation, simple recycling without treatments. They are applied to the operation rather than to the physical system and have a good economic return.

    • Phase II: operations emerge that are more complex and expensive and often related to equipment modification, process modifications and process controls. This phase can include adding or adapting ancillary equipment for simple treatments at the source, possibly to recirculate materials. These generally offer less immediate return on the investment and require further justification.

    • Phase III: focuses on intrinsic waste (inherent to the basic process configuration), more complex recycling, more essential changes in the process, changes in raw materials and catalysts, or product reformulations. As the payback periods are longer, they are easier to introduce when a new unit or process is developed.

  3. Configuration of the Plant

    Two aspects are particularly important. The first is the complete integration of the plant; that is to say, a plant that can make the best use of all the products and by-products whithin the same plant. It is easier to achieve by extending the concept to a customer-supplier chain. The second aspect is easiness with which maintenance is carried out and to introduce changes in the process.

  4. Information and Control

    In addition to a system which allows optimisation of yields and minimisation of unwanted by-products, a control must be made available of the waste (or of the waste management companies when the responsibility does not end with the delivery of waste to the management firm), to minimise out-of-control situations (with a solid system).

  5. Human Resources

    In order to involve all the workers, their formation and training in the identification of prevention opportunities is important, as well as appropriate involvement and the acknowledgement and rewarding of improvements.

  6. Research and Development

    Four aspects are considered important:

    1. Finding new processes and modifying existing processes
    2. New segregation technologies
    3. Analytical techniques to help identify pollution sources
    4. Support for incremental improvements.
  7. Customer - Supplier Relations

    Waste prevention and reduction are easier to achieve with a close customer-supplier relationship. This includes suppliers of equipments and raw materials.

  8. Organisation

    Support and commitment must come from all levels of the enterprise, which will be organized to encourage team work and interaction between all the personnel. For example, it is to be noted that the accounting department plays a major role in the identification of the best opportunities to acknowledge the benefits of a prevention programme, which is not always borne in mind.

Berglund proposes a group of characteristics from each functional area, implementation aspects and trends related to prevention (and CP) (table 2.1).

Table 2.1 The Eight Main Aspects of Manufacture

Functional area

Characteristics that relate to CP

Implementation aspects they include

Relevant trends that society incorporates

Product design
  • Product complexity
  • Composition
  • Reformulations
  • Toxicity, associated risks
  • Transport means Recyclability, degradability disposal
  • Packaging design
  • Expiry
  • Reduction of toxicity
  • Benevolent, green
  • Recycling
  • Final disposal limits

Process design
  • Automation
  • Work conditions
  • Process complexity
  • Maintenance plans
  • Selection of teams
  • Catalyst technology
  • Generation, use of by-products,
  • Storage
  • Treatments, disposal
  • Minimisation of leaks
  • Community awareness
  • Good neighbourhood relations
  • Access to information

Configuration of the plant
  • Location (with regard to the customer)Integration
  • New view on practices
  • Smaller, more integrated
  • Reconfiguration of operations
  • Reuse
  • Licence restrictions
  • Emission limits
  • Risk assessments

Control and information systems
  • Electronic data
  • Computer integration
  • Waste follow up
  • Process monitoring

Public access to electronic data

Human resources
  • Training
  • Motivation
  • Recompense
  • Convince the personnel that CP is a priority
  • Forms of management

Awards for proactive enterprise

Research and development
  • New developments
  • Catalysis, separations
  • Pilot plant tests
  • Alternatives with CP
  • Integration introduced in R+D
  • Use of by-products
  • University-enterprise relationships
  • Academic CP training

Relations with suppliers and customers
  • Outsourcing
  • Sharing
  • Joint ventures
  • Lyfe-cycle management
  • Mutual information

Assessment of complete life-cycle

Organisation
  • Economic study
  • Strategic goals
  • Strategic management
  • Top Management support
  • Corporate environmental view
  • Extra economic factors
  • Team work
  • Social costs
  • Government Aid
  • Inter-industry support groups

