Cleaner Production-A Move Towards Sustainability: Abhilash Vijayan Charanya Varadarajan University of Toledo

Cleaner Production- A Move
Towards Sustainability
Abhilash Vijayan
Charanya Varadarajan
University of Toledo
Cleaner Production - Timeline
 Late 1980’s
 Environmental managers in the U.S. and Europe realized the
importance of pollution prevention at the source
 Stress on reducing waste and pollution at source rather than
treating waste produced
 Combined effort of production, administration and
environmental specialist teams to reduce waste generation
and improve efficiency
 1990’s
 EPA decided on Pollution Prevention (P2)
 National Pollution Prevention Act passed by Congress
 P2 – the top priority for protecting the environment from
pollution
 Established that recycling is not P2 but finding use for
something that’s already waste
 New P2 programs established in many states
 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Paris
made similar observations about the need for Pollution
Prevention
Cleaner Production
 In Developing Countries
 Weak or no regulations regarding treatment of pollution
 UNEP - major resource for Environmental Policy
 Decided on cost effective prevention through improved efficiency
and business management as the means to reduce industrial
pollution
 UNEP called this “CLEANER PRODUCTION”
 Cleaner Production (CP) is the international term for reducing
environmental impacts from processes, products and services by
using better management strategies, methods and tools
 A global movement for improving business performance and a
profitable, cleaner, sustainable future
 CP called Pollution Prevention (P2) in North America
Cleaner Production
is a Preventive Integrated Environmental Policy

applied to the entire Production and Service cycle
Products: Processes:
•Reduction of waste •Conservation of raw materials, Services:
through better design energy, water •Efficient environmental
•Use of waste for •Reduction of emission at source management in design
new products •Evaluation of technology option and delivery
•Reduction of costs and risks
Impacts:
Improved efficiency
Better environmental performance
Increased competitive advantage
Critical CP Factors
 Management Systems
 Ensures right tools are used properly
 Environmental Management Systems (EMS) most common tool for CP and P2
 Other Management systems such as Balanced Scorecard and Balridge Quality
Award are also in use
 Assessments
 To identify CP and P2 opportunities
 Assessments get integrated with the management system as a continual
improvement process over time
 Measurements
 To obtain data on what’s happening in an organization before applying CP and
P2
 Performance indicators linked with the mission and strategy developed
 Accounting tools used for developing the right data
 CP and P2 projects evaluated financially and by risk and impact assessments
Critical CP Factors (Contd.)
 Design
 Product design - ultimate driver for CP and P2 process improvements
 Process improvement follow proper Product Design
 Purchasing
 Critical for CP and P2
 Green Purchasing or Environmentally Preferred Procurement creates
demand for better products that in turn creates better supply
 Reporting
 Public reporting of CP and P2 and social performances
CP Assessments in Industries
 Cleaner Production assessment
methodology is used to
systematically identify and evaluate
the CP opportunities and facilitate
their implementation in industries
 Assessment methodology is useful

in organizing the CP program in a
company and bringing together
persons to be involved with the
development, evaluation, and
implementation of Cleaner
Production measures
Phase 1: Planning & Organization
 Elements important for the successful start of a Cleaner Production
program:
 Management commitment
 Employee involvement
 Cost awareness
 Organize a project team
 Identify barriers and solutions
 Set plant-wide goals
 Effective CP Planning Process ensures

 Selection & implementation of the most cost effective CP
options
 Broader business planning investment analysis and decision-
making (such as capital budgeting and purchasing)

