The Toronto Region Sustainability Program: insights on the adoption of pollution prevention practices by small to medium-sized manufacturers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)

The Toronto Region Sustainability Program (TRSP) is a multi-year action-and-results oriented program which provides small to medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SME) (defined as <500 employees at facility level) in the GTA with pollution prevention (P2) technical assistance, coupled with a financial incentive to address the root causes of their pollutants and waste streams and improve their environmental performance. The program has been successful in establishing partnerships with three orders (levels) of government and a third party delivery agent—the Ontario Centre for Environmental Technology Advancement (OCETA)—to achieve significant reductions in pollutants/waste generation and to promote the implementation of pollution prevention practices within SME manufacturing facilities. This paper shares insights on how the program works and uses case studies as illustrative examples to highlight the P2 methods adopted, the resulting environmental burden reductions, as well as the value-added benefits to the TRSP clients' business bottom line. Furthermore, this paper outlines the findings of a survey conducted by OCETA to identify TRSP clients' key drivers for program participation, their implementation status, and the challenges encountered in implementing P2 projects. It is hoped that the insights from this paper will expand the boundaries of P2 knowledge within the P2 community, and motivate SMEs in various sectors to incorporate P2 as a sustainable business strategy.     

Reduction of phosphorus and other pollutants from industrial dischargers using pollution prevention

During the course of this five-year project, the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) at the University of Minnesota helped industrial wastewater dischargers reduce 65,950 pounds of phosphorus, 7.5 million pounds of organic and solids loading, and 104 million gallons water; and save $3.2 million. Publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) were key partners working with industrial wastewater dischargers in small communities. As industrial users implemented pollution prevention strategies, POTWs could see the impact of those changes reflected in their monitoring data. Some municipalities avoided the need to add treatment capacity and others reduced chemical cost. Some industries had reduced surcharges.     

Partitioning of resources in production: an empirical analysis

Industrial economies ingest materials, energy and information to produce goods and services and excrete wastes and emissions. Wastes can be minimized and the relative amounts of resources, which go into goods and services, as opposed to waste, are essential to clean production and to the sustainability of the production system. A regression model based on empirical data is presented that provides a partition coefficient expressing the ratio of energy (or material) resources invested in goods to energy going to waste. Partition coefficients are developed for five countries and are shown to be related to GDP, energy and material consumption and energy and waste intensities. Higher partition coefficients mean higher productivity and lower energy, waste and material intensities. In addition, energy use/capita and pollution/capita is lower. The price of energy to the industrial sector is related to the partition coefficient. The policy implications are that partitioning of resources to goods should be maximized and waste minimized for economic as well as environmental reasons.     

论昆山市产业结构调整的环境约束

以昆山市经济发展、产业结构调整的实际情况为依据,从土地资源、水环境、大气环境、社会环境等方面,研究产业结构调整的环境约束,并提出如何提高土地效益、保护水源地、控制水环境污染、建立严格的环境管治、控制人口增长、提升劳动力素质和进行投资转型的发展策略,以此优化产业结构,促进经济发展.     

Indirect benefits of P2 technical assistance estimated using fuzzy set theory

Twenty small-to-medium sized business clients who had been previously provided pollution prevention (P2) technical assistance were studied to account for four difficult to quantify indirect benefits. The difficult to quantify benefits studied were reduced operational costs, regulatory burden, future liabilities and time saved from the research or technical assistance provided. Many (70%) clients who implemented new technologies realized operating cost reductions. Frequently (70%) clients who implemented P2 suggestions that reduce the disposal of hazardous waste realized reductions in regulatory burden and future liabilities. Most (90%) clients perceived that the research assistance saved their staff time. On average, clients in this study realized indirect savings of similar magnitude to their direct savings regardless of the scale or type of assistance. This study illustrates the value realized by a business of indirect benefits from pollution prevention implementation, which is particularly important now that publicly traded U.S. companies must disclosure financially significant environmental liabilities.     

