"Clean Manufacturing" is a new way of producing products and services to help reverse our current destruction. Clean manufacturing promotes renewable energy and materials and sustainable product design, meaning non-toxic products and processes.
B TEN REASONS TO PROMOTE CLEAN PRODUCTION
- Our own resources are being depleted, poisoned, and wasted
- Our waste generation continues to increase
- Most of our chemicals are unregulated
- Our transportation systems need radical rethinking
- We offer a dangerous production and consumption model for the rest of the world
- We are all involved in the product chain as workers, consumers, and taxpayers
- We need to set the agenda and push for what we want—not just for what we don’t want
- Clean production supports local and regional production systems
- Building international solidarity will increase corporate accountability
The concept of clean production has been developed mainly by academic scientists, industry representatives and government officials to the exclusion of the public. American activists have been less well informed about international treaty negotiations and US negotiating policy.
C SIMILAR CONCEPTS AND INITIATIVES
S. EPA: Pollution Prevention
They are persistent organic pollutants that were eventually banned from production in most countries in the 1970s. The dyes and chemicals used in the manufacturing process are essentially free of toxins.
A MEASURING AND REDUCING RESOURCE USE AND WASTE
The backcast enabled a discussion of the solutions needed and how quickly they should be implemented. Sustainable forestry involves ending the use of fertilizers, pesticides and non-native fast-growing species.
B EXERCISING THE RIGHT TO KNOW
The campaign increased the dissemination of information about product life cycle issues among architects, local government procurement departments, packaging, consumers and firefighters. Toxicological information: on emissions, chemicals used in production and those in the product itself.
C HOLDING PRODUCERS RESPONSIBLE
Some corporations are recognizing the need to exercise some control earlier in the product life cycle to ensure more environmentally friendly products. Workers' right to know and participation in the processing and recycling/disposal part of the product chain is still an urgent necessity. Consumer campaigns such as Fair Trade, which sources and sells organic teas, coffees and other products in the North that are produced by local cooperatives in the South, have set some of the early criteria for socially just and clean production.
It aims to improve working conditions throughout the global garment industry supply chain by paying attention to the safety of the materials and labor required to produce textiles. SA 8000 is based on various conventions of the International Labor Organization, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. You can contact producers directly through their 1-800 number, as well as through email, fax, phone, and website. Here are some suggestions for questions to ask manufacturers and retailers, for example about GMO food policies. Public advocacy groups can work with other groups to focus on different parts of the same product chain.
The success of the anti-genetically modified food campaign in Europe has demonstrated the strength of the consumer lobby.
D Extended Producer Responsibility
If manufacturers, suppliers and retailers do not have a policy of producing or buying cleaner products and foods, tell them that you as individuals, as shareholders and as coalitions will no longer buy from them.
A Tool for Cleaner Production Design
After all, deposit refund systems on refillable glass bottles are among the earliest forms of EPR. The epicenter of the movement to increase the environmental responsibility of producers remains in Northern Europe. Of the 57 incinerators operating in Germany today, only two or three can meet these requirements.
Impact of the Packaging Ordinance. The law generated a mountain of recyclable waste, the majority of which was exported and disposed of abroad in the early days. A few progressive electronics manufacturers, who can easily meet the criteria, support harmonized legislation to avoid "free riders". The draft directive is a good attempt to move towards cleaner design, but it should place more emphasis on reuse and upgradability rather than recycling. The phase-outs should also include PVC plastic, but the European Union backed down in the face of industry opposition during a previous attempt at car take-back legislation. The EU aims to deal with PVC material under a separate study of the problems of PVC waste from all product sectors.
When these products are thrown away, they contribute about one-third of U.S. mercury emissions each year.
F FINANCING SUSTAINABILITY: ECOLOGICAL TAX REFORM
The results of the German ETR study were consistent with others produced in the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and France. So far in the 1990s, Louisiana has written off $3.1 billion in property taxes alone. 213 million in industrial property taxes owed to Exxon Corporation—in exchange for the creation of 305 jobs.
