2    INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSIDERATIONS INTO PRODUCT AND PROCESS
DESIGN: BACK TO THE BASICS
Peter P. Radecki, Program Manager
National Center for Clean Industrial and Treatment Technologies
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, Michigan 49931
POLLUTION PREVENTION CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRAMS
Pollution prevention advocates and businesses have worked for many years on "integrated environmental decision-making." This has included pollution prevention, source control, waste reduction, design for environment, etc. The basic concept has been to induce a change in the way
businesses view environmental decision-making; to shift the view upstream, from end-of-pipe
control technology to pollution prevention. There has also been encouragement to view waste as
a business issue and a sign of inefficiency. The goal has been to produce business decisions
which are good for both business and the environment.1
Size of the Pollution Prevention Challenge
One key element of pollution prevention is resource conservation. That is. products and
processes should be designed and operated to minimize materials and energy consumption. In
systems where a resource is plentiful or renewable, resource conservation is of little importance.
Similarly, if energy sources are plentiful, energy efficiency is a concern of low priority. Consider
natural systems to exemplify the interrelationship of energy and resource consumption. Warmblooded mammals and birds turn food into living tissue with a net efficiency between 0.5 and
2.3%, while cold-blooded reptiles and amphibians range from 6.3 to 49%.2 The warm-blooded
species have the freedom to move and forage in areas which have wide temperature ranges, so
long as the energy flow to the ecosystems in these areas is sufficient to produce enough food for
their lower system efficiencies. In some cases, these species utilize migration to further exploit
regions whose ecosystem energy flow is seasonal. This does not mean the warm-blooded system
is superior. In fact, the efficiency of the cold-blooded species allows them to live in territories
which have extremely low energy flows to the ecosystem, such as very arid deserts. These contrasts show how resource management is integrated with survival strategies in natural systems.1
Global estimates have been made of resource consumption and management by humans. In
1989, tropical forests comprised approximately 900 million hectares. By the turn of the century,
one estimate shows this dropping to 675 million hectares.4 This has consequences for long-term
viability of certain wood resources and weather patterns. In addition, it has been linked to losses
in biodiversity where one study estimates 7000 species are becoming extinct annually: a rate believed to be at least 1000 times the natural rate.5
Five to 7 million hectares of the 1500 million hectares of global farmland are lost to erosion
annually.4 The flow of materials in human society is estimated at 3.3 x 10'° tons/year, while natural sedimentation is less than 30% of this amount. Materials moved by rivers include those
caused by natural processes and humans. The amount due to human intervention is estimated to
exceed the natural rate of 0.93 x 1010 tons/year.5
Large-scale effects of pollution are numerous and include spoiled land, fouled air, and water
bodies unable to support fish without massive deacidification. Many scientists are convinced the
widening ozone hole is caused by pollution and that global warming has begun.
51st Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings. 1996. Ann Arbor Press. Inc.. Chelsea. Michigan 48118.
Printed in U.S.A.