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                                         1      Basic Principles in


                                                Environmental


                                                Management




                                    1.1  PROBLEM SETTING
                                    Now and in the coming years, industry must play a paramount role with respect to
                                    the environment, not only as one of the main sources of environmental impact but
                                    also as one of the main actors in the proposal of new solutions. Industry-related
                                    environmental policy was originally intended to control emissions in various envi-
                                    ronments. It was widely thought that corrective technical measures at the end of the
                                    pipe  would sufficiently reduce environmental impact. However, as we have seen
                                    through the years, this is insufficient in stopping progressive environmental degra-
                                    dation and also lacks flexibility for an  evolving industry. On the one hand, it is
                                    necessary to take a quantitative leap in this approach, including the expression of
                                    risk; on the other hand, environmental considerations must be included in the entire
                                    range of industrial management. That means we must consider environmental impact
                                    within all phases of production, marketing, use and end of life once a product’s life
                                    is over. Figure 1.1 presents an overview of these conceptually related methods in
                                    environmental management. They will be  explained in this chapter starting with
                                    overall strategies.


                                    1.2  OVERALL STRATEGIES

                                    For the world to make substantial progress toward becoming a safer planet, it is
                                    necessary to introduce environmental considerations in all aspects of industrial
                                    management practices for all phases of production, marketing, use and end of life
                                    of a product. Based on these reflections, different general objectives have been
                                    formulated as programs that intend to encompass the idea of good environmental
                                    management as shown in Figure 1.1.

                                    1.2.1 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

                                    Sustainable development is understood as satisfying the needs of the present gen-
                                    eration without compromising the needs of future generations. Sustainability takes
                                    into account three aspects:









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