Can your business curb pollution?

As people start to understand the importance of a green planet, business managers are looking for ways to reduce the carbon footprint of the entities they run because they want to reduce the amount of damage their companies do to the environment. As a business manager is paramount to be in a proactive search of methods to stop waste and to curb the pollution your venture produces. Manufacturing businesses are no strangers to waste and pollution and they are the first ones that should look for a way to better their practices. 

The Guardian newspaper decided to use the phrase climate crisis instead of climate change to highlight how severe the problems the environment is facing are. Greta Thunberg may have been a source of inspiration for people worldwide to start fighting for a better world. Media outlets, governments and businesses have started to take environmental problems more seriously and they are pressing the society to make efforts to stop pollution. 

To support you switch to greener operations here are some ways you can preserve the environment. 

Rethink your operations

The best way to prevent pollution is to stop waste from occurring. Some processes are necessary to deliver the products you manufacture, but you can perform them less frequently or find solutions to make them more sustainable. It’s recommended to ask yourself the following questions to understand if you can improve the overall efficiency of the facility. 

• Can you clean equipment without using environmentally-dangerous solvents?

• Can you adjust your equipment to use more efficiently materials?

• Do you have to change the oil in all your equipment pieces?

• Do you have to clean the facility as frequent as you do it now?

• Can you edit documents on your computers rather than using paper?

• Can you mix leftovers and create new products?

Products and buildings can be made more resource-efficient by incorporating sustainable considerations into their design. 

If you rethink the processes, you can cut production waste and reduce costs and pollution. You need to determine if all processes are essential to your daily operations and select the ones that can occur less frequently. 

Change materials if possible

By using alternative materials you can prevent waste generation, hazardous dissipation, air pollution, and health risks. You need to asses each of the materials you use, and check for healthier solutions that can substitute them. But before switching to alternative materials ensure that the new ones do the job as good as the old one and they don’t produce toxic waste. Also, check if by using new materials you can operate the same equipment or you need to purchase additional one. 

Consider the following questions before ordering new materials.

• Do alternative materials work as well as the old ones?

• Do substitutes produce different types of waste or releases?

• Do you need additional investment to introduce the new materials in the workflow?

• Are your employees trained to use the new materials?

When you look for substitutes ensure your purchasing department is looking for the materials that produce less pollution. And only because some materials promise to be green at affordable rates it doesn’t mean they are the less expensive ones. They can require additional equipment or staff training to use them. 

Sometimes switching to new equipment is the best solution because it improves the entire workflow and it helps you reduce the footprint your business has. Before ordering fume extraction systems you need to consider the entire life cycle of the product and understand what features the tool needs. The provider needs to understand what your needs are to deliver the best product that helps you manage costs and curb pollution. 

Reuse materilsOnly because some materials can no longer be used for manufacturing new products it doesn’t mean you should throw them to trash. Whenever possible reuse the materials to reduce waste generation. If the leftover materials are of no use to you, try to sell them to other companies because many businesses prefer to use recycled materials.

• If you want to reuse water, you’ll need a special permit, but you can utilize it for pre-rising or irrigation. 

• Repurpose all cardboard boxes or send them to a recycling centre. 

• Waste exchange is another solution that can help you reduce the level of pollution your business produces.    

Simple guidelines to get started

You want to create a pollution program for your business, but you may not know what the main steps are. Because you are top management, you should establish a P2 policy that establishes how to complete operations. P2 or pollution prevention includes the practices companies and individuals can adopt to reduce, eliminate and prevent pollution at its source. The environmental protection hierarchy is the following: 

1. Pollution prevention by source reduction

2. Re-use

3. Recycling

4. Treatment

5. Disposal 

This is the preferable order of processes when trying to stop pollution. 

Don’t try to handle everything on your own, it’s wiser to designate a coordinator and involve all your employees because by making them conscious of their impact on the environment, you promote waste-reduction inside and outside your facility. 

Hire an expert to asses your processes and identify pollution sources. They will tour your facility and collect information that will show what’s the waste source. Waste can come in various forms, energy, materials, water or hazardous waste. 

The assessment will deliver some recommendations you need to follow to improve your operations’ efficiency. Most of the times, you need to eliminate the processes that generate the most waste, design recycling strategies that allow you to reuse some materials, substitute hazardous substances with less-toxic ones, and purchase materials harvested from eco-friendly sources. By collaborating with companies specialised in extracting hazardous fumes you prevent air pollution. 

The humankind isn’t near ending pollution. But businesses worldwide can act as innovators because they have the needed resources to prevent pollution and create a cleaner future. Both average people and corporations should contribute to the process, to ensure a healthy future for the planet.