Pollution prevention and cleaner production in the mining industry: an analysis of current issues

This paper examines the major pollution prevention and Cleaner production (CP) issues in the mining industry. Past problems with pollution has made waste minimization an issue of enormous importance for many mining companies. Since the advent of the first major environmental legislation circa-1970, there has been substantial improvement in environmental performance at the mine sites of these firms, including a reduction in noxious air emissions, a decrease in levels of toxic contaminants in effluent discharges, and a major upgrading in land management. All of these improvements are directly attributed to a corporate abandonment of conventional, end-of-pipe apparatuses, and subsequent integration of cleaner technologies and strategies, including highly efficient environmental equipment, heavily retrofitted control systems, and comprehensive environmental management plans. Although hundreds of mining districts have already benefited from installing systems that foster pollution prevention and CP, in select instances, these have not proven to be realistic waste management remedies. Major barriers, particularly economic, technologic, and legislative ones, have both individually and collectively impeded the implementation of pollution prevention and CP strategies in such cases. Many of these barriers appear insurmountable but improved planning, employee education, and increased government intervention would spell continued success in an industry that has already made enormous strides in the arena of environmental management.     

Hedonic analysis of hazardous waste sites in the presence of other urban disamenities

Hedonic research indicates that residential property values are reduced by increased proximity to hazardous waste sites, a measure of diminished environmental quality. Standard hedonic procedures measure proximity by the linear distance between a property and a waste site of interest. A sample of properties is then used to estimate a distance-to-site coefficient that measures the effect of the hazardous waste site on surrounding property values. These estimates can help policy makers assess the external effects of hazardous waste sites and may also be useful in both prioritizing and assessing the benefits of cleanup. In an urban situation, hazardous waste sites are often located near other industrial disamenities such as railroads, storage tanks, industrial noises, and air pollution. This spatial grouping of hazards may be due to economic forces or due to policy instruments such as zoning. As a result, distance to hazardous waste site may be correlated with distances to other industrial disamenities. Standard hedonic procedures that use a distance-to-site variable may suffer from omitted variable bias when the bundled industrial disamenities are present but ignored. Our empirical analysis examines this bias by assessing hedonic regressions with and without a measure that accounts for industrial activity.     

泛长三角地区工业污染重心演变路径及其驱动机制研究

工业污染重心路径演变是制造业转移过程中形成的环境空间响应形式,为探明经济发达的泛长三角地区工业污染重心对制造业转移的响应关系,采用2000~2010年工业污染排放数据,运用重心模型,测算各年份工业废水、废气和固废排放重心坐标,分析工业污染重心转移路径及演变规律,探讨重心演变的驱动机制.结果表明:1泛长三角地区的工业污染重心发生了偏移,其中工业固废偏移距离最大,为180.18 km,而工业废水、废气偏移的方向最大,分别为0.40°、0.17°;2工业污染重心轨迹偏移受多种因素的驱动影响.其中,安徽、江西地区重工业的高速发展加剧了污染重心朝西部偏移;以江苏、上海、浙江为代表的长三角地区产业结构优化与调整在一定程度上缓解了该地区的工业污染,安徽、江西地区高污染产业份额的增加及宽松的宏观区域政策助推了工业污染向西部地区偏移;而大规模的清洁化生产、较强的环境治理力度和完善的环保监测制度在一定程度上减缓了工业污染朝东部地区偏移.     

城市恶臭污染环境影响

随着工业的发展和城市化进程的加快,城市恶臭污染影响日趋严重。目前,城市主要恶臭污染源包括城镇污水厂、生活垃圾填埋场以及化工、炼油等工业排放源,生活污染源对居住环境的影响也不容忽视。为切实改善城市居民生活环境质量,政府及管理部门应加快建立完善的恶臭环境标准体系,从管理层面、技术改进及公众监督三个方面共同促进我国环境空气质量与城市居住环境质量的改善。     

Industrial ecology: a new field or only a metaphor?

In the 10 years since industrial ecology first became a topic of academic interest, it has grown as a field of inquiry and has produced a community of practice in several sectors including academia, business, and government. Even as the shape of industrial ecology becomes clearer, questions remain as to its lasting power beyond the metaphor that gave it its distinctiveness. This paper examines the development of industrial ecology and assesses its progress towards becoming a field of academic inquiry. And, in a related analysis, I look at the progress industrial ecology has made in establishing itself as an institutional (cultural) basis for action in the above sectors. Ideas like industrial ecology must become institutionalized if they are to have much effect on the reality of everyday activities.     

