The evaluation of Cleaner Production performance in Lithuanian industries

The analysis of the Cleaner Production (CP)/pollution prevention concept application in Lithuanian companies demonstrates a number of opportunities in waste minimization and pollution prevention areas aimed at sustainable development.To compare the efficiency of various CP methods and to identify the preventive methods with the highest energy saving possibilities in different Lithuanian sectors of the economy the database “The implementation of Cleaner Production in Lithuania” was used. This database was developed in line with CP implementation methodology and contains technical, environmental, economic and financial information on implemented CP innovations in Lithuanian companies during the last decade. In addition, several applicable CP innovations are described in case studies.     

Re-considering product design: a practical “road-map” for integration of sustainability issues

The proliferation of sustainability assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools has created confusion about pathways forward for companies. It is unclear how existing approaches are complementary or distinct. How does a company assess current products and materials? How could designers create more sustainable products? What criteria, principles, approaches, and tools should be applied? Why? Is there a practical “road map” to guide product designers and product development managers in integrating sustainability issues into their decision-making processes?This article builds on previous frameworks for understanding the interconnections between various assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools related to industrial ecology, human and labor rights, and corporate social responsibility [Waage S, Geiser K, Irwin F, Weissman A, Bertolucci M, Fisk P, et al. Fitting together the building blocks for sustainability: a revised model for integrating ecological, social, and financial factors into business decision-making. Journal of Cleaner Production 2005;13(12):1117–206; Robèrt K-H, Schmidt-Bleek B, Aloisi de Larderel J, Basile G, Jansen JL, Kuehr R, et al. Strategic sustainable development—selection, design and synergies of applied tools. Journal of Cleaner Production 2002;10(3):197–214; Robèrt K-H. Tools and concepts for sustainable development, how do they relate to a framework for sustainable development, and to each other? Journal of Cleaner Production 2000;8(3):243–54]. Expanding on past work, this piece suggests a “road map” for application by product designers and product development managers. A four-phase process is offered for integrating systems and sustainability perspectives into product design, manufacturing, and delivery decisions.     

The ENVIROCARE CD-ROM—cleaner production training for vocational students

Environmental awareness raising, education and training, on a wide scale, are required to ensure societal adoption of sustainable development. ENVIROCARE, an interactive multimedia educational CD-ROM, has been developed by a transnational partnership to provide such environmental education for vocational students. The programme, available in English, Dutch, German and Portuguese, is designed to provide training for students to show the impact that industry can have on the environment and how they can reduce such impacts when they enter the workforce, by implementing the concepts and approaches of Cleaner Production. The paper describes the development of ENVIROCARE, its contents and structure, the lessons learned in its creation and future challenges.     

Fitting together the building blocks for sustainability: a revised model for integrating ecological,social, and financial factors into business decision-making

Companies committed to integrating sustainability concerns into product decisions are confronted with the daunting task of assessing hundreds, or thousands, of materials and goods. Further complicating efforts have been the rapid growth of environmental and social assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools. The lack of clarity on how existing approaches are complementary or distinct has resulted in ambiguities about pathways forward for companies. This current state of the field highlights the need to draw out interconnections between the wide range of current work on integrating environmental and social issues into material, product, and other business decisions.This article—developed through collaboration among several environmental, social, and sustainability-oriented researchers and practitioners—addresses this need through building upon pre-existing work [J. Cleaner Prod. 10(3) (2002) 197; J. Cleaner Prod. 8(3) (2000) 243]. It proposes adaptations on a framework for organizing the assessment field, including development of exemplary sustainable product characteristics and their inclusion in a “strategic sustainable development” decision-making model and process [J. Cleaner Prod. 10(3) (2002) 197]. The article also argues for an expansion of analytical approaches within this previously developed framework in order to highlight social aspects of sustainability and landscape-level issues. Finally, the article puts these elements together to describe a pathway forward for companies. In the conclusion, areas for future research are highlighted.     

