Pollution Prevention Basics
Pollution prevention, also known as P2, is about avoiding the creation of pollution and waste, rather than trying to clean it up or manage it after the fact.
Environmental Protection Hierarchy
Traditionally, waste has been managed through treatment, recycling, control equipment, and landfilling. These are often referred to as "end-of-pipe" processes. These solutions cost money, and are sometimes not environmentally sound. P2 involves determining where waste is generated to identify how best to eliminate or reduce it at the source.
Effective pollution prevention requires a different approach to the design and operation of mines, farms, manufacturing plants, refineries, transportation systems, parks, and any other facility that can potentially create waste and pollution. The implementing of pollution prevention may vary from sector to sector, but generally, techniques and practices focus on these areas:
- substances of concern;
- efficient use and conservation of natural resources;
- material and feedstock substitution;
- product design/product reformulation;
- process changes;
- reuse and recycling on-site;
- purchasing techniques;
- equipment modifications; and
- operating efficiencies/clean production
Pollution Prevention as Defined in Canadian Policy and Law
Product or Service Changes
Example: Replace environmentally-harmful product/service with environmentally-responsible product/service
There is no real limit to the opportunities to practise pollution prevention, and scientists and engineers are constantly developing new technologies that enable humans to minimize their impact on the Earth and its natural systems. Switching to renewable energy sources to heat our homes and power our vehicles is only one way that cleaner technology can prevent pollution.
Product of Service Improvements
Example: Redesign or reformulate product/service to make more environmentally-responsible throughout life cycle e.g. extend product life, design for reuse
Product reformulation can be similar to raw material substitution, because redesigning a product's content may involve switching to new ingredients. The category, however, also includes reducing packaging, or reducing the amount of "ingredients" that go into a finished product. Reducing the amount of ingredients conserves not only resources but also energy. In addition, product redesign can involve extending the product's lifespan, or enabling it to be completely recycled into a new product.
Process or Technology Improvements
Example: Redesign process or change technology, to make more efficient use of materials or to avoid/minimize generation of pollutants/waste
This method of preventing pollution can involve reducing the total materials and energy used to manufacture a product. After an analysis of a manufacturing process or service, it may be decided that one or more steps could be reconfigured, reduced, or eliminated without compromising the integrity of that product or service.
Input or Raw Material Changes
- Minimize raw material use
- Minimize water use
- Minimize energy use
- Change purchasing practices/specifications to substitute environmentally preferable material (including less toxic substances)
Any time that people conserve water or energy, they prevent pollution. Cutting down on water use leads to a reduction in the amount of effluent that must be treated at a sewage treatment plant, which requires energy. Cutting down on energy use can reduce the burning of fossil fuels, either in combustion engines or in coal-fired electric generators. So, by cutting down on the amount of water and energy that we use in our daily operations, we can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases and particulate matter that is released into the atmosphere.
Some commercially available products contain toxic ingredients, as indicated by warning labels. Once those products leave our homes through drain pipes or in garbage bags, they can be released into water systems or leach into soil. To the extent we are able to replace toxic ingredients with non-toxic ones; we can prevent pollution of air, water, and soil.
- Optimize operating efficiency, scheduling
- Improve maintenance procedures
- Change inventory/purchasing practices to reduce waste
- Improve housekeeping practices
- Avoid/minimize losses/leaks/spill
If a manager takes the time to inform and educate his or her staff on environmental issues, it allows the staff to monitor their own behaviour and practise pollution prevention while carrying out their own individual duties. For example, employees can learn to prevent spills and leaks, to turn lights and equipment off when they are not being used, or to cut down on the amount of paper used in an office setting.
Traditional Pollution Control and Waste Management
Reuse or Recycling (possibly preceded by control or containment)1
- Reuse materials on-site
- Close process loops
- Recycle materials on-site
- Off-site reuse of waste/by product materials
- Waste exchange
- Off-site recycling, reprocessing, material recovery, reclamation
Example: Combustion of wastes/by-products for energy value, e.g. municipal waste incineration, landfill gas power generation
Treatment or Destruction (possibly preceded by control and containment)1
- Biological treatment, including municipal sewage treatment
- Physical treatment
- Chemical treatment, e.g. neutralization, stabilization
Disposal (possibly preceded by control and containment)1
- Secure disposal, storage, encapsulation
Reclamation or Mitigation
- Site/soil remediation
- Ecosystem restoration
- Impact mitigation, increased health care requirements
What are the benefits of practicing pollution prevention?
Pollution prevention can be beneficial to all aspects of the environment, including the species that live within it.
Some examples of the benefits of pollution prevention are:
- minimizes or avoids the creation of pollutants;
- avoids the transfer of pollutants from one medium to another;
- accelerates the reduction and/or elimination of pollutants;
- minimizes health risks;
- promotes the development of pollution prevention technologies;
- uses energy, materials and resources, more efficiently;
- minimizes the need for costly enforcement;
- limits future liability with greater certainty;
- avoids costly cleanup in the future; and
- promotes a more competitive economy.
1 e.g. precipitation, scrubbing, baghouses, cycloning, screening, setting, filtration, dewatering, berming, shrouding, sumps, on-site spill cleanup, etc.
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