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A circular economy creates a policy conflict between increased resource circulationand decreased dispersal of hazardous substances. On the basis of three case studiesin the EU, we have therefore id ...

This article investigates the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in eco‐innovation from the triple bottom line perspective. We unpack CSR into three dimensions (financial, social, and environmental) and categorise eco‐innovation into two kinds (pollution prevention and sustainable environmental innovation) to get a comprehensive picture of the relationship. Drawing on the resource‐based view, we suggest that the environmental dimension of CSR is positively related to pollution prevention because the returns on this kind of innovation are more predictable and straightforward, which appeals to firms. We also suggest that there is a U‐shaped relationship between the environmental dimension of CSR and sustainable environmental innovation, as this kind of innovation can only be realised when environmental commitments are high. Moreover, we expect the social and financial dimensions of CSR to interact with the environmental dimension to affect eco‐innovation. Using Chinese firm data from 2011 to 2015, we find that the social and financial dimensions of CSR have a positive moderating effect on sustainable environmental innovation. However, we fail to find support for their moderating effect on pollution prevention. Theoretical and practical implications, based on the findings, are discussed.

Green marketing strategies are employed by many enterprises to enhance their corporate image and business performance. Green marketing is perceived as the commitment of a business or an organisation towards the development of safe, eco‐friendly goods and services by employing recyclable and easily decomposed packaging, better pollution prevention methods, and a more efficient use of energy. Against this background, the study followed a case study approach using South Africa's retail giants, Woolworths and Pick n Pay. Stratified purposive sampling was used to carry out in‐depth interviews and administer questionnaires with senior management of the selected retailers. In addition, document and website analyses were used for triangulation purposes. Path analysis and content analysis were used to establish the correlation. The study established that green marketing strategy has a positive effect on corporate image and on business performance. The paper recommends that if enterprises are to sustain competitive advantage, particularly in the retail sector, it is in their best interest to adopt green marketing strategies.

This study examines the impact of China's green credit policy on the environment. In particular, we consider an initiative that requires all banks to base their loan decisions on corporate environmental performance. This is an important issue since it is globally gaining popularity to leverage bank loans as an avenue to enforce corporate environmental responsibility. Moreover, there are only a handful of empirical investigations in relation to the impacts of credit constraint on corporate environmental behaviors and strategies. This research also provides useful insights on how to enhance environmental regulation enforcement, using the Environmental Protection Bureau in partnership with local banks to exert a creditable threat of financial constraint on unfavorable environmental outcomes. Using the synthetic control method and difference‐in‐differences analysis, we find that this policy has significantly motivated firms, particularly those firms with a higher dependence on external financing, to reduce water pollution. We further discover that the policy compels firms to favor pollution prevention at the source instead of end‐of‐pipe treatments, since the policy imposes a long‐term credit constraint on pollution.

The degree of connection and integration between stock market indices is crucial to identifying the potential benefits associated with international diversification. However, there have been no findings on relationships between sustainability indices. The present study analyses the existence of equilibrium between short- and long-term environmentally sustainable investments through Johansen cointegration tests and based on a model of asymmetric multivariate conditional heteroscedasticity. We selected indices for five segments of environmental investment (alternative energy, clean technology, green building, sustainable water, and pollution prevention) and applied a time period of roughly nine years. The obtained results show that over the long term, the indices' behaviour is autonomous, creating opportunities to diversify investment. Over the short term, environmental segments exhibit similar behaviour, approaching behaviours described by conventional indices. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) using information submitted by different industries in the United States. This research examines the contaminants released by paper manufacturing industry in the United States and Ohio over time and what paper manufacturers are doing to diminish the quantities of chemical wastes generated, released to the environment, or managed by other means. It is understood that there is a reduction in the Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) scores from 2002 to 2014 in all the states, which can be related to the adaptation of recycling or reusing of the chemicals in various other manufacturing processes. The other significant observation inferred from the analysis is that the facilities in the states such as Wisconsin, Louisiana, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania based on the economic feasibility or recycling prospects, they are generating higher quantities of the selected chemical resulting in the higher RSEI scores respectively for the above-mentioned states. This article demonstrates the application of the risk-screening indicators model to a large database to analyze pollution data. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 808–814, 2017