Industrial symbiosis and the policy instruments of sustainable consumption and production

Industrial symbioses (ISs) and eco-industrial parks (EIPs) are key concepts of industrial ecology (IE). The aim of ISs and EIPs is to minimise inefficient material and energy use by utilising local by-product and energy flows. Industrial symbioses tend to develop through spontaneous action of economic actors, for gaining of economic benefit, but these systems can be designed and promoted via policy instruments as well. A literature review showed that national programmes for eco-industrial parks can be found in different parts of the world. In the action programmes and other sustainable consumption and production (SCP) policy documents of the EU, on the other hand, industrial symbioses gain less recognition as a path to enhanced sustainable production. In this article, we consider this and also analyse how the evolution and environmental performance of an industrial symbiosis system centred on a Finnish pulp and paper mill have been affected by SCP policy instruments. With regard to the system forming the subject of the case study, and Finnish industrial systems in general, policy instruments have succeeded in reducing emissions but not in systematically encouraging operators toward symbiosis-like activities. All in all, few studies exist on the overall impact of policy instruments promoting design of eco-industrial parks. It is not self-evident that symbiosis-like production systems would be sustainable in every case, as the background assumptions for political promotion of EIPs suggest. We concluded that industrial symbioses should be analysed and developed on a life cycle basis, with documentation of the real environmental benefits due to efficient resource use and decreased emissions in comparison to standalone production. ISs can then bring eco-competitiveness to companies in relation to SCP tools, such as environmental permits, ecolabels, and future product regulation based on the Ecodesign Directive in Europe. Indirect encouragement of symbiosis through land-use regulation and planning, in such a way that material fluxes between companies are possible both in operations and in financial terms, may prove effective. The same holds for waste policies that encourage increased reuse of a company’s waste by other enterprises.     

Environmental audits as a policy of state: 10 years of experience in Mexico

The Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente or PROFEPA was created to assist in the enforcement of Mexico's environmental legislation. The agency uses two strategies to enforce legislation: command–control, which includes inspections and penalties, and voluntary environmental audits. This paper analyses data generated during the first decade of administration of the voluntary program, the National Program of Environmental Audits (PNAA). In 2764 audits, Mexican companies invested US$2.155 billon, generating important investments to control pollution, independent of macroeconomic parameters and a market related to the economic transition of Mexico. At the same time, it produced positive consequences for the environment. The PNAA lost popularity among large companies until it was restructured in 2001, providing less industrial risk, but a stronger environmental orientation. With these changes, the PNAA attracted new industries, permitted better administration, and provided opportunities for companies and the government to measure the consequences of their activities on the environment. Risks and opportunities for the PNAA are discussed. Preliminary improvements concerning environment and workers safety are given.     

浅谈产业基地规划建设过程的环境保护措施

产业基地的开发建设必须遵循循环经济理念,从源头控制污染的产生,优化产业结构,推行清洁生产,采取污染集中控制措施,制定相应的环境管理制度及工程防治措施,为入驻企业提供完善的基础设施,将其对周围的环境影响降至最小,从而获得经济发展和环境保护"双赢"。     

基于物质平衡模型的工业汞污染防治环境经济手段分析

我国以行政命令手段为主的环境管理措施并不能完全有效控制环境汞污染,因而有必要引入环境经济手段。本文基于汞在采掘、冶炼和产品生产三个生产环节中的利用、处置与排放特征,构建了经济系统及行业部门的汞物质平衡模型,并发现,单个污染源的汞污染物治理难以保证消除汞的环境危害。因而,采取环境经济手段控制工业汞污染,尽可能少的向环境中排放汞,在涉汞工业系统的层面上提高汞的利用效率和再资源化率。我国工业汞污染防治的环境经济手段包括环境污染价格、税费以及绿色金融两大类,但仅对生产环节高浓度汞排放发挥作用,对于堆存、再提取和处置环节的汞排放则作用不大。对此,应从扩大环境税(排污费)的征收范围,建立长效的绿色金融机制和推进第三方治理低含量含汞废物,这三个方面加以改进。     