 Cleaner Production objectives and activities are consistent
with those identified in the organization’s broader planning

process
Phase 2: Assessment Procedure
 Source Identification –
material flow diagram with
associated costs made to identify
sources of waste and waste
generation
 Cause Diagnosis –
investigation of factors that
influence the volume and
composition of waste and
emissions generated
 Option Generation –
 create a vision on how to
eliminate or control each of
the causes of waste and
emission generation
 Option generation in turn
considers the following
elements
Technological Good Operating
Change Practices
Change in
PROCESS Product
Changes
Raw Materials
Onsite Reuse
& Recycling
Phase 3: Feasibility Studies
Evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of options
 Preliminary Evaluation
 Options are sorted to identify additional evaluation needs for complex processes
 Technical Evaluation
 Availability and reliability of equipment
 Effects on product quality and productivity
 Expected maintenance and utility requirements
 Operating and supervising skills
 Economic Evaluation
 Collection (regarding investments and operational costs, and benefits)
 Evaluation criteria (pay back period, Net Present Value (NPV) or Internal Rate of
Return) and feasibility options
 Environmental Evaluation
 Determine the positive and negative impacts of the option for the environment
 Selection of Feasible options
 Elimination of technically non-feasible and environmentally insignificant options
 Selection of the right option in case of competing options or limited funds
Phase 4: Implementation and Continuation
Evaluates the feasible prevention measures which are implemented

and provisions taken to ensure the ongoing application of CP
Results of this phase include:

 Implementation of feasible CP measures
 Monitoring and Evaluation of the progress achieved by the
implementation of the feasible options
 Initiation of the ongoing CP activities
Case Study
 Company A is a Drycleaner which cleans over 2500
garments everyday
 Garments are loaded into an Ilsa dry-cleaning
machine, in which they are immersed in
perchlorethylene (solvent)
 Perchlorethylene and soaps dissolve grease and oil
 Solvent is removed and recycled in a still, where most
of it is recovered
 Process produces liquid waste residue which has to
be legally disposed off
Cleaner Production Initiatives
CP: Preventive Practices
First Tier: Source Reduction

 Product Modification
 Input Substitution
 Technology Modification
 Good Housekeeping
Second Tier: Recycling

 On Site Recovery
While a small business cannot apply product modification or input

substitution, Company A introduced the other three CP practices:
 Purchase of an advanced Dry-cleaning machine to replace two old
machines
 Installation of a Carbon Filter
 Variety of Good Housekeeping measures
Benefits of Cleaner Production
 Technology Modification – single dry cleaning
machine replace two machines
 40% reduction in operating costs
 Electricity to clean each garment reduced by
17%
 Negative pressure within the cage prevents
perc fumes from entering the work area

 80% decrease in perc consumption
 Better equipment = Improved Safety
 Improved Worker Productivity due to decrease in

perc emission in work area
Benefits of CP(contd.)
 On Site Recycling
Element Before(ppm) After(ppm)

Perc 2 0.054
BOD 5000 136
Total Grease 50 21
TSS 200 15
Financial and Environmental Benefits
Issue Performance Annual Savings
Old New % $
Perc Cons. (lt/yr) 1440 240 83 3960
Perc Waste (lt/yr) 480 240 50 1080
Per Contact Water 960 0 100 1440
Electricity unit/day 90 75 17 865
Gas (units/day) 250 220 12 540
Maintenance 400 100 75 3600
Increased Productivity 33.5 30 15 13650
Total 23135
Payback Period
Item Purchase Savings(per Payback

Price year) period
Dry-cleaning 62000 23695 2.6 years
Machine
Carbon Filter 800 1440 7 months

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Cleaner Production- A Move

is a Preventive Integrated Environmental Policy

 Assessment methodology is useful

 Effective CP Planning Process ensures

making (such as capital budgeting and purchasing)

with those identified in the organization’s broader planning

Evaluates the feasible prevention measures which are implemented

Results of this phase include:

First Tier: Source Reduction

Second Tier: Recycling

While a small business cannot apply product modification or input

 Electricity to clean each garment reduced by

perc fumes from entering the work area

 Better equipment = Improved Safety

 Improved Worker Productivity due to decrease in

Element Before(ppm) After(ppm)

Item Purchase Savings(per Payback

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