2.13 Activities

Exercise 1

  1. Check which of the following are likely to be SMEs:

    • Brewery
    • Car factory
    • Manufacture of shock absorbers for cars
    • Car repair shop
    • Petrochemical plant
    • Shoe repair

  2. Check whether the following conditions are likely to help or hinder the implementation of CP in an enterprise:

    • Supplies parts to an car factory
    • Has no competitors in the same geographical area
    • Is dynamic and wants to be stronger in the future
    • Survives and has no other goals
    • Seeks competitive advantages
    • Personnel is very classic and old-fashioned
    • Has a high waste flow management cost
    • Process yields are lower than its competitors' yields
    • Is not very technically-oriented.

  3. Which of the following words describe more appropriately the functional concept or the process view:

    • Engineering
    • Approval of drawings
    • Purchase department
    • Inspection of equipment
    • Financial assessment
    • Maintenance department
    • Drawing files
    • Preparing a specification.

Exercise 2: Indicators of Sustainable Production

Velleva & Ellenbecker [7] propose a set of de 22 basic indicators of sustainable production associated with the following aspects:

  • Use of materials and energies
  • Natural environment and human health
  • Economic yield
  • Community development and social justice
  • Workers
  • Products

Group into one of the 6 aspects each of the 22 following indicators:

  • Costs associated with environmental, health and safety compliance
  • Energy consumption (total and per production unit)
  • Percentage of biodegradable containers
  • Number of collaborations with the local community
  • Acidification potential (gases to air)
  • Kilos of persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic substances used
  • Percentage of workers who are fully satisfied with the work
  • Average training hours of personnel
  • Percentage of products with an active return policy
  • Water consumption (total and per production unit)
  • Number of workers per production unit/euro of sales
  • Consumption of materials (total and per production unit)
  • Personnel rotation (or average time on station)
  • Rate of customers complaints and/or of refunds
  • Ease of access to decision processes for interested parties
  • Rate of improvement suggestions made by the workers (quality, social, environmental, safety and hygiene)
  • Kilos of general waste before recycling (total and per production unit)
  • Percentage of profits assigned to social expenditure
  • Percentage of energy from renewable energies
  • Working days lost due to work accidents or illnesses
  • Percentage of products designed for reuse, recycling or dismounting
  • Global warming potential (equivalent to tonnes of CO2)

Identification of the Distinguishing Features of an Industry

Although the person implementing the CP programme is not usually a specialist in business management, he must assess the possibilities and difficulties that he can come across when making an assessment. When dealing with SMEs he/she will not need sophisticated business management theories but rather training in identifying the distinguishing features of the industry where CP is to be implemented.

For en la CP training, access to a nearby industry is ideally recommended to make a list of the most common details and relevant features such as:

  • Industrial sector to which the enterprise belongs
  • Size of enterprise (personnel, market, capital, etc.)
  • Origin and background
  • If the enterprise belongs to any business groups
  • Production variety
  • Technological level
  • Vertical integration of processes
  • Reliance on external consultants
  • Internal and external forms of communication
  • Participation of personnel in the decision organs, etc.

In a more advanced technological evaluation of the enterprise, other information may be of interest such as:

  • Degree of automation
  • Equipment intended for a single purpose
  • Flexibility of operation changes
  • Fixed operating sequences
  • Delay times between operations
  • Intermediate stocks between operations
  • Process reliability, etc.

3 CP AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

3.1 Objective

In the framework for a sustainable development, several approaches have been promoted to seek improvement, that are related to eco-efficiency and CP. Some of them are more intended for reflection or being used as indicators of how (un)sustainable a development is (material flows, factor 4, ecological footprint, etc.). Others are tools or strategies aimed at improving the use of the resources, from the planning of systems and products to the decision-making, either by the manufacturer or from the consumer's viewpoint (industrial ecology, ecodesign, life cycle assessment, etc.). The latter can find a place within the general framework of an Environmental Management System (EMS) that every enterprise should have [30] and [31].