重庆市工业经济发展与环境影响关系的实证分析

采用灰色关联度分析与改进IPAT方程模型,对重庆市1995年-2008年工业经济发展与环境影响之间的关系进行了实证研究。研究发现,除工业废气总量外,其他主要工业污粢物的排放都得到了很好的控制,但SO2的生态效率相对偏低,说明未来重庆市工业污染管理的工作重点应是工业废气总量指标,同时,对SO2的控制也需进一步加强。     

Eco-industrial park initiatives in the USA and the Netherlands: first lessons

Since the introduction of the industrial ecology concept by Frosch and Gallopoulos in 1989, and the apparent success of the Kalundborg Industrial Symbiosis project, attention to planned eco-industrial park (EIP) development projects has grown all over the world. This article includes data from six of these EIP development projects. Three of the projects discussed are located in the Netherlands and three in the US. This article compares the differences in project approach and results on a national level. The approach suggested is derived from the available EIP development literature.Initial research indicates that the Dutch EIP projects are more successful than their US counterparts. This difference in success can be, mostly, attributed to the fact that the US projects are initiated by local and regional governments that see the project as a way to improve the local/regional economy with access to substantial government funds. Because of this heavy government involvement, US companies are, in general, not interested in the project. The more successful Dutch projects, on the other hand, are mostly initiated by the companies themselves with financial and advisory support from the local and regional government.     

专业化、多样性与中国省域工业污染排放的关系

集聚外部性是集聚影响工业污染排放的重要机制,不同的集聚方式对应不同的污染排放行为。以中国31个省市工业废水、工业废气、工业固废为例,基于集聚外部性理论,将工业集聚分为专业化、多样性、相关多样性和非相关多样性等4种类型,在分析工业污染排放强度空间格局特征的基础上构建计量模型考察工业集聚与工业污染排放的关系,结果表明：（1）工业废水、废气、固废污染强度的省域差异显著,空间分布上均有不断集中的趋向。（2）多样性集聚比专业化集聚更有利于降低工业污染排放强度。多样性集聚对工业废水强度下降的作用最大,对废气和固废污染的减排作用较小。产业关联是多样性集聚发挥环境“自净”效应的重要条件,相关多样性有利于降低工业污染排放强度,而非相关多样性会加剧污染排放。（3）从不同污染型产业看,废水污染型产业的专业化集聚有利于污染强度下降,而废气和固废污染型产业专业化集聚会加剧污染排放,污染型产业多样性发展均有利于污染强度下降。（4）不同集聚类型对工业污染的影响存在着区域和污染类型的异质性。（5）要进一步降低工业污染,应提高集聚产业的多样化水平,强化产业间的内在关联。同时,应根据不同区域、不同污染型产业、不同工业污染物制定差异化防治措施。     

环境污染治理对区域工业经济发展速率的影响研究

环境污染治理对区域工业经济发展速率的影响,一直是该领域研究人员的讨论热点,对该方面进行研究,有利于社会经济的整体提升和生态环境的高效治理。分析了环境污染对区域工业经济发展产生的影响,将其划分为对人体健康的影响和对人们生活的影响,并在经济生产力大幅度下降,人类安全的影响,区域工业经济发展速率影响三个方面分别进行研究,依据研究结果分析环境污染治理对工业经济发展速率的影响,对工业废气治理与人均GDP关系、工业废水治理与人均GDP关系、工业固体废物治理与人均GDP关系的相关研究.     

工业企业污染物排放总量控制的有效措施

生活和居住的环境质量越来越受人们重视,这对作为主要污染源的工业企业的环保治理提出了更高要求,根据工业企业在推行污染排放总量控制制度过程中的实际认识,提出了“防治结合,以管促治”的工作方针,介绍了结合技术改造,落实环保措施,加强现场管理等几方面的有效措施。     

Marketing P2–CP to business – past,present, and possible future

For over a decade, organizations involved in promoting pollution prevention/cleaner production (P2–CP) to businesses have been asking business managers to change the way they think. But perhaps the greatest adoption of P2–CP will occur when organizations take advantage of the way business managers already think, using strategies of business-to-business (B2B) marketing. In this paper, we trace the evolution of P2–CP promotion from an Educational Strategy, through a Diffusion Strategy, and finally to the B2B Strategy. We argue that P2–CP adoption can be significantly increased if organizations apply the techniques of companies that make their living from selling innovations to businesses and use the B2B markets to bring P2–CP innovations to businesses.