The Ecology of Industry Sectors and Linkages (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Primary Materials Processing
Primary Materials Processing
Pages 27-44
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From page 27... ...
They also use by-products and residues from other industries in their base processes. For example, cement kilns recover energy by combusting waste and use waste (e.g., mill scale, foundry sand, slag, or fly ash)
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From page 28... ...
For instance, the aluminum industry is currently reducing its production of trace polyfluorinated carbon gases in smelting by improving process monitoring and operating practices. The growth in environmental regulations over the last 25 years has been paralleled by increasing societal demand for cleaner industries and improved environmental performance.
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From page 29... ...
Most companies' reports suggest an increased regard for the environment, prompted by the growth in environmental regulations and voluntary and incentive schemes for pollution prevention. The environmental efforts of companies are also driven by economic considerations (such as meeting customer demands)
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From page 30... ...
The incineration industry contends that a wider variety of waste should be steered to incinerators built specifically to handle hazardous waste and that the "less-regulated kilns" should come under greater regulatory scrutiny. The implication of this argument is that boilers, furnaces, and cement kilns are generally operated under less-rigorous environmental requirements than are commercial hazardous waste incinerators.
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From page 32... ...
In contrast, incinerators can take waste with no energy value. Incinerators are also more able to receive and handle wastes of mixed physical consistency, whereas boilers and furnaces preferentially use pumpable waste.
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From page 33... ...
Communication is key to implementing new environmental practices within a company, helps educate regulators and communities in which these firms do business, and engages nongovernmental environmental organizations in discussing the scope and complexity of environmental issues and potential solutions. Alcoa's efforts to take into account community views of the environmental life-cycle impacts of operating and closing a bauxite mine in the Jarrah Forest in Australia (Box 4)
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From page 34... ...
Intraindustry collaborative efforts have also become an increasingly important aspect of environmental stewardship in the l990s. Companies competing in the same industry share common environmental concerns.
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From page 36... ...
aluminum industry is nearing an agreement with EPA to reduce voluntarily by 50 percent emissions of PFCs at their source. As the PMPI sector continues to improve its environmental stewardship, it faces several challenges: · working with regulators to ensure that environmental requirements are based on good science and are economically and technically feasible; · developing mechanisms for working collaboratively with all stakeholders to reach mutually acceptable solutions; and · implementing pollution-prevention practices in the midst of regulations and standards that are still based on a command-and-control model.
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From page 37... ...
Materials for which no useful application has been found are considered "waste." The fate of materials emerging from industrial processes is dictated increasingly by regulatory definition. Pollution control regulations based on the paradigm of linear flows of materials in turn promote linear flows of materials through the economy.
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From page 38... ...
Through this material classification process, annual releases of solid industrial waste from various sectors can be channeled to basic industries such as cement and steel. In the United States, regulatory compliance is a complicated, time-consuming process that diverts attention from more productive environmental efforts.
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From page 40... ...
The PMPI sector faces several challenges in dealing with national and international regulations and standards: complying with regulations that are at times antithetical to the pollutionprevention approach, which is now hailed as presenting viable solutions to environmental concerns; working with regulators to reclassify waste to promote reuse and recycling of materials and energy; · continuing the search for and implementation of pollution-prevention methods under constrained fiscal and regulatory circumstances; and · working with international standards-setting organizations to develop reasonable and realistic environmental management systems. LIFE-CYCLE PRACTICES Life-cycle assessment (LCA)
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From page 42... ...
For example, in a typical LCA, it would be appropriate to consider the pollution that results from extracting raw material for a product or the quantity of solid waste left behind when a product has reached the end of its useful life. What about the energy and raw materials that went into manufacturing the equipment used to extract the raw materials?
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From page 43... ...
PMPI companies are seen by many as environmental laggards smokestack industries belching tons of pollution. This perception has not changed in spite of improved environmental performance by PMPI businesses.
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From page 44... ...
Organizational and cultural change is a fact of industrial life. As PMPI companies face the effects of downsizing, globalization, and reengineering, they confront several challenges: · remaining competitive while adapting to highly volatile business climates that are increasingly influenced by environmental concerns; · developing mechanisms to leverage external R&D resources to offset downsizing of internal R&D functions; identifying ways to use new approaches, such as reengineering, to integrate environmental considerations into organizational changes; and · working with academia to integrate environmental issues into science and .
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