RE: (All) Waste Prevention Technology

[Graham Noble <gnoble@global.co.za>]

At 06:33 PM 1/9/98 -0800, Mike Callahan wrote:
>
>No technology "prevents" waste unless you limit your discussion to a
>specific waste you are trying to prevent.  Powder coatings eliminate
>solvent fumes and liquid wastes but they create dust and solid waste.
>Solvent coatings can be air dried while powder coatings must be heated
>to effect cure.  Powder coatings also require a much cleaner surface so
>that cleaning wastes may be greater.
>
>Every change has its trade-offs of benefits and disadvantages.  If we
>could sum them all up and establish one numeric rating of "pollution",
>then we could determine if a given technology actually prevented
>pollution compared to another for a given unit of production.
>
>Since there is no easy indicator, industry relys on the costs society
>places on each raw material and waste stream.  ... <snip> ...
>
There is a problem with the term P2 as Mike says in his first paragraph. Are
we stuck with it? We use the term "waste minimization" but would like to
conform.

I use a rather neat and quite simple procedure to arrive at a numerical
index of environmental impact to compare different options. For each
possible configuration, a figure per possible impact and an overall figure.
This helps the company to understand the trade-offs, but you still have to
calculate the total cost impacts because that is still what will usually
determine what they will do in the end.

Regards,
Graham Noble
Noble Environmental c.c.
261 Brook Street, Brooklyn 0181, Pretoria, South Africa
Tel: +27828522030; Fax: +27 12 3622607