Introduction to Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing
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products and processes contributing to the world's environmental degradation. This pressure will continue to rise until real solutions to these problems are developed and implemented. One class of solutions can be broadly defined as "waste management." Waste management includes site remediation, pollution control, and waste handling/ disposal. In remediation, techniques are developed for the reclamation of previously generated wastes from land, water, and air, conversion of these wastes into benign substances, and proper disposal. Remediation is the subject of intense activity throughout the United States and the world as government regulations are issued, addressing the long-term effects these wastes would have if left unattended. Pollution control uses "end-of-pipe" measures to prevent discharge of waste. Examples of control technologies include cyclone separators, electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, and particulate scrubbers.1 Although effective in preventing direct discharge of waste, these measures are often guilty of simply changing the state of the waste (i.e., converting airborne particulate waste to solid or liquid waste) and delaying, not preventing, introduction of the waste into the environment. Pollution control is very costly and does not address the root cause of environmental degradation, which is the production of waste in the first place. Fortunately, a new, forward-looking approach is rapidly being adopted by many industries that does address the root cause of pollution. It demands that producers of waste assume full responsibility for future activities, with dedication to minimize or prevent pollution at process and product levels. Rapidly becoming a household term, the concept is Environmentally Conscious
Manufacturing, or ECM. To emphasize the need for ECM or "front-end" pollution prevention, Travis and Hester suggested2 that U.S. regulatory approaches have failed in the past by seldom addressing global environmental issues, and focusing instead on exposure control and waste management. A recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce summary of proposed U.S. solid waste legislation3 partially supports this claim, indicating that primary regulatory target areas include (1) disposal and treatment of hazardous or radioactive waste, (2) interstate transport, (3) labeling and container coding, and (4) monitoring of federal facilities for compliance. Regulations in each of these areas deal with protecting those exposed to maximum levels. However, we note that other target areas cited in this report include recycling and source-reduction pollution prevention, an indication that perhaps the U.S. government is beginning to recognize the advantages of ECM. Also, the wide participation in the Montreal Protocol, the international alliance of governments (including the U.S.) whose efforts will phase out production and use of CFCs, suggests the emergence of worldwide dedication to pollution prevention and ECM. This article will outline the evolving definition of ECM and illustrate how ECM practices are bein
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