The problem of CO2 emissions, as an important factor of air pollution, attracts broad attention. For the purpose of pollution prevention, this paper would establish a reasonable model to study Beijing's impacting factors of carbon emissions and carry out future forecast. This paper use the non-inertia weight coefficient and particle mutation particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to optimize the initial connection weights and thresholds of the traditional BP neural network, and establish a BP neural network model based on the improved PSO. Through empirical analysis of carbon emissions and its driven factors in Beijing city from 1978 to 2012, IPSO-BP is found to be a good method to make carbon emissions' forecast as it can improve the global optimization ability of traditional IPSO and BP algorithm. The results also can contribute to the local government's policy related decision-making to make control of carbon emissions. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 428–434, 2017

In recent years the need to reduce production costs and the increasing regulations in pollution prevention prompted industries and academia to revise old processes for fine chemical and pharmaceutical synthesis. A powerful tool to enhance the sustainability of chemical processes is, undoubtedly, heterogeneous catalysis, which allows a few improvements over homogeneous catalysis and can help develop cleaner, safer, and more economically feasible processes. In the field of heterogeneous catalysis, two preferential methods have been developed: the use of polymer-supported catalysts and the use of solid inorganic oxide catalysts. In the last years, much effort has been devoted to the heterogenization of catalysts, and different strategies have been developed for the preparation of supported homogeneous catalysts.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released on June 25, 2014, and on August 28, 2014, final risk assessments for targeted uses of four Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan chemicals. The June assessment consists of certain uses of trichloroethylene (TCE), and the assessments released in August are for uses of methylene chloride or dichloromethane (DCM), antimony trioxide (ATO), and 1,3,4,6,7,8hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8,-hexamethylcyclopenta-[γ]-2-benzopyran (HHCB). The much anticipated release of these assessments marks a real milestone for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), and EPA is to be commended for its significant efforts in completing these assessments relatively quickly.

In the literature there are several studies about the effects of environmental policies and regulations on the management and competitiveness of businesses. Some of these studies focus on the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive, but only a few investigate the effects of IPPC permits in depth. This paper aims to bridge this gap by illustrating the results of cross-country empirical research. We analyse 225 IPPC permits of companies located in seven European regions and issued by different competent authorities. Results show differences in terms of requirements, emission limit values and monitoring frequencies, which are not always justifiable by the flexibility afforded by the Directive. These differences have different impacts on the competitive strategies and environmental management of companies within the same sector but located in different countries. We explore how some differences could influence company costs, contributing to the literature debate about the effects of direct regulation on competitiveness. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The need for chemists to design chemicals that not only fulfill their intended purposes but are of minimal hazard was recognized nearly a century ago. Over the decades regulations pertaining to the development of safer drug substances and pesticides have been promulgated, and caused changes in the relationships between industry, academia, government agencies, and how chemists are trained to develop new pesticides and new drug substances. This has led to the considerable progress that has occurred over the past 60 years in the development of safe and efficacious pharmaceuticals and pesticides. Progress in the design of safer commercial chemicals, however, has been comparatively slow, despite the many advances in: toxicological research; the elucidation of mechanisms of toxicity; and the identification of relationships between chemical structure, physicochemical and electronic properties with toxicity, environmental fate, or environmental hazard. While few would argue against the need for safer commercial chemicals, implementation of the design of safer chemicals as a paradigm has not advanced to the same extent as other approaches to preventing pollution. This article offers insights on how this paradigm can be advanced as an important component of sustainable development, and how those existing commercial chemicals for which safer, commercially viable alternatives are most needed can be identified and prioritized. One recommendation regarding prioritization is the use of information available in the United States (U.S.) Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI): the U.S.’ pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR). The TRI is an easy-to-use pollution prevention database tool used extensively for tracking the quantities of toxic chemicals annually released or otherwise managed as waste, and evaluating overall environmental performance by industrial facilities. Other PRTRs throughout the world have the potential to be used for identification and prioritization of chemicals as well.

