A Zero Waste Society

Garbage is waste products provoked by the end of the useful life of an object. And it is one of the major problems seen here in the Philippines causing water and air pollution as well as massive floods and others. Everyday ton of garbage is produced by cities and other municipalities. But have we considered what will happen to this garbage. Yes, it is true that it will be collected and transferred to an open landfill that are now exposed as ticking time bombs due to the improper disposal and segregation of waste products resulting to chemical reaction happening between them. Furthermore, excessive waste products are covering and ruining our remaining natural resources. And it is soon that our landfills will be filled without no alternatives for waste management. Hence, many firms, government, and non-government agencies have been working hand-in-hand in pursuit to find best solutions for the aggravating number of garbage in our landfills.

Can you imagine garbage turned into a renewable green energy?

Coca Cola's Renewable Energy for Plants

      Coca Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc. (CCBPI) has been using a renewable source of energy for its plants since 2009. This is in line with the company’s commitment to improve energy efficiency within the company’s manufacturing and distribution processes. The technology uses discarded rice hulls or ipa in which 365 kg of such can generate one ton of steam. Coca Cola is in partnership with Amertech Industrial Ventures in harnessing energy from rice hulls at high combustion efficiency. A patented steam boiler is used to utilize renewable energy biomass from these wastes.

Let's Talk About: DEZEEN & EKOKOOK

       When I was looking for pictures about industry symbiosis, this interesting one caught my eye. As I followed the url of this attention-seeker-yet-in-a-good-way photo, I was directed to an article entitled " Ekokook by Faltazi" in a website called DEZEEN. 

Cleaner Production in the Automotive Industry

Ford Starts Going Green

A number of technologies were investigated to replace the caustic process, including shot blasting, sand blasting, fluidized bed stripping and chemical stripping. After careful consideration, a process utilizing a high pressure jet of water operating at 15,000-20,000 pounds per square inch was chosen. The water jet undercuts the paint and lifts it off the skid. The paint residue, in the form of flakes and suspended particulate matter, is separated from the water by a filtration process and then disposed of in the general waste stream. The company is still evaluating the possibility of recycling the water in the cleaning process.

Going Green Starts at Home

       Many people did not know that if they go green, they will save money on their electric bills. It is also very beneficial to the environment for those that did not know that. Electricity and water stripping is an important thing to do in your home, if you want to save your electric bills. Cathode fluorescent light bulbs are a very good way to save money on your electric bills. They also last 10 times longer than the average light bulb. This is definitely a good investment, because you will begin to see the positive effects on your bill within time. Appliances that are plugged up but not in use, is a big waste of time and money. This affects your electric bill whether you know it or not. They should be unplugged if you want to save on your electric bills. Ceiling fans can save a lot of money during the summer time instead of running the AC. These are just some of the many tips on how to save money on your bills and also help our mother earth by going green. 

SOURCES :

http://www.cleanerproduction.com/2011/08/09/how-going-green-will-save-your-electric-bills/#more-9
http://leopiliyandala.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/save-elctricity1.gif

Cleaner Production in the Philippines

Cleaner production concept is just starting in our country. In 2009, the European Union’s SWITCH-Asia Program started Green Philippines Islands of Sustainability (GPIoS). This project was launched to improve environmental and sustainable industrial development of Metro Manila and CALABARZON Regions in the Philippines. Workshops and consultations were done based on three philosophies of balance (social, economic, and environmental benefits). 2010-2011 is the first year of project implementation which has 95 participating companies. Companies who participated proved to have savings on energy and water, minimize waste, and earn extra profit. The link below shows the participating companies’ success stories:

http://greenphilippines.com.ph/newgpios/?page_id=37/

           It’s a good thing that the local government with the help of SWITCH-Asia, a program by EuropeAid, continues to influence companies in our country to embrace the concept of cleaner production. The video below shows the project of SWITCH-Asia in Cebu.

DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEAR POWER IN THE PHILIPPINES… AGREE OR DISAGREE?

" It's very important that we have an effective way to communicate with the public the seriousness of a nuclear accident." - Scott Burnell, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Spokesman

A Profitable and Competitive Industry

DID YOU KNOW?

.. that there is an environmental project by the collaboration of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Department of Trade and Industry( DTI) which seeks to enhance business competitiveness in the global market through environmental management. And that environmental project is known as.. 

EPIC (Environmental Management Programme for Industry Competitiveness).

Green Building

Recycled and recyclable – steel closes the loop on the way toward more sustainable construction.

Manufacturing companies producing cellphones, paints, plastics and other objects are not the only participant encouraged to assess a product life cycle. A product life cycle begins in the acquisition of raw materials, the manufacturing process, its packaging and transportation, its usage, and the end of life. Hence, the end life of the product must be considered in the first place. This will enable the company to become aware of its environmental impact on the planet and human health. This may also allow them to create and develop measures on how to reduce or eliminate them beforehand.

DID YOU KNOW THAT.. even construction companies are considering “green building”.

Industrial Engineers for Cleaner Production

       As I look for topics about cleaner production, I was led to a link which really caught my attention. It contains an article which is about us, Industrial Engineers, and our contribution in promoting cleaner production in the Philippines.  

“UN looks to IEs for cleaner production: Philippine IIE is a partner in 
caring for the environment.”

Cleaner Production Concept

       Cleaner production as explained in the video above is a strategy of minimizing waste through different approaches to help sustain the environment. Waste can be prevented or at least be lessen by improving or modifying production processes, acquiring more efficient equipment, obtaining better technology, using more environmentally friendly materials, reusing materials, making possible by-products, and recycling products. These are just some of the methodologies towards cleaner production.

RESPONSIBLE WAY OF DISPOSING OUR MATERIALS --- REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

        Some of us are still not consumed about the fact that reducing waste will help solve problems of energy, pollution, as well as jobs because recycling creates more jobs than disposing.

A Brief Introduction to Industrial Ecology

What Is Industrial Ecology (IE)?

       Industrial ecology is a new and innovative strategy for a sustainable industry. Achieving a sustainable industry means meeting a firm’s financial bottom line without compromising the state of its surrounding physical environment. Industrial ecology focuses on the interaction of industrial systems and the ecological systems. In the industrial setting, the process involves designing industrial systems to minimize waste and maximize cycling of materials and energy. As far as possible, production systems, instead of the conventional linear fashion, are closed. This is to prevent the loss of energy or useful materials. Industrial ecology seeks to optimize the total materials cycle from virgin materials to finished material product, and to ultimate disposal

          -- Excerpt from IE FAST FACTS, The Philippines' Portal on Industrial Ecology

The Baker's Way

What is Clean Production?

Clean production is any practice which eliminates at source the use or formation of hazardous substances through the use of non hazardous chemicals in production processes, or through product or process redesign, and thereby prevents releases of hazardous substances into the environment by all routes, directly or indirectly. -BEVERLEY THORPE (June 2009)

      Manufacturers that adhere to be a part of cleaner production program certainly give the company a competitive advantage over others. Through improvement actions, a company can save up to thousands of money or more per year. 

       Here is a site which tells about how a bakery situated in Norway improves its processes, optimizes energy, water, and other resource consumption while reducing their wastes. 
        You may read: 

http://infohouse.p2ric.org/ref/10/09473.htm

(Image of the Bakery in Norway)

Halvorsens Conditori