The need for global coordination in sustainable development

Natural resources are being depleted at faster rates than ever; this highlights the need for global audits and actions to reverse the depletion. Coordinated efforts by various organizations are essential to quantify reserves and demands in such audits in order to enable the development and implementation of strategies for sustainable recovery, usage, and recycling of natural resources. This paper discusses such audits in several industries and puts forward analytical and technical methods and policies for sustainable recovery, usage and recycling of resources in those industries. Scenario analysis can help to provide better future directions for industries whilst eco-industrial parks could improve the efficiency of usage of available resources and waste products through synergies among different industries on a regional basis. Sustainable manufacturing within industries such as micromachining, cement and leather could further reduce consumption of natural resources. New technologies in mineral recovery could help to recover valuable minerals present in concentrates generated by various processes such as reverse osmosis of sea water, chemical processing of minerals, and domestic and industrial wastewater treatments. These areas are discussed in this special issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production. It is imperative that the efforts by various organizations toward sustainable management of natural resources should compliment each other to minimize duplication; furthermore policy makers should play greater roles in developing and implementing policies and procedures to support such sustainable development oriented approaches simultaneously throughout the world in a coordinated and proactive manner for the short and long term future.     

Environmental issues in Nepal and solving them using the cleaner production approach

Owing to rapid industrialisation, environmental problems in sectors such as water, air, waste, energy and forestry in Nepal are reaching a crisis point. Although the Nepalese government has been trying to solve these problems by various means, the main emphasis has been on end-of-pipe solutions. This paper investigates why Nepal needs to implement Cleaner Production concepts as a matter of urgency and provides several recommendations to the government as well as sectors such as waste, industry, energy and pesticide regarding the implementation of such concepts.     

“Educating the educators” as a strategy for enhancing education on cleaner production

During the last ten years, much progress has been made in initiating Cleaner Production and related Preventive Environmental Management (PEM) training activities within many countries. Much of this work was facilitated through special National Cleaner Production Centers, established through national support or through the facilitation of organizations such as UNEP, UNIDO, The World Bank, and other regional development organizations. Most earlier PEM training was predominantly short-term and was not embedded within a deeper academic framework. Although much has been accomplished as a result of such training, deeper and broader educational programs are needed.The Faculty at IIIEE at Lund University in Sweden decided to develop an innovative “Educate-the-Educators” (ETE) Program on Cleaner Production and on related PEM approaches. This paper summarises the goals, objectives and results of the first ETE program at IIIEE. The three-week educational program was attended by 32 educators from 22 different countries. This included participants from China, India, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, New Zealand, South Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, Bahrain, Turkey, Jordan, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad–Tobago, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. According to the participants, the intensive educational program was very useful in preparing them to integrate Cleaner Production components into the course(s) and curricula in their home institutions. The participants are now actively engaged in initiating follow-up activities within their academic institutions.     

浅析中国清洁生产及其相关法律法规

清洁生产是中国实现可持续发展的最佳战略,自《中华人民共和国清洁生产促进法》实施以来,中国清洁生产取得积极进展。目前,修订后的清洁生产促进法发布,意义深远。通过分析中国清洁生产的发展历程及不同时期颁布的有关政策法规,提出在新形势下完善中国清洁生产相关法律法规的几点建议。     

面向循环经济的矿产资源开发利用模式

科学的发现与技术进步使一些矿物逐渐变成为人类所利用的资源。矿物的开发利用又为可持续发展的实现提供支持。论文面向循环经济,对经济发展的模式进行了探讨,分析了矿产资源开发利用的循环经济途径,针对矿业的特点,从企业、产业园区、区域3个层次确定了矿产资源的开发利用模式,提出了相应的产业政策。研究认为:①循环经济模式是矿业可持续发展的惟一途径;②矿产资源的开发利用在不同的层次应采取各自的发展模式;③煤炭是我国的主要能源,煤炭资源的循环经济模式可以提高资源的利用率和减少对环境造成的破坏与污染,促进国民经济可持续发展。     

磷矿山清洁生产评价指标体系的构建——以贵阳市磷矿山为例

通过对磷矿山清洁生产评价指标选取原则和筛选方法的确定。并结合磷矿山的实际情况,经过多次专家咨询,从而筛选出适合磷矿山清洁生产的具体评价指标。并按层次分析法（AHP）的特点确定目标层、准则层、指标层、指标因子层四个层次,其中,目标层有1项;准则层有6项;指标层有28项;指标因子层有9项,最后建立磷矿山清洁生产评价指标体系,这将为磷矿采选业清洁生产评价提供技术支持和导向,从而有助于磷矿企业推行清洁生产技术,实现可持续发展。     