A growing number of firms are considering the incorporation of environmental thinking into their business strategies, hoping to improve their competitiveness. In this paper, we analyze the effects of pollution prevention and service stewardship capabilities on firm differentiation advantage in the third-party logistics industry. Since prior research claims that complementary assets play an important role in fully understanding the environmental-management-competitiveness link, we furthermore examine the moderating role of environmental communication on the pollution-prevention-differentiation and the service-stewardship-differentiation linkages. We theoretically base our research in natural-resource-based thinking. Drawing on survey data, we apply multivariate regression and moderation analysis. The results highlight that pollution prevention and service stewardship capabilities can help third-party logistics providers to achieve a differentiation advantage. Also, the results show that environmental communication moderates the effect of pollution prevention on differentiation advantage and can hence be considered a valuable complementary asset. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

I. INTRODUCTION Environmental policies in the United States have evolved from command and control to market-based incentives, and more recently to voluntary programs and information disclosure mechanisms. The evolution largely stems from the growing recognition that firms respond to environmental policies not only to improve compliance, but also to lower production costs, improve product quality, and enhance market competitiveness. Thus, prescriptive technology and emission standards are being replaced with a mix of policies that promote techniques such as pollution prevention (P2) technologies which allow firms to go beyond compliance and address strategic objectives. In the United States, the National Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 mandates that "pollution be prevented or reduced at source whenever feasible." Beginning in 1991, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began collecting annual data on 43 types of P2 activities undertaken by facilities and in doing so, it expanded the purpose of the Toxic Releases Inventory (TRI) under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) by providing the public detailed information about toxic chemical releases as well as waste management activities to promote informed decision-making by industries, government, and the public. In 1992, the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology recommended to the U.S. EPA that P2 programs should emphasize diffusion of P2 technologies through preferential increase in the use of nonregulatory drivers, creation of incentives, and provision of rewards, training, and information (U.S. EPA 1992). In addition, 36 states have also legislated P2 programs, each mandating a mix of regulatory-, information-, and management-based policies. How effective these policy instruments are in promoting P2 and reducing toxic releases is the central issue addressed in this study. The need for multiple policy instruments to address environmental goals arises because profit-maximizing firms tend to adopt fewer than optimal levels of environmental technologies and emit more than optimal pollution levels. In this study, I focus on three of the reasons for the suboptimal choices, which are the targets of the policy instruments I examine. First is externalities: firms do not internalize the damages of their pollution to the rest of society (Jaffe and Stavins 2005). Second is incomplete information: the reputational benefits from environmental technology adoption and pollution reduction cannot be fully realized because stakeholders that could influence firms' choices are not fully aware of the environmental performance and activities of firms (Tietenberg 1998). Lastly, the costs of environmental technology adoption and abatement may be too high (King and Lennox 2002; Lennox and King 2004). Thus, a mix of policy instruments that compel firms to reduce their pollution levels and externalities, provide environmental-related information to the public, and lower costs of technology adoption and abatement are necessary to promote environmental technology adoption and encourage lower pollution. Empirical comparison of the relative effectiveness of various policy instruments is limited. Foulon, Lanoie, and Laplante (2002) compare the impact of regulation and public disclosure of information on abatement activity while Frondel, Horbach, and Rennings (2007) compare how standards, taxes, accounting, audits, and reports promote adoption of end-of-pipe versus cleaner production technologies. Arimura, Hibiki, and Johnstone (2007) compare how environmental taxes, accounting, and standards promote environmental R&D. In another study, Arimura, Hibiki, and Katayama (2008) compare the effectiveness of management-oriented ISO 14001 and publication of environmental reports on reducing natural resource use, solid waste, and wastewater effluent levels. None of these studies have analyzed the adoption of P2 activities or level of toxic emissions by U. …

