Practical Tools and Concepts for Environmental Audits and Assessments

摘要

The purpose of the paper is to discuss the use of Environmental Audits (EA),Pollution Prevention Opportunity Assessments (PPOA), and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as management tools designed to identify and evaluate waste generating activities, determine how to best manage the wastestream, implement a waste management program, and measure environmental progress. While each of these three tools are different in approach and purpose, each tool provides for an organized approach with essential elements. While EA targets environmental compliance, PPOA targets the reduction or elimination of waste generation regardless of regulatory constraints. LCA may better be described as the foundation for proving pollution prevention solutions and the measurement of pollution prevention progress.