The objective of this chapter is to:

3.2 Environmental Management Systems (EMS)

3.2.1 Definition

The environmental management system (EMS) (table 3.1) is a systematic and structured way of managing the environmental aspects of an enterprise. The EMS can be specific to an enterprise or adapted to international regulations.

3.2.2 ISO 14000 Standards

During the nineties, the incorporation of EMSs in the enterprises was standardized through a series of international regulations for environmental management, published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and grouped under the ISO 14000 standard [32]. The purpose of these standards is to promote environmental management in enterprises, the same as with quality management that was promoted by the ISO 9000 regulations.

In 1996, the first issue of the ISO 14000 standards was published. ISO 14001 Standard specifies the requirements of an EMS to allow an organization to formulate a policy and goals, taking into consideration the legal requirements and information concerning significant environmental impacts, but it does not establish specific action criteria.

This international standard can be applied by any organization that wishes to implement, keep up to date and improve an environmental management system.

Series of ISO 14000 Standards on Environmental Management
ISO 14001 Environmental management systems: specifications and directives for use
ISO 14004 Environmental management systems. General directives on principles, systems and support techniques.
ISO 14010 Environmental audit directives. Basic principles
ISO 14011 Environmental audit directives. Audit procedures. Auditing environmental management systems.
ISO 14012 Environmental audit directives. Qualification criteria for environmental auditors.
ISO 14031 Environmental management. Environmental performance assessment. Directives
ISO 14041 Environmental management. Life cycle assessment. Definition of the purpose and field and inventory evaluation.
ISO 14050 Environmental management. Glossary.

The implementation stages of the ISO 14000 standard are:

  1. Environmental Policy

    The standard requires that the organization define an environmental policy that must be supported and approved at executive management level and communicated to the personnel of the organization and all the parties involved.

    The environmental policy includes the commitment to continual improvement and pollution prevention, as well as a commitment to comply with the environmental law and regulation applicable.

  2. Planning

    The ISO 14000 standard does not specifically include an initial revision although it is common to have carried it out to allow to decide on the convenience of improving the internal recirculation rate, or to switch to an internal or external recycling process. On this basis, the planning stage of the standard involves:

    • Establishing and promoting a procedure, to identify and evaluate the environmental aspects.
    • Establishing and maintaining objective documents and environmental goals, taking into consideration significant environmental aspects, their technological options and financial, operating and business requirements. The above mentioned environmental policy must be determined in specific goals that will be quantified insofar as possible.
    • Establishing and promoting a programme to achieve the goals.
  3. Implementation and Operation

    This stage requires defining the structure and responsibilities of the environmental management system.

    One of the mainstays of correct implementation of the EMS is a fluid communication, as well as awareness and training of all the personnel in the organization.

    Procedures must be developed to promote communication between the different levels and functions of the organization and to receive, document and answer these communications with the parties involved.

    It is also necessary to document and identify all the operations and activities associated with any significant environmental aspects, to establish the corresponding operational control.

    Lastly, this stage must also include and promote emergency plans and response capacity aimed at preventing and reducing possible environmental impacts that may be linked to these.

  4. Verification and Corrective Action

    Once the system has been implemented, the organization must establish mechanisms for following up and measuring operations and activities that could have a major impact on the environment.

    The organization must establish and update procedures to define the person responsible and authorized to control and look into the non-compliances and carry out actions leading to the reduction of impacts or any corrective and preventive actions required.

    Lastly, the organization must establish and update programmes and procedures aimed at verifying that internal audits are performed regularly of the environmental management system.

  5. Management Reviews

    The management of the organization must review the environmental management system, at regular intervals, that are adequate to guarantee its efficiency and suitability. The review will be mor