The amount of electrical and electronic products is increasing rapidly, and this inevitably leads to the generation of large quantities of waste from these goods. Some of the generated e-waste ends up in regions with sub-standard recycling systems and may be processed under poor conditions. During uncontrolled incineration, halogenated dioxins and furans can be generated from brominated and chlorinated compounds in the products. In order to reduce the health and environmental risks involved in the recycling stage of the life cycle of electronics, an effective design for-environment process must be established during the product development phase. Knowledge of the chemical substances in the product is crucial to being able to make informed decisions. Through full knowledge of the material content of procured components, phase-outs of unwanted substances, such as halogenated substances, can be performed in an effective manner. Therefore, information is the key to success in phasing-out substances; facilitating compliance of legal provisions for manufacturers of electrical and electronic devices; and improving the environmental footprint of products as they reach the end of the life cycle. After an introduction to the challenges of electronics waste management, this paper describes supply chain information systems and how they are used to facilitate substance phase-outs in the electronics industry. Sony Ericsson has been working with phase-outs of unwanted substances since it was founded in 2001. Through the introduction of a material declaration system that keeps track of all substances in the components used in the company's products, Sony Ericsson has been able to replace unwanted substances to improve environmental impacts at the recycling stage of a product.

Flaring is an important but passive method in ethylene plants to protect plant personnel, facilities, and the ambient environment. However, excessive flaring emits huge amounts of CO, CO 2 , NO x , and hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which may cause locally transient air pollution problems and negative societal impacts. Flaring may also cause high losses of raw material and energy that could generate more desired products for the industry. Thus, flare minimization has great benefits to environmental, societal, and industrial sustainability. Based on current industrial practices, a general strategy for flare minimization under various ethylene plant events is presented.

Summary Over the course of ten years, a consortium of stakeholders (the Harbor Consortium) used a collaborative approach to identify viable pollution prevention (P2) strategies for specific contaminants, namely mercury, cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as well as suspended solids entering the New York/New Jersey Harbor. The project, titled “The New York/New Jersey Harbor Watershed Pollution Prevention and Industrial Ecology Project,” in a very conscious and overt way engaged stakeholders in the process of developing P2 recommendations for the Harbor. The industrial ecology (IE) tools applied by the Harbor Consortium include substance flow analysis (SFA), material flow analysis (MFA), and, to a limited extent, life cycle analysis (LCA) and fate and transport analysis (F&T), to quantify and characterize how the contaminants flow through the regional economy and the Harbor Watershed once released to the environment. The application of these scientific tools to five contaminants at such a large geographical scale, within the context of a broad and inclusive stakeholder process, and with the goal of identifying and implementing pollution prevention strategies, led to a wide range of surprising outcomes and lessons learned. Undertaking this IE research with the key institutions and stakeholders at the table resulted in the identification and the implementation of many P2 opportunities.

The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase II requires construction activities to have erosion and sediment control best management practices (BMPs) designed and installed for site storm water management. Although BMPs are specified on storm water pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs) as part of the construction general permit (GP), there is little evidence in the research literature as to how BMPs perform or should be designed. The objectives of this study were to: (i) comparatively evaluate the performance of common construction activity erosion control BMPs under a standardized test method, (ii) evaluate the performance of compost erosion control blanket thickness, (iii) evaluate the performance of compost erosion control blankets (CECBs) on a variety of slope angles, and (iv) determine Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) cover management factors (C factors) for these BMPs to assist site designers and engineers. Twenty-three erosion control BMPs were evaluated using American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) D-6459, standard test method for determination of ECB performance in protecting hill slopes from rainfall induced erosion, on 4:1 (H:V), 3:1, and 2:1 slopes. Soil loss reduction for treatments exposed to 5 cm of rainfall on a 2:1 slope ranged from-7 to 99%. For rainfall exposure of 10 cm, treatment soil loss reduction ranged from 8 to 99%. The 2.5 and 5 cm CECBs significantly reduced erosion on slopes up to 2:1, while CECBs < 2.5 cm are not recommended on slopes ≥ 4:1 when rainfall totals reach 5 cm. Based on the soil loss results, USLE C factors ranged from 0.01 to 0.9. These performance and design criteria should aid site planners and designers in decision-making processes.