Louisiana's industrial users also have the lowest energy costs in the nation, while Louisiana's residential electricity customers have among the highest. An elimination of these tax breaks would allow the state to better fund schools and invest in environmentally friendly technologies such as solar energy. Removing tax breaks and subsidies for polluting industries is essential to bring our production and consumption towards sustainability.
Reimbursing tax breaks and subsidies to polluting industries would allow funding for renewable solar energy pilot projects to stimulate the market and lower the cost of solar cells.
G REDUCING CONSUMPTION—SELLING THE SERVICE, NOT THE PRODUCT
Twenty-five years later, during the Carter administration, an attempt was made to revive this practice for the development of photovoltaic cells. At this price, photovoltaic cells were expected to be competitive with electric utilities in many parts of the country. A bill to purchase nearly half a billion dollars worth of photovoltaic cells for federal installations was passed but never came to fruition because the bill was vetoed by President Carter.
The company retains ownership of its carpet tile, making itself solely responsible for its maintenance, repair and eventual recycling. The company has now developed a fully compostable carpet made from natural, degradable fibers that it hopes to put into large-scale production. Similarly, car-sharing schemes have popped up in many cities from Amsterdam to Portland, Oregon, to Montreal, Canada.
The potential of sharing schemes will depend on the ability to market these services as superior to individual ownership.
H Conclusion
See the section on Ecological Engineers and Sustainable P ro d u ct Design in the Clean Pro d u ction C unt a ct L i s t. Chemical bans: Both the Danish and Swedish governments have issued new chemicals policies that will phase out the use of persistent and bioaccumulative compounds and increase the consumer's right to know. oh. For more information (in English), visit the Danish Environmental Protection Agency's website at.
Information on how to order Friends of the Int e r th in Euro p e i o n a l's Sustainable Euro and other publications is provided in the s ect i o n.
Exe rcising the Right to Know
Ultimately, the value of a product lies only in the value of its components. Design for Env iron m e t ( D f E ) - The application of systematic environmental criteria to product and process design aimed at preventing waste and emissions and minimizing environmental or mental impacts throughout the material life cycle of the product. At the micro (company) level, especially with regard to toxic materials use or clean production planning, materials accounting helps the company measure the flow of toxic materials through the firm, the amount of toxic materials generated as a by-product (per unit of product) and the amount of toxic substances contained in the products.
Sustainability indicators - Measures of sustainability (long-term viability and use of resources) of a product, production processes or society. The following groups and individuals contribute to the promotion of clean production. Those working at the product design level to increase resource efficiency and safer material use.
The Center publishes the Journal of Sustainable PRODUCT DESIGn, organizes conferences and manages listservs.
M BDC works with companies on in-depth, multifaceted analysis and synthesis of products and processes to comply with a set of "sustainable design" protocols. M BDC has developed its sustainability index to measure the eco-compatibility of processes and products and advocates a cradle-to-cradle lifecycle approach based on recycling waste. An excellent academic overview of clean manufacturing, focusing on both clean products and clean manufacturing. However, LCAs that we have re-developed to improve product design are increasingly being used to promote the benefits of one product over another.
These groups set criteria for and certify products and services with lower burdens and environmental impacts than comparable products with the same function. Green seal of approval” for products that cause less damage to the environment than other similar products. P Ré markets a popular life cycle assessment software tool available on CD ROM for personal use.
II S D's papers and e-mail conference on sustainable production and consumption are available on the web site.
- Le ather Ta n n i n g C h a i r: Mr Martin van V l i e t
- M e t al Finishing C h a i r: M r. D a r rell Re eve
Notice: Not all information on pollution prevention and cleaner work at the sites of these organisms is necessarily cleaner pro d uct i o n. For the operation of centers or other national organizations for the promotion of cleaning, they operate in 37 zones. The roundtable is the leading pollution prevention network for US state and local initiatives. It provides explanations and information on pollution prevention, process change and clean production. politics.
OE CD published several papers on the comparative analysis of labor force participation in clean production activities. It offers a doctoral program in clean production, as well as training and projects in various disciplines. This is an overview of institutions around the world that include some aspects of cleaner production in their courses.
Clean Production Network C /o Charles Griff i t h Eko l o gy Qendra e Ann Arbor 117 North Division.
