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              Pollution Prevention from Chemical Processes                                                597
































                      FIGURE 6  Comparison between the increase in federal environmental laws and the U.S. population with time.

              times that of the United States population. In 1960, there  1.  The increasing number and scope of environmental
              were only 3 federal environmental laws on the books; now  regulations and laws.
              there are more than 30. This does not even include the  2.  Ability to save money and reduce emissions or
              much larger number of state environmental laws. Figure 6  conserve energy.
              shows both the population growth in the United States  3.  The rising cost and changing nature of regulations of
              and the number of federal environmental laws and regu-  waste treatment.
              lations as a function of time. The reality is that laws and  4.  Greater government oversight and control of business
              regulations use command and control to force industry to  operations.
              comply.                                           5.  More awareness by corporations in the value of
                Toward  the  end  of  the  1980s,  many  more  industries  pollution prevention to the business bottom line and
              were beginning to turn to pollution prevention as a means  to the customer.
              of avoiding the installation of expensive end-of-the pipe  6.  The heightened awareness in society of the need for
              treatment systems. It was becoming clear to many that the  sustainability of the planet.
              succession of increasingly stringent regulations with time
              would ultimately lead to a complex, expensive series of  The first and second major drivers for pollution preven-
              treatment devices at the end of a manufacturing process,  tion, as described above, are regulations and laws and the
              each with its own set of maintenance and performance  cost of waste treatment. Extrapolation of the two curves
              issues.                                           in Fig. 6 would imply that future laws and regulations
                Those  industries  and  businesses  which  began  to  ac-  will be even more stringent and, if solved by end-of-pipe
              cept  and  implement  pollution  prevention  solutions  in-  treatment, even more costly.
              stead of treatment found that they not only reduced waste  Figure 7 shows conceptually the cost incurred by the
              generation,  but  they  also  made  money.  As  a  result  of  business to generate waste versus the amount of waste pro-
              these experiences, various governmental agencies began  duced by a manufacturing process. Along the right-hand
              to incorporate pollution prevention requirements into new  portion of the cost/waste curve, some processes are far to
              environmental laws. Congress recognized that “source re-  the right, whereas others are closer to the conceptual min-
              duction is fundamentally different and more desirable than  imum. The goal of pollution prevention is to move expedi-
              waste management and pollution control,” and passed the  tiously toward the conceptual minimum while continuing
              Pollution Prevention Act in 1990.                 to be cost-effective. The “economic zero,” as indicated
                Corporate  experience  has  shown  that  the  six  major  by the vertical dashed line, is the point where the slope
              drivers for pollution prevention are:             of the curve reverses itself and normally becomes very
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