Pollution prevention in the chemical industry

Book · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:99381

Moore, F L ^[1]

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1. Union Carbide Corp., Danbury, CT (United States)

The chemical industry`s voluntary initiatives to reduce both releases to the environment and off-site transfers are illustrated by the fact that 100% of the CMA member companies originally invited became participants in the EPA`s 33/50 Program. The 33/50 Program is a voluntary program designed to reduce the releases of 17 targeted chemicals by 50% by the year 1995, from the baseline year of 1988. Making environmental management, and especially pollution prevention, a part of a company`s existing setup isn`t easy. Pollution prevention, in particular, cuts across the traditional management boundaries of R and D and product development, manufacturing, engineering, business management, customer and supplier relationships, and risk management (which looks to episodic risks presented by operations, storage, and transportation, and to chronic risks from the routine releases to the environment associated with the particular manufacturing facility). Many chemical companies have integrated pollution prevention as a tool in their overall risk reduction and risk management strategy. This allows the company to balance environmental risks presented, not only from the generation of waste or release of chemicals into the environment, but from episodic risks presented by chemical processes as well.

• OSTI ID: 99381
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
CHEMICAL WASTES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
WASTE MANAGEMENT