Search results for "Cleaner production"
showing 6 items of 6 documents
Municipal waste management in Sicily: practices and challenges.
2006
There are numerous problems yet to be solved in waste management and although efforts towards waste recovery and recycling have been made, landfills are still the most common method used in the EU and many other industrialised countries. Thermal disposal, particularly incineration, is a tested and viable alternative. In 2004, only 11% of the annual waste production of Italy was incinerated. Sicily, with over five million inhabitants, is the second largest region in Italy where waste management is now a critical problem. The use of landfills can no longer be considered a satisfactory environmental solution; therefore, new methods have to be chosen and waste-toenergy plants could provide an a…
Environmental management of granite slab production from an industrial ecology standpoint
2014
Abstract The granite production chain is high energy and water intensive with low resource efficiency. This paper focus on characterizing the potential for environmental improvement of the granite production chain by promoting the optimization of sawing technology, the implementation of rainwater harvesting (RWH) and the material recovery of wasted granite (sludge). The environmental performance of multi-blade gangsaw (MBGS) and diamond multi-wire saw (DMWS) technologies is compared by mean of life cycle assessment. Results demonstrate that DMWS technology contribute 30% of water savings, 40% of energy savings and 80% of material savings per square meter of polished granite tiles (60 x 40 x…
Urban Waste as Resource for Sustainable Environment
2013
The emerging model of waste disposal, develops an integrated approach based on waste reduction, selection, recycling, energy recovery and residual use of landfill. Here we discuss the fundamentals of a proper planning of waste disposal system, specially the thermal recovery, the integration and the methodological approach, either from the environmental and economic point of view. The growing demand for energy, the resulting environmental problems due to satisfy the demand for energy and the complex-economic system, necessitate the study of new technologies such as energy from municipal solid waste (MSW) obtaining as a result of decrease huge mass of solid waste to sanitary landifill and emi…
Towards a more sustainable food Supply chain: opening up invisible waste in food service
2016
Future challenges to the global food supply chain are complex. In order to embrace sustainability, companies should change their management practices towards more efficient resource use. Food waste being a misuse of resources, we identify its causes and possible ways of minimising it. To achieve this goal, we conducted explorative research with qualitative and quantitative data through in-depth semi-structured interviews and an open questionnaire with top Spanish food service companies. Results show that most businesses mainly tend to minimise food waste according to economic criteria, without taking into account the social, ethical or environmental factors. As a consequence, just “visible”…
Environmental management of granite slab production from an industrial ecology standpoint
2014
The granite production chain is high energy and water intensive with low resource efficiency. This paper focus on characterizing the potential for environmental improvement of the granite production chain by promoting the optimization of sawing technology, the implementation of rainwater harvesting (RWH) and the material recovery of wasted granite (sludge). The environmental performance of multi-blade gangsaw (MBGS) and diamond multi-wire saw (DMWS) technologies is compared by mean of life cycle assessment. Results demonstrate that DMWS technology contribute 30% of water savings, 40% of energy savings and 80% of material savings per square meter of polished granite tiles (60 x 40 x 2 cm) pr…
Integrated approach to the assessment of waste management systems within the SEA framework
2007
This paper addresses the problem of evaluating the environmental performances of Urban Waste Systems. Specifically, the paper refers to the crucial problem of environmentally analysing the Urban Waste System Management Process. The application of the Dashboard of Sustainability has been deliberately suggested. The method has been selected because of its intrinsic simplicity and because it can provide the simultaneous evaluation of indicators which refer to different fields, such as the Environment, Economics and Quality in Institutional Services. The method has been applied to the city of Palermo. The results obtained have been compared to a couple of ideal scenarios.