Toward cleaner production of hot dip galvanizing industry in China

China has now the largest annual outputs of galvanized steel and the most amount of galvanizing plants in the world. However, with obsolete technology, the hot dip galvanizing industry has been proved as one of the industries, which consume large amounts of raw materials and energy, produce numerous pollutants and causes serious contamination in China. Cleaner Production in the hot dip galvanizing industry is now the only way to achieve the sustainable development of hot dip galvanizing industry. The implementation of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) project: The Transfer of Technology and Promotion of demand: Batch hot dip galvanizing in China launched by International Zinc Association (IZA) is introduced in this paper, The Best Available Technologies of operation, energy and environmental management in the world are also introduced. With the implementation of the project, an assessment system of Cleaner Production and a training system have been developed and implementation of technical updating to the demonstration plant shows that the reduction of zinc loss, and water and fuel cost savings can be achieved. It is believed that the methodology of the project can be applied throughout China as the galvanizers see the cost benefits.     

Maximizing sustainability of the Costa Rican coffee industry

The aim of this study was to examine the current coffee production and processing system in Costa Rica in order to maximize its sustainability through cost and risk reductions and identification of new opportunities. A two-year field investigation was performed for assessing resource, energy and water uses, characterizing by-products, and evaluating training, management and industry structure, with the aim of identifying opportunities for the implementation of Cleaner Production (CP) and industrial ecology (IE) strategies. The application of industrial ecology has been implemented in a piecemeal fashion and has not, therefore, been widely accepted by the industry at large. The broader coffee production system in Costa Rica does not encourage the practice of environmentally sustainable methods within production or processing, and does not encourage the exploration of niche markets that reward high-valued coffee in terms of quality or socio-environmental consciousness. Changes in industrial throughput, operational design, and management attitudes are needed to ensure sustainability within the industry. A number of opportunities for maximizing the sustainability of the coffee industry exist through: (a) strategic application of Cleaner Production, (b) effective use of resources, (c) alternative use of by-products, (d) efficient operational design, (e) training, (f) introduction of basic environmental management concepts, and (g) changes to industry structure. The paucity of data regarding research into the specific barriers to innovations within the coffee industry requires investigation. The specific barriers to the application of environmental innovations need to be identified and understood. This must include the social, cultural and institutional aspects governing the industry in addition to the technical and economic aspects normally addressed.     

将清洁生产理念融入到老工业基地的技术改造中

阐述了清洁生产和技术改造之间的关系，并通过实例进行了说明，得出将清洁生产理念融入到老工业基地的技术改造之中是企业实现经济和环境双赢的有效途径。     

Less bad is not good enough: approaching zero emissions techniques and systems

Radical changes towards sustainable products and a clean and safe system of production have yet to be developed and implemented in all sectors of industry. Technology holds the key to addressing many environmental problems and achieving sustainable patterns of economic growth. In many cases, companies already have the appropriate technological solution. However, the technology may not be in widespread use because of market and systemic failures and cultural barriers. Examples of market failures are the lack of information about cleaner technologies. Examples of systemic failures are weaknesses in linkages among firms, universities, research and development (R&D) institutions, and others involved in developing, supplying and applying technology. Cultural barriers are caused by the differences in the way companies communicate and do business. This makes “zero emissions” a much needed approach. The Journal of Cleaner Production has devoted this special issue to “Zero Emissions Techniques and Systems – ZETS” in the production and the urgent issues surrounding, “How to make sustainable companies become reality”. To document the state of the art in this field and to report progress are main goals of this issue. The objective of the planners of this special issue is to present perspectives, case studies and pedagogic initiatives from, academic, governmental, business, technical and financial sectors, as well as from NGOs from around the world.It is, however, evident that the term “zero emissions” still has different meanings and refers to different strategies and technologies. “Zero Emissions Techniques and Systems” are really a “SYSTEMS” aspect and not a sectoral approach. It develops more and more like a discussion about a mosaic. Some speak of the image they expect to be seen at the end, others speak of the tesserae they have to shape or the cement that fills the gaps between.     

