Introduction to Waste Stream Management: Gaseous Waste
Gaseous wastestreams present a unique set of challenges. Air pollutants can travel far from their point of origin, causing a variety of health and environmental problems. A range of treatments, including physical, chemical, thermal and biological,...
Pollution Prevention: Bridging Troubled Water: Alternative Pulp and Paper Bleaching Technology
Facing a lawsuit charging it with discharging toxic effluent in the water off the coast of northern California, Louisiana Pacific knew it needed to change the way its pulp mills operated. Even though it successfully met the mandates of the lawsuit ...
Pollution Prevention: Clearing the Air: Case Study: Alternative Dry Cleaning Solvents
Like many other neighborhood businesses, such as the local bakery, auto body shop and photo finishing lab, dry cleaners nearly always have fewer than 20 employees. And yet, like these other small businesses, dry cleaners generate significant toxic ...
Pollution Prevention: Clearing the Air: Industrial Ecology and Pollution Prevention
In the years following the first Earth Day and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, regulatory goals focused on "end-of-pipe" solutions to capture and treat waste before it contaminated the environment, but did little to address...
Physical Treatment Technologies: Waste and Emissions Standards
In the past, when the waste load was light, nature's ways of purifying itself were sufficient. However, the amount of waste generated by contemporary society has overburdened these restorative powers. As a result, regulations now control the quant...
Social Responsibility and Profitability
One reason some organizations are hesitant to adopt social responsibility programs is cost. The argument here is that profit is the cornerstone on which a business is built, and that additional responsibilities only jeopardize the efficiency of prof...
Thermal Treatment Technologies: Risks and Rewards of Thermal Destruction
Thermal destruction of hazardous wastes has much potential, but it has aroused much public concern, as well. Even the best such techniques are only safe and effective when they are controlled and done properly--something that is not always the case.
Introduction to Waste Stream Management: Overview and History of Pollution and Environmental Awareness
While pollution has always been part of the industrial process, environmental accountability is relatively new. The founding of the Environmental Protection Agency and the introduction of basic measures to standardize emissions and treatment of liq...
Introduction to Waste Stream Management: Liquid Waste
In the past, some of the major sources of water pollution have been landfills, underground storage tanks, and untreated effluent. Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA sets industry-specific discharge limitations for water pollutants. Treatment metho...
On the Coast: Protecting the Coastal Environment
Given the extensive use of the coast by humans, the task of protecting the coastal environment is enormously challenging.