Manufacturing organizations can potentially improve environmental management both by increasing the level of investment in environmental technologies and by shifting that investment away from pollution control and toward pollution prevention. However, managers must not only consider their own manufacturing operations in isolation, but also those of others along the supply chain. This paper explores two dimensions of supply chain activities—collaboration and evaluation—that might be leveraged by plant managers to improve environmental management in their own plant. The linkages with suppliers and customers were assessed. Both customer- and plant-initiated collaboration were found to have a significant effect on the level and form of investment in environmental technologies for a sample of Canadian plants. Of greatest importance, as customer-initiated collaborative activities increased, plant-level investment in environmental management was increasingly allocated toward pollution prevention. In contrast, only very limited evidence was found that evaluative activities influenced environmental investment.

Business strategy with regard to sustainability is currently dominated by an eco-efficiency approach that seeks to simultaneously reduce costs and environmental impacts using tactics such as waste minimization or reuse, pollution prevention or technological improvement. However, in practice, eco-efficiency optimization rarely results in improved diversity or adaptability and consequently may have perverse consequences to sustainability by eroding the resilience of production systems. This editorial article contrasts a resilience approach with an eco-efficiency approach as they relate to strategic sustainable development. In some cases, the system attributes that are critically important to resilience – such as spare capacity, reserve resource stocks and redundancy – are in opposition to eco-efficiency. Our most important insight is the realization that investments in what may seem counter to eco-efficiency can nonetheless be important for sustainability. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

This article presents an economic, hydrologi- cal, dynamic optimization model, which describes the negative external effects of nitrogen fertilizers on groundwater quality. The relative merits of treatment versus prevention of nitrogen pollution were analyzed. A dynamical water and nitrogen flow between land surface, the unsaturated zone, and groundwater was employed. A specific treatment technology, which gives rise to a discontinuous cost function, was also used. Applying the model to the coastal aquifer in Israel, our results showed that in a joint (agricultural and domestic) water source area that supplies a relatively small quantity of drinking water, it is more efficient to combine a policy that imposes restrictions on the use of nitrogen with a drinking-water treatment process. However, when a relatively large quantity of drinking water is involved, imposing restrictions on the use of nitrogen only is more efficient. The paper, thus, is useful to planners of fast growing urban population centers with regard to regulation and can be used to calculate and evaluate specific policies.

The problem of water use in industrial sectors is analyzed in the context of sustainability, and the manufacturing process as one of the most important water consumers is scrutinized. Some practices of water conservation and reduction of water consumption, as well as the implementation of advanced treatment processes for wastewater recycling are considered under the general aspect of process integration and control in order to minimize environmental discharges. Reduction of effluents in papermaking processes are discussed as well as preventative approaches. It is emphasized that four groups of methods can be applied in order to minimize water consumption: process changes, water reuse, regeneration reuse and regeneration recycling. Minimizing the water consumption and thus reducing the hydraulic load may help to improve effluent treatment, reduce operating costs and, when subsequent disposal is to sewers, minimize effluent disposal charges. The data presented show that initially producing less effluents will reduce the demands on the effluent treatment plant and thus save both money and efforts. Separation techniques for minimizing effluents and effluent loads are presented, as well as potential practices to ensure a sustainable use of water, grouped as short term and long term measures. Prevention measures for water consumption in a Romanian paper mill are considered and discussed in relation with best available techniques (BAT), taking into account both economical and environmental benefits.

Remanufacturing restores used automotive engines to like-new condition, providing engines that are functionally equivalent to a new engine at much lower environmental and economic costs than the manufacture of a new engine. A life-cycle assessment (LCA) model was developed to investigate the energy savings and pollution prevention that are achieved in the United States through remanufacturing a midsized automotive gasoline engine compared to an original equipment manufacturer manufacturing a new one. A typical full-service machine shop, which is representative of 55% of the engine remanufacturers in the United States, was inventoried, and three scenarios for part replacement were analyzed. The life-cycle model showed that the remanufactured engine could be produced with 68% to 83% less energy and 73% to 87% fewer carbon dioxide emissions. The life-cycle model showed significant savings for other air emissions as well, with 48% to 88% carbon monoxide (CO) reductions, 72% to 85% nitrogen oxide (NOx) reductions, 71% to 84% sulfur oxide (SOx) reductions, and 50% to 61% nonmethane hydrocarbon reductions. Raw material consumption was reduced by 26% to 90%, and solid waste generation was reduced by 65% to 88%. The comparison of environmental burdens is accompanied by an economic survey of suppliers of new and remanufactured automotive engines showing a price difference for the consumer of between 30% and 53% for the remanufactured engine, with the greatest savings realized when the remanufactured engine is purchased directly from the remanufacturer.

