The last 50 years have taught us that the introduction of new approaches can only be accelerated if supported from the top and treated by captains of industry as strategic, so that projects with sufficient resources and priority are put in place.
I have been developing Industrial Environmental Management as a part of Sustainable Development. One of the most relevant concepts to this field is Cleaner Production, even more so than Industrial Ecology, introduced by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1989. It is the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy applied to processes, products and services to reduce risks for humans and the environment.
It applies to:
- production processes: conserving raw materials and energy eliminating toxic raw materials and reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and wastes
- products: reducing negative impacts along the life cycle of a product from raw materials extraction to its ultimate disposal
- services: incorporating environmental concerns into designing and delivering services
My research suggests environmental problems may be traced to modern science and applied technology; clearly the effects of manufacturing processes and manufactured products on eco-systems are hugely significant. In future there will be significant new technologies invented which will lead to improvements in Environmental Management in industry, however, in working with major manufacturers I found there are already a sufficient number of concepts, systems and technologies which are capable of being rapidly deployed in an economic manner.
Sustainability and Cleaner Production will continue to evolve and gain strategic importance with operations management, engineers and environmental specialists. The last 50 years have taught us, however, that the introduction of new approaches can only be accelerated if supported from the top and treated by captains of industry as strategic so that projects with sufficient resources and priority are put in place.
Major improvements can be achieved provided the will exists.
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How can we ensure that the will exists?
I would be interested to know what you think is the best method to encourage the captains of industry to want to behave in cleaner, more sustainable ways?
What are some of the more exciting new systems which are being deployed? And what do you think was the crucial factor that saw them implemented? Does regulatory pressure or market pressure exert greater force at the moment?
Sally Rose
Industrial Environmental Management
Sally you are asking some pretty heavy questions. My experience with senior executives is that they are not averse once they understand the issues and the process. The difficulty lies in getting their attention.
There is no shortage of technologies. For example, one of the most effective new approaches is Design for the Environment. It elevates product design to its proper status. They way in which we design our products and services affects every stage of the life cycle from material extraction through to diposal and reuse.
As for motivation, there are a range of drivers. Regrettably legal coercion seems to be the most widely used. There are however many intelligent leaders who understand that being environmentally responsible is good business and is highly regarded by all stakeholders of an organisation. Other drivers include scarcity of materials, competitive activity, risk reduction, corporate citizenship and the appreciation of the importance of Sustainability for our civilisation.
Cleaner production will support healthier people
Andrew Aschner's post calls our attention to aspects of sustainability that are not top-of-mind for most people, given the obvious imperative of global warming. Yet the fact is that most of us have a cocktail of poisonous chemicals in our blood stream, male sperm counts are falling, and cancer affects more young people at an earlier age - albeit at low rates. Australian of the Year epidemiologist Fiona Stanley talked about worsening health statistics for children across Australia and how this affects mental functioning. Slowly, insidiously, we are doing ourselves in.
Therefore improving industrial design practices along the lines that Andrew Aschner is expert in should be a top priority if we want to evolve a viable society. And as Andrew points out, we know how to do it. I especially recommend Amory Lovins' highly readable Natural Capitalism (1999) to get a vivid overview of what's possible. Lovens et al describe in detail the design practices that can reduce energy use and material throughput by 90% or more in fields as diverse as architecture, agriculture and industrial manufacturing. The investment in thinking required to achieve this has a huge multiplier effect in long-term profitability.
Andrew's contribution is to show how to introduce these ideas in a practical way into the planning process at every level.
Yours for a world that works,
Andrew Gaines
Alliance for Sustainable Wellbeing
Accelerating the transition to a viable society
(02) 4782-200
andrew.gaines@alliance-for-sustainable-wellbeing.com
www.alliance-for-sustainable-wellbeing.com
Paying for services used
I think companies should pay for the disposal of their product. Often disposable things are cheap because the price doesn't factor in the cost of storing the non-biodegradable product in a tip for the next 600 years -- if the companies had to pay "rent" on that it would more accurately reflect the cost of producing the product. The price would get passed on to consumers, and apart from making the disposable product less economically attractive the cost of the garbage dumps would be borne by those who use them the most: At the moment someone who throws out one bag of rubbish a month pays the same as someone who throws out 10 bags of rubbish a month. Implementing a "cost of waste storage" into the equation will also reduce unnecessary packaging.
I think this would fall under the "reducing negative impacts along the life cycle of a product from raw materials extraction to its ultimate disposal" part of Aschner's suggestions.