Sustainable tourism destinations: the importance of cleaner production

“Sustainable tourism destination” is an emerging term used in recognition schemes to promote sustainable development at destinations. This concept, which is still being developed, has the potential to stimulate the implementation of sustainable development through an interdisciplinary, holistic and integrative approach which combines different aspects of existing tools. This article will discuss the following:

• •conceptual definitions for sustainable tourism destinations
• •the need to integrate different approaches and tools for developing sustainable tourism destinations
• •the role which Cleaner Production plays in terms of developing sustainable tourism destinations

Cleaner production has an important role, to ensure that “prevention” is built into the concept of sustainable tourism destinations. It contributes by providing both a general strategy and specific experiences which may enhance other existing tools, concepts and policies. These can be integrated in a synergistic manner to achieve sustainable tourism destinations.     

The climate change challenge and transitions for radical changes in the European steel industry

This paper presents ideas pertaining to transitions that are envisaged in the steel industry from Cleaner Production (CP) to Systems Innovation. Limits of the socio-technical system and the climate change challenge will induce changes in the production, distribution and consumption patterns of steel and other materials. Insights from industrial economics and evolutionary theory on innovation for sustainable development are needed to assess the rationale behind the adoption and diffusion of new breakthrough technologies named Ultra Low CO₂ Steel making (ULCOS). Evolution in material consumption patterns deserves a special research agenda which focuses upon the long term evolution of the consuming sectors as major changes in the infrastructure and products that support our many energy dependent services (mobility, shelter, heat, light, etc.) are expected. These changes will be significantly amplified by greenhouse gas emission constraints.     

Production systems aligned with distributed economies: Examples from energy and biomass sectors

This article builds on the introduction to the concept of distributed economies (DE) by Johansson et al. [Johansson A, Kisch P, Mirata M. Distributed economies – a new engine for innovation. Journal of Cleaner Production, this issue] and takes the discussion further by reviewing examples of production systems that, due to certain characteristics, can be seen as illustrative DE elements. Through selected cases from energy production and biomass products sectors, the environmental and business benefits provided by local, small-scale, flexible production units that increase value addition to local assets are exemplified. The factors supporting the development of such systems are also reviewed. The lessons extracted from these cases are designed to guide the development of other production and product systems aligned with DE.     

Industrial ecology framework for achieving cleaner production in the mining and minerals industry

Industrial ecology (IE) is an emerging framework adopted in the manufacturing, construction, and process industries to provide innovative solutions in strategic planning, leading to cleaner operation and production. An IE framework integrates a large number of processes, economic constraints, and environmental, health and safety considerations for optimized resource utilization. This paper provides a review of environmental management practices in the mining and minerals industry, emphasizing two concepts: IE and cleaner production. The mining and minerals industry provides primary materials for industrial activities; as such, it is an important component in the “industrial ecosystem.” This industry is subject to very stringent social and environmental scrutiny, while providing society with required natural resources to meet essential sustainable development requirements. The implementation of an IE framework in the sector will contribute to sustainable development.     

清洁生产与企业结构调整

清洁生产是工业生产追求的最高境界,而结构调整阶段给企业提供了一个很好的实施清洁生产的契机,使企业可以借助结构调整机会,将清洁生产渗透至企业的所有方面,最大限度地取得清洁生产的效果。     

Environmental management and life cycle approaches in the Mexican mining industry

Mexico ranks among the 11 major producer countries of minerals worldwide; its open pit and underground systems are 500 years old. This paper presents an overview of the Mexican mining industry from technological development, historical and economic perspectives. The efforts made by mining companies to address issues of environmental management and sustainable development expressed in national and international frameworks, as well as the Mexican environmental regulatory framework for the mining sector, are analyzed. Since, among others, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been recognized as a key topic to promote sustainable development in the Latin American and Caribbean region, this paper also examines the application of LCA in mining. Two life cycle approaches are presented: a national life cycle inventory for base metals, and an integral life cycle model for the management of mining processes.