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Legislation

Legislation. Compliance. Be aware of directives or other binding controls that affect the materials and processes you use Understand what is required to comply with the directives and controls Have (or develop) tools to make compliance as painless as possible

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Legislation

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  1. Legislation

  2. Compliance • Be aware of directives or other binding controls that affect the materials and processes you use • Understand what is required to comply with the directives and controls • Have (or develop) tools to make compliance as painless as possible • Explore ways to make compliance profitable rather than a burden; • exploit compliance information as a marketing tool for example

  3. Historical approach to environmental law • Ignore it: pretend it isn’t there. • Dilute it: make the stack taller; pump it further out to sea • Fix it where it is a problem: the “end of pipe” approach • Prevent it in the first place: The first appearance of design for the environment • Sustainable Development: life in equilibrium with the environment (where we are now)

  4. What to do • It is difficult to negotiate enforceable treaties that bind all nations of the planet to a single course of action. • Agreements, Declaration of Intents and Protocols get proposed for signature.

  5. Sources • Protcols can derive from printed materials, conferences, and other sources. • Some critical triggers for protocols are presented next

  6. 1962 • Rachel Carson, Silent Spring • Examination of the consequences of DDT and the impact of technology on the environment

  7. 1972 • Club of Rome Limits to Growth • the report that triggered the first of a sequence of debates in the 20th century on the ultimate limits imposed by resource depletion.

  8. 1972 • The Earth Summit in Stockholm • The first conference convened by the United Nations to discuss the impact of technology on the environment.

  9. Stockholm Declaration • Principle 21: The right to exploit one’s own environment

  10. 1987 • The UN World Commission on Environment and Development Our Common Future • Known as the Brundtland Report, it defined the principle of sustainability as “Development that meets the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

  11. WCED Report • Precautionary Principle: While there are possibilities of large irreversible impacts, the lack of scientific certainty should not stop preventive action from being taken

  12. 1987 • Montreal Protocol • The International Protocol to phase out the use of chemicals that deplete ozone in the stratosphere

  13. Montreal Protocol • Ozone depletion allows UV radiation to reach the surface of Earth, damaging living organisms. The culprits are typified as chloroflourocarbons (CFCs) that were widely used as refrigerants and blowing agents for polymer foams, particularly for house insulation.

  14. 1992 • Rio Declaration • An international statement of the principles of sustainability, building on those of the 1972 Stockholm Earth Summit.

  15. Rio Declaration • Principle 2: The right to development without damage to others

  16. 1998 • Kyoto Protocol • An international treaty to reduce the emissions of gases that cause climate change

  17. Kyoto Protocol • Sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European Community that have signed it, committing them to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the five year period 2008-2012

  18. 2001 • Stockholm Convention • The first of ongoing meetings to agree on an agenda for the control and phase-out of persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

  19. 2001 • IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007: The Physical Basis • This report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) establishes correlation between carbon in the atmosphere and climate change

  20. National Legislation • Usually quite dense and specific. • Four broad forms: • Setting up standards • Voluntary agreements negotiated with industry • Binding legislation that imposes requirements with penalties if they are not met • Economic instruments that seek to use market forces to induce change: taxes, subsidies, and trading schemes

  21. Standards • ISO 14000 - Environmental Management systems • ISO 14040, 41, 42, 43 - broad procedures for the steps shown in a previous lecture about life cycle assessment • ISO 14025 - guides reporting LCA data as an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) or Climate Declaration (CD)

  22. ISO 14025 • Communicate information about environmental performance of products as a “declaration” • The data used must follow ISO 14040 family and validated by 3rd party. • The EPD describes the output of a full LCA or part of one. • The CD is limited to emissions that contribute to global warming: CO2, CO, CH4, and N2O

  23. Voluntary Agreements and binding legislation • Aimed to internalize costs and conserve materials • Increase manufacturers’ responsibilities.

  24. US RCRA • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, EPA 1976 • Protect the public from harm caused by waste disposal • Encourage reuse, reduction and recycling • Clean up spilled or improperly stored waste

  25. The solid waste program, under RCRA Subtitle D, encourages states to develop comprehensive plans to manage nonhazardous industrial solid waste and municipal solid waste; sets criteria for municipal solid waste landfills and other solid waste disposal facilities; and prohibits the open dumping of solid waste. • The hazardous waste program, under RCRA Subtitle C, establishes a system for controlