Waste Reduction and Raw material
conservation are the most important functions in Waste Management –
Saves Environment and Money:
A. Introduction - Waste
management has various functions; they are: collection, transport,
processing (waste treatment), recycling or disposal of waste materials;
usually produced by human activity, in an effort to reduce their effect
on human health or local aesthetics or amenity. A sub-focus of waste
management, in recent decades, has been to reduce waste materials’
effect on the natural world and environment by conserving raw materials
used and to recover resources from wastes, i.e., recycle of wastes.
Waste management can involve solid, liquid or gaseous substances with
different methods and fields of expertise for each.
In fact, generation of waste in any industry
is a result of using materials inefficiently. It costs your business
money. The costs of wastes are twofold: first you fail to gain the
desired benefits by using more raw materials and second, you also have
to pay disposal costs for wastes. Apart, environment gets dirtier
causing lot of air, water pollution and other related nuisances.
Waste is also the inefficient use of
utilities such as electricity, water, and fuel, which are often
considered unavoidable overheads. The costs of these wastes are
generally underestimated by managers. It is important to realize that
the cost of waste is not only the cost of waste disposal, but also other
costs such as:
* Disposal cost
* Inefficient energy use cost
* Purchase cost of wasted raw material
* Production cost for the waste material
* Management time spent on waste material
* Lost revenue for what could have been a product instead of waste
* Potential liabilities due to waste.
a. By reducing
waste, you can automatically make your processes more efficient and more
competitive. The benefits of operating your business more efficiently
are clear – including reduced overhead costs, savings in time and money
and increased competitiveness. Better economy is achieved as you save
additional costs for maintaining pollution free environment.
Although you can sometimes use waste as a
resource and save money, it is more efficient to reduce waste at the
point of origination. Waste activities such as recycling and recovery
use energy so the priority should be to reduce waste in the first place.
Businesses that take a strategic approach to minimizing waste are
likely to save the most money. Experience in many countries suggests
that businesses across a range of industries can save about 10 per cent
of turnover by employing waste minimization techniques.
b. Immediate cost-savings can be achieved by:
(i) Reviewing your activities and processes
and making simple changes such as printing or photocopying on both sides
of the paper;
(ii) Designing packaging so that it can be reused;
(iii) Reusing any waste you produce until it no longer has any value and then recycling the materials.
Customers, employees and potential investors
are all becoming more aware of environmental responsibility and failure
to take action could affect your business.
c. You face
rising energy and waste disposal costs, increased legal obligations and
higher stakeholder expectations. In some industries, producers now have
ultimate responsibility for the disposal of their products, not just
their creation. Adopting a waste strategy means that you will be better
prepared for any new legislation for reduction as well as for better
disposal of your products (finished goods and wastes).
The penalties for failing to manage
environmental risks properly can also be substantial. You could
experience damage to your reputation, disruption to your business or
financial penalties.
“Resource productivity”
means extracting the most value from resources, making the best use of
renewable resources and minimizing waste produced. It has the potential
to drive down costs by reducing waste and pollution and will create
opportunities for growth through process and product innovation.
B. Source Reduction of waste – Stopping waste before it starts – way to enhance environmental cleanliness:
Thus, waste minimisation can be defined as “systematically reducing waste at source”. It means:
* Prevention and/or reduction of waste generated
* Efficient use of raw materials and packaging
* Efficient use of fuel, electricity and water
* Improving the quality of waste generated to facilitate recycling and/or reduce hazard
* Encouraging re-use, recycling and recovery.
Source reduction, also known as waste
prevention or pollution prevention, is the elimination of waste before
it is created. Source reduction is decreasing the amount of materials or
energy used during the manufacturing or distribution of products and
packages. It basically involves the design, manufacture, purchase or use
of materials and products to reduce the amount or toxicity of what is
thrown away. Source reduction means stopping waste before it happens.
Because it stops waste before it starts,
source reduction is the top solid waste priority of environmental
protection agencies of many of the developed countries. These
innovations conserve resources and reduce packaging waste, while
continuing to provide performance, value and convenience to the
consumer.
Source reduction is not the same as
recycling. Recycling is collecting already used materials and making
them into another product. Recycling begins at the end of a product’s
life, while source reduction first takes place when the product and its
packaging are being designed. In fact, the best way to think about
source reduction and recycling is as complementary activities –
combined, source reduction and recycling have a significant impact on
preventing solid waste and saving resources.
a. Source Reduction Techniques:
Four techniques of waste minimisation are briefly discussed below:
1) Good Housekeeping- Systems
to prevent leakages & spillages through preventive maintenance
schedules and routine equipment inspections. Also, well-written working
instructions, supervision, awareness and regular training of workforce
would facilitate good housekeeping.
2) Process Change - Under this head, four techniques are covered:
(i) Input Material Change -
Substitution of input materials by eco-friendly (non-toxic or less
toxic than existing and renewable) material preferably having longer
service time.
(ii) Better Process Control -
Modifications of the working procedures, machine-operating instructions
and process record keeping in order to run the processes at higher
efficiency and with lower waste generation and emissions.
(iii) Equipment Modification -
Modification of existing production equipment and utilities, for
instance, by the addition of measuring and controlling devices, in order
to run the processes at higher efficiency and lower waste and emission
generation rates.
(iv) Technology Change -
Replacement of the technology, processing sequence and/or synthesis
route, in order to minimise waste and emission generation during
production.
3) Recycling -
i) On-site Recovery and Reuse - Reuse of wasted materials in the same process or for another useful application within the industry.
ii) Production of Useful by-product -
Modification of the waste generation process in order to transform the
wasted material into a material that can be reused or recycled for
another application within or outside the company.
4) Product Modification – Characteristics
of the product can be modified to minimise the environmental impacts of
its production or those of the product itself during or after its use
(disposal).
b. Importance of source reduction of waste:
(i) Source reduction conserves raw material
and energy resources. Smaller packages and concentrated products
typically use fewer materials and less energy to manufacture and
transport.
(ii) Source reduction reduces releases to
air, land and water. For example, it takes less fuel to transport
lighter weight materials.
(iii) Source reduction cuts back on what has
to be thrown away. That helps keep solid waste disposal costs down,
which is good for municipal budgets and consumers.
(iv) Source-reduced products take up less space, and are more efficient and easier to use.
c. Source reduction is the highest goal in the solid waste management hierarchy - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:
As explained above, by itself, recycling does not address the issue of
wasteful product use. When recycling is coupled with source reduction,
however, wasteful purchase and use of products is minimized. Whenever
possible, reduce or reuse first, then recycle. The practice of source
reduction benefits the environment through reduced energy consumption
and pollution, conservation of natural resources, and extension of
valuable landfill space. It can also have economic benefits by reducing
costs associated with transportation, disposal or recycling of waste.
Plus, source reduction can save you money every day. Everyone can
participate in source reduction. REDUCE OR REUSE FIRST, THEN RECYCLE.
C. Waste reduction in production
process and reduction in use of raw materials gives significant effect
on profitability and promoting cleaner environment:
Waste arising out from production processes
can have a significant effect on your profitability. The challenge is to
reduce this waste without undermining the effectiveness of the process.
The reduction of waste generation also mitigates the wastes disposal
and recycling problem; thereby improving the environment standard.
a. During the
production process some typical problems include the excessive
consumption of energy or raw materials, losses in the production process
itself, rejection at the inspection stage and failure when the customer
is using the end product. In order to reduce waste you have to be very
much conversant with the process. To know where waste is arising, you
need to understand your processes and technology used. To do this, you
could produce a flowchart of your operations. You can then discuss the
process with your employees and get their feedback on where waste is
occurring, and what you can do to reduce it. This approach helps you
focus on the most important areas, with more detailed analysis of the
operation at various segments of the process, if necessary.
b. Common things you might do to improve the efficiency of production processes and reduce waste include:
(i) reusing rinse water in cooling systems;
(ii) regularly checking that equipment is correctly calibrated;
(iii) reducing unnecessary stoppages in the production line;
(iv) upgrading or replacing old equipment;
(v) minimizing spills or leaks;
(vi) using sealed systems to allow all the
waste to be collected in one place, without leakage, so that as much
waste as possible can be reused, recycled or disposed of correctly.
c. An
effective waste minimization program scrutinizes the whole business from
suppliers to product design, production practices to disposal. It will
also enable you to minimize the different input resources, including
water and energy, chemicals and solvents, and paper and electrical
equipment.
Preventing waste from occurring in the first
place is the most efficient solution. Constant monitoring of your
production processes and preventive maintenance can ensure waste is avoided before it occurs.
d. Reduce your use of raw materials at the fullest extent – Given
current levels of consumption; recycling rubbish isn’t sufficient to
tackle the amount and type of waste produced. Waste needs to be designed
out of the system at source, and what cannot be designed out should be
reused.
(i) Developing better “closed loop systems” –
where waste is treated as a resource – eliminates the need for unused
resources and waste disposal.
(ii) If you’re a manufacturer, using raw
materials more efficiently can bring significant cost savings and
environmental benefits. To do this, you should look at all aspects of
your production process, including transportation and warehousing.
(iii)Try to ensure you don’t over-order
materials for one-off or bespoke jobs. Check how you handle and store
raw materials. Even failing to empty all bags and containers properly
could lead to significant amounts of waste.
(iv) Look carefully at the waste you’re disposing of. Could any of it be reprocessed
and put back into the production process? Could it be reused for
another purpose? For example, packaging from suppliers can be reused to
transport your own products. Also, waste water from manufacturing
processes could be reused for low grade purposes.
(v) Another important area to consider is product design.
Are there ways of designing your product so that it uses fewer raw
materials? Try to use materials that have already been recycled or that
are easier to recycle.
(vi) Issues such as raw material use, waste
production, energy consumption and emissions to the atmosphere should be
considered at each stage of the product lifecycle.
D. Suggestions for better waste management:
You can help reduce waste at home by learning
basic waste-saving habits. You can buy products that come in
concentrated forms or products that use minimal packaging. And you can
reuse, repair, recycle, or compost products that would otherwise be
thrown away.
REDUCE
* Buy the largest size package and products that do more than one thing; for example, shampoos that include conditioners.
* Buy concentrated products or compact packages, such as frozen juices and fabric softeners you mix with water at home.
* Look for products with minimal packaging. You will be using fewer natural resources, and you will have less to throw away.
* When you mow your lawn, leave grass
clippings on the ground instead of bagging them. Grass clipping
decompose quickly, adding nutrients to the soil.
REUSE
* Buy reusable products such as rechargeable batteries.
* Pass on magazines, catalogues, and books to neighbors, hospitals, schools, and nursing homes.
* Reuse plastic or glass containers for food storage, nails, and so on.
* Reuse plastic shopping bags, boxes, and lumber.
* Reuse wrapping paper, gift bags, and bows. Use the Sunday comics for wrapping children’s birthday presents.
REPAIR
* Try to repair before you consider replacement of lawn mowers, tools, vacuum cleaners, and TVs.
* Donate items you can’t repair to local charities or vocational schools.
* Keep appliances in good working order.
Properly maintained appliances are less likely to wear out or break and
will not have to be replaced as frequently.
RECYCLE
* Shop for items that are recyclable or are made from recycled materials.
* Recycle newspapers, plastics, glass, and cans.
* If a recycling program does not exist in
your community, contact community officials to see if it would make
sense to start one.
COMPOST
* Compost yard and kitchen waste. Compost makes an excellent fertilizer and improves the soil.
* If there’s no room for compost pile, offer compostable materials to community composting programs or garden projects near you.
E. Conclusion - The
biggest challenges in waste reduction programme lies in sustaining the
process. The enthusiasm of the implementing team wanes off with time.
Such tragic ends should be avoided. Backing out from commitment,
predominance of production at any cost, absence of rewards and
appreciation, and shifting of priorities are some of the commonly
encountered reasons, which one should check and avoid. Also monitoring
and review of the implemented measures should be communicated to all
employees in the industry so that it fans the desires for minimizing
wastes.
WASTE REDUCTION, REUSE, AND RECYCLING
ALLOW US TO USE FEWER RAW MATERIALS AND CONSERVE NATURAL RESOURCES,
PRESERVING LANDFILL SPACE AND MINIMIZING ENERGY USE.
THE IMPACT IS DIFFICULT TO IGNORE.
References:
- http://environmentengineering.blogspot.com/2008/05/reduce-waste-to-save-environment-and.html
- http://environmentengineering.blogspot.com/2008/05/waste-reduction-in-production-process.html
- http://environmentengineering.blogspot.com/2008/05/source-reduction-of-waste-stopping.html
- http://www.portstephens.nsw.gov.au/environment/1278/66508.html
- http://www.admix.com/AudioCardLanding/rework.htm
- http://www.p2pays.org/ref/13/12872.htm
- http://www.o-r-a.co.uk/waste-auditing.html
- http://flgreenliving.com/blog/2008/08/08/waste-management-opens-new-recycling-facility/
- http://www.sustainable-development.veolia.com/en/Articles/Sheffield-waste/
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