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Design, production and operations
Published in Sigrun M. Wagner, Business and Environmental Sustainability, 2020
Green innovation, or eco-innovation, is key for the development of new products and processes (Klassen and Vachon 2012). This also underlines the importance of research and development (R&D) leading to cleaner production based on design for the environment. When underpinned by a proactive environmental (or sustainability) strategy, eco-innovation helps firms push beyond regulatory requirements to satisfy customer needs (Tsai and Liao 2017). Technology innovation is a path to cleaner production (Grant et al. 2017). Examples of innovations leading to cleaner production include smart materials, miniaturisation, dematerialisation, nanotechnologies and servicisation. More examples are provided in the final section of the chapter.
Facilitation of Circular Supply Chains with Digital Technologies
Published in Ifeyinwa Juliet Orji, Frank Ojadi, The Circular Supply Chain, 2023
Ifeyinwa Juliet Orji, Frank Ojadi
The social, economic and environmental dimensions for sustainability and their relative significance have varied over time. Managing all the aspects of sustainability within an organization challenging as it demands overall organizational restructuring, with an explicit focus on adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies, sustainable cleaner production and circular economy practices. To address the challenges emanating from a paradigm shift toward ethical and sustainable business, the concept of circular economy has gained tremendous attention all over the world and is being increasingly proposed as a modern approach for creating sustainable business. The principle aim of circular economy is to achieve sustainable consumption and production levels through cleaner production and product life cycle management in order to create harmony between economic development and environmental protection. Sustainable cleaner production, which integrates several eco-design strategies, is one of the critical manufacturing concepts that can be considered as a potential contributor toward circular economy or zero waste programs. Likewise, Industry 4.0 holds huge potential in grasping sustainable industrial value creation in the TBL. in addition, businesses can develop models that encompass the TBL sustainability dimensions and also account for multiple parties alongside the environment and society at large. Such models can be significant to direct and implement innovative business operations for sustainability objectives by adopting circular economy strategies like slowing and closing the resource loop and as such, becoming critical drivers of increased competitiveness and overall sustainable development.
Integrated treatment strategy
Published in Xiaoling Lei, Bo Lu, Integrated Water Environment Treatment, 2021
Chongqing has a high proportion of traditional chemical industries characterized by high energy consumption and heavy pollution. The unreasonable historical industrial layout made it difficult to control industrial pollution in the past. In order to improve the ecological environment and solve water environment problems, Chongqing has adopted effective measures. ① The management on wastewater discharge from industrial parks is reinforced and the reuse efficiency of reclaimed water is increased. ② The green manufacturing is fully implemented to promote the realization of stable up-to-standard discharge of water pollutants. The cleaner production is a scientific method for achieving the maximum resource utilization rate and minimizing the environmental pollution by preventive control of the whole process from production raw materials, production process to product after-sales services. It not only focuses on pollution mitigation and environmental protection but also stresses the water resource saving and economic development. Moreover, by measures such as implementing the whole production process control, continuously adopting improved designs, using clean energy and raw materials, adopting advanced process technology and equipment, improving management and comprehensively utilizing, it can reduce pollution from the source, improve resource utilization rate and reduce the pollutant production and discharge during the production, service and use of products, striving for the most efficient use of resources and minimum discharge of waste (sewage), so as to achieve the harmony, unity and sustainable development of the economy, society and ecology. ③ It has actively implemented water environment integrated treatment and ecological restoration for polluted water bodies.
Cleaner production and carbon reduction target: Analysis of sewage treatment plants in Nort-Central China
Published in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2022
HaiHua Li, XinHui Cheng, He Ding, Yang Yang, Ding Li, JiaQi Wang, JingJing Han
Furthermore, the process parameters of each production equipment of the sewage treatment plant are strictly controlled. Particularly, enterprises can monitor the production process of the entire plant using a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) control system, and automatically control the sewage treatment through programming to reduce energy and material consumptions. In addition, regular maintenance, overhaul, and replacement of equipment should be performed to ensure that the equipment are operated under good working conditions (Sun et al., 2019). The automatic control system reform scheme is generally applicable to existing Sewage Treatment Plants with less investment. The automatic control system not only saves significant manpower and material resources and reduces operation cost, but also reduces the monitoring time, enables the real-time monitoring of sewage, reduces labor intensity, truly reflects the treatment of sewage plant, and improves the utilization efficiency of resources and energy (Qinzhou, Wei, and Fei 2012). Table 5. shows the summary of the environmental and economic benefits of the cleaner production audit of the Sewage Treatment Plants in Nort-Central China. The most important environmental advantages of cleaner production include water conservation, power conservation, chemical conservation, and improvement in effluent quality, which enable the indirect reduction of carbon emissions and environmental pollution.
Nitrogen budget and its environmental loading in an urban ecosystem with the rapid urbanisation of China
Published in Chemistry and Ecology, 2018
Yongqiang Zhao, Yuguo Wu, Lvbing Jiang
The industrial subsystem is the largest emission source of N in the nine subsystems of the ZUE. This suggests that the industry subsystem is the key subsystem for controlling N emissions in urban ecosystems. The impact of industrial activities on the environmental N load is mainly atmospheric emissions caused by the consumption of fossil fuel-generated energy, in which 120.2 Gg N was emitted to the atmosphere. Currently, the secondary industry with high energy consumption is the advantage industry in ZUE [32]. This may be the main reason for the emission of massive amounts of atmospheric N pollutants from the industry subsystem. Therefore, the government should actively promote cleaner production, guide and encourage enterprises to adopt advanced technology and equipment to improve the comprehensive utilisation rate of energy, and strengthen energy conservation and pollution control. On the other hand, many important industrial enterprises in ZUE are still in the centre of the city [32]. From the perspective of the atmospheric environment, the new urban areas (such as Zhengdong New District, ZNHIDZ and other modern industrial park) are larger, have better atmospheric diffusion condition, and the relatively high environmental capacity. Additionally, if the locations of businesses were concentrated geographically, such as in industrial parks, pollution control activities could be focused on such areas. The relocation of urban enterprises, and the location of new large and medium-sized projects should be in these area to promote regional industrial groups that can develop frameworks to benefit from industrial concentration and promote centralised pollution control.
Drivers-pressures-state-impact-response framework of hazardous waste management in China
Published in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 2022
Qudsia Kanwal, Xianlai Zeng, Jinhui Li
Fourthly,Cleaner Production Promotion Law (2003) mainly objectifies cleaner production, increasing resource efficacy, and reducing pollution. It also aims to establish the National Cleaner Production Center (CPC). This law supports interfirm and regional level cleaner production (CP) activities through eco-industrial development. For small and medium-sized enterprises, the utmost barriers to cleaner production implementation are the lack of economic incentive policies, environmental enforcement, and high initial capital costs (West et al., 2013; Xiao et al., 2018).