This research evaluated the effectiveness of regulations for stormwater pollutants originating from industrial facilities. Industrial facilities discharging stormwater are subject to General Permits implemented by state and federal agencies, which require facility operators to identify themselves and to implement pollution prevention measures. An overlying system of permits require Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System operators to identify and inspect facilities in their jurisdictions capable of discharging substantial pollutant loads into stormwater conveyances, introducing more active regulation and strategic prioritization, but with unequal implementation in different urban regions. This research evaluated the interaction between the regulations and ways in which the regulations succeed, or fail, at protecting water quality. The research evaluated potential for pollutant discharges at 136 industrial facilities in Pinellas County, Florida, using telephone interviews; off-site facility visits; and on-site facility inspections, targeting four industrial categories: wood products; stone, clay, glass, and concrete products; fabricated metal products; and electronic products. Results documented that a large proportion of facilities subject to General Permits conduct few or no activities likely to produce stormwater pollutants, indicating that the regulations’ equal treatment of all facilities may constitute overregulation. The research developed a methodology to assess facilities using intensity of industrial activities exposed to stormwater, a rational measurement that could regularize municipal agencies’ requirements and prioritize implementation toward facilities with the potential to impact receiving water quality.

Landfill is the most commonly used method for disposal of waste materials since it is one of the least expensive methods. In order to dispose of any hazardous material to a landfill, a liner is used, which protects the underlying land and groundwater since it acts as a barrier to fluid movement. Of the various methods available for providing improved and more effective properties of landfills, methods involving the use of bentonite, cement, lime, gypsum, etc., have been explored in the laboratory. The aim is to overcome the problem and deficiencies of the existing liners. It is observed from the experimental results that the metal concentrations of the input waste solution can be reduced to 80-98% using a soil-cement admixture, 60-95% using a soil-gypsum mixture, 45-95% using a soil-bentonite mixture, 50-90% for soil, 35-80% using a soil-lime mixture, as liner materials. The permeation rate of different metals through the different soil-admixture media depends on various factors. A simple mathematical treatment of the phenomenon related to the permeation of liquid through the admixture of the clay and other components has been developed. The experimental results show satisfactory agreement with the predictions.

This paper aims at assessing the likely economic impacts of different approaches to implementation of Directive 96/61/EC on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) by establishing a conceptual framework and by providing empirical evidence from case studies in the EU electric steel and domestic glass industry. The potential economic implications of the IPPC permitting process are analysed from the point of view of individual plants. Both plant- and sector-specific factors and the institutional and regulatory context of IPPC implementation in different member states are taken into account. The paper finds only limited evidence of any adverse competitiveness impacts arising from IPPC implementation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Assessment of process changes to reduce, recycle or avoid wastes requires attention to systems which are broader than the immediate process; that is, it is necessary to take a life cycle perspective. Definition of the system boundary for such an assessment can be problematic in itself. A real case study is presented to illustrate the problem of assessing clean technologies: possible modifications to an alkylation unit at a UK refinery. The process uses hydrogen fluoride as alkylation catalyst, and generates fluoridic wastes which are hazardous and require treatment both on- and off-site. Possible changes to avoid, reduce or enable partial recycling of the waste are identified, representing different levels of change in the process and therefore requiring assessment with different system boundaries. The different system definitions lead to differences in the ways data must be compiled for quantitative environmental life cycle assessment, and in the range of stakeholders explicitly or implicitly involved in assessing and implementing the changes. The case study demonstrates some of the less familiar challenges introduced by the “pollution prevention” or “clean technology” paradigms of chemical processing.

