Pollution prevention opportunity assessment: Foundation of pollution prevention for waste management

摘要

The objective of this paper is to promote the Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessment (PPOA) technique as a fundamental of pollution prevention for waste management. All key elements of an effective PPOA program are presented. These key elements include impacts of environmental laws on pollution prevention, PPOA concepts and overview, waste minimization opportunities assessment, reporting and monitoring waste minimization progress, and PPOA program implementation. As environmental laws evolve the focus is shifting from end-of-pipe pollution control to front-end source reduction. Waste minimization was mistakenly interpreted to mean the reduction of hazardous waste after generation in the past. The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 has clearly defined its requirement on resource reduction. Waste reduction can be viewed as a criterion to assess all industrial processes and operations. The fundamental approach of PPOA focuses on a mass balance concept. This concept deals with tracking of chemicals from the point of purchase, through storage, utilization in the process, and waste generation at the end of process. In other words, PPOA is a technique to analyze this input/output process. By applying PPOA techniques, the framework of applicable compliance requirements to the current operation process is established. Furthermore, documentation of PPOA itself can meet as documentation requirements for environmental compliance. In general, the PPOA process consists of two phases. The first phase involves input and output process description and waste characterization. The second phase is an opportunities assessment for waste minimization from input/output waste characterization. These two phases are explained in detail in the paper.