With increased investment in improving climate forecasting techniques, it is essential to find ways of quantifying the maximum benefit of climate forecasts for a given industry. This paper describes an approach to quantify the value of 'perfect' climate forecasts to direct nitrogen management in a wheat-cropping system at two Australian locations with contrasting annual rainfall. For annual wheat-cropping systems, and compared with the N management based on optimal N rate derived from long-term climatic conditions, N management based on 'perfect' climate forecasts can lead to an average benefit of $65.2/ha/year at Walbundrie (annual rainfall 560.0 mm) and $66.5/ha/year at Wanbi (annual rainfall 314.5 mm). Generally, the economic benefit is highest in extreme (wet and dry) years and lowest in normal years. At the high rainfall site Walbundrie, where average N-application rate is high, the maximum yearly benefit was from significant saving through reduction in N application in driest years. At the low rainfall site Wanbi, where average N rates are low, the highest benefit was from both yield increases in the wettest years and saving of management and fertilizer cost in the driest years. Such optimized nitrogen management has little impact on excess drainage, but it can have significant impact on reduction of excess nitrogen, especially in high rainfall areas. An excess N reduction of 1314 kg N/ha at Wanbi and 1538 kg N/ha at Walbundrie can be achieved in 114 years. The significant reduction in N excess at Walbundrie may have profound environmental implications. Copyright (c) 2007 Royal Meteorological Society.

This paper develops an optimal control model for the firm's decision-making concerning pollution control spending, employment and investment. The model explicitly considers the impact of adjustment costs of changing the level of the pollution stock and involves three state variables and two control variables. Necessary conditions are derived by the maximum principle. The results include an optimal employment-investment-pollution abatement programme, an optimal pollution control decision rule, the equilibrium optimal pollution control and spending plan, and the equilibrium employment-investment decision.

Market-like trading programs for water quality management begin with enforceable limits on the amount of the pollutant allowed in a watershed. Properly designed market-like trading programs then create incentives for dischargers to reduce nutrient control costs over time by making pollution prevention innovations. However, the structure of the Clean Water Act can be a barrier to establishing market-like trading programs. First, we describe the general features and advantages of market-like trading programs. Then we offer practical suggestions for bringing market-like design concepts to nutrient trading programs within the existing legal and regulatory setting.

Economic activity continues to move away from the application end-of-pipe pollution control toward preventative source-oriented approaches. This new strategy, aiming ultimately for sustainable production, requires support and commitment from industrial managers and can thus be best put into practice at the level of the firm. This paper examines the use of voluntary regulation in Denmark and the Netherlands as an alternative to traditional command and control environmental policies. It suggests that in some instances covenants between the authorities and industrial trade bodies and contracts between the authorities and individual companies have a number of advantages over traditional policy. However, while the prospects for voluntary regulation may be good, the paper concludes that experiences so far are limited.

Motor vehicle growth in China is the fastest in the world. This is placing great strain on the urban environment and causing a rapid increase in oil imports and motor vehicle carbon dioxide emissions. To deal with the environmental and health effects of air pollution, China has adopted a strong motor vehicle pollution control programme and imposed limits on fuel consumption of new light duty vehicles. The article will review these problems and programmes. Special focus will be given to the need to reduce sulphur levels in both gasoline and diesel fuel.

This study analyzes the effect of pollution control on corporate financial performance in a transition economy. In particular, it assesses whether better pollution control, as measured by lower air pollutant emissions, improves or undermines financial success, as captured by accounting-based measures of financial performance, e.g. profitability. For this assessment, this study analyzes the effect of air pollution control using a panel of Czech firms for the years 1996–1998. The analytical results indicate that better pollution control neither improves nor undermines financial success. These results provide no support for the hypothesis that pollution prevention, generated by improved production processes, led to lower costs, and thus, greater profitability. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Designed and built by the National Environmental Evaluation and Remediation Consortium, the Environmental Knowledge and Assessment Tool (EKAT™) at www.ekat-tool.com is a web-based project management and decision-support tool to identify, research, and evaluate environmental and pollution prevention options, and safety-related issues for materials used in products and systems. The original concept of EKAT was to help Marine Corps Systems Command integrate environmental requirements into systems acquisition programs. The tool can also benefit federal and state agencies, communities, and businesses. EKAT contains information on technical and regulatory requirements and serves as a resource center with links to references, tools, and databases to assist in research efforts and minimize unintentional safety and environmental effects associated with product development or use. Features include project management and organizational capability, collaboration within project teams or the EKAT community, and communication through threaded discussions. EKAT serves as a preliminary environmental screening tool for regulatory requirements and issues of concern. The user may enter or download lists of chemicals that she or he may have obtained from material safety data sheets for products typically used in activities and operations; these chemicals can then be screened against 14 lists of federally regulated chemicals. Some of the federal lists for which the user's entered chemicals are screened against include the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, various lists of carcinogenic substances, and more. Users may also get help estimating emissions from equipment and manufacturing processes, or review information resource documents and research guides, which provide additional environmental information and resources in a user-friendly format. All regulatory information, for environmental, health, and safety issues found within EKAT, is based on United States federal laws and regulations, to which links can be found throughout. Links to sources of additional information, other than U.S. governmental web sites or resources, may also be found in EKAT. © 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2007

In recent years the need to reduce production costs and the increasing regulations in pollution prevention prompted industries and academia to revise old processes for fine chemical and pharmaceutical synthesis. A powerful tool to enhance the sustainability of chemical processes is, undoubtedly, heterogeneous catalysis, which allows a few improvements over homogeneous catalysis and can help develop cleaner, safer, and more economically feasible processes. In the field of heterogeneous catalysis, two preferential methods have been developed: the use of polymer-supported catalysts and the use of solid inorganic oxide catalysts. In the last years, much effort has been devoted to the heterogenization of catalysts, and different strategies have been developed for the preparation of supported homogeneous catalysts.

This paper deals with wastewater management in Harare, in the Lake Chivero catchment area of Zimbabwe. It aims at developing a sustainable system for managing water and nutrients and is based on the literature and a water quality monitoring study conducted from June 2000 to December 2001. This study has shown serious water pollution problems due to urbanisation in the catchment. A ‘three-step strategic approach’ to urban (waste)water management was used as a basis for formulating solutions. The short-term solutions include reduction of wastewater volume in industries and households, reducing wastewater flows by 24% and total phosphorus by 5%. The medium-term solutions involve treating wastewater to high standards, resource recovery and reuse, and controlling upstream sources of pollution, and thus would reduce the lake total nitrogen and total phosphorus levels to about 0.4 and 0.07 mg/L, respectively. A long-term solution was suggested based on pollution prevention and direct reuse, treatment at onsite and decentralised levels followed by reuse, and minimal disposal of the remaining effluents combined with the stimulation of the self-purification capacity of the receiving rivers. It was concluded that it is feasible to reduce pollution levels in the catchment by applying these phased developments.

Public awareness and concern over food safety, together with intensified regulatory control over the impact of food processing operations on the environment, present new challenges to the industry. This paper outlines a systematic approach to water management that addresses both cost-reduction strategies and environmental performance improvement, which can enhance industry image while maintaining product and brand integrity. Many companies already operate a well-defined environmental management system (EMS), and some have already sought accreditation to ISO 14001. However, the implementation of, among others, the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive, the Water Directive and the Climate Change Levy (CCL) are raising new and important questions.

Current environmental emission regulations typically follow a command-and-control approach mandating the installation of state-of-the-art abatement technology to safeguard hard emission thresholds. However, this type of regulation offers no reward for conducting pollution prevention and technological research to reduce emissions below compliance levels through process innovation. Alternatively, market-based regulations stimulate continued improvement of cleaner manufacturing practices by creating economic incentives for sustained waste reduction. The aim of this work is to furnish regulators and manufacturers with a concise tool for quantifying the impact of future regulatory scenarios. The proposed methodology employs realistic mathematical models of pollution abatement operations used in chemical, pharmaceutical, and specialty chemical manufacturing. It assesses the feasibility of treatment options, estimates their cost and expected emissions. Rigorous optimization techniques are introduced for managing regional emission reduction efforts at reasonable cost to manufacturers. The comprehensive mathematical programming formulations will enable plant managers to ascertain expected compliance cost, and regulators to design environmental regulations for reducing regional emissions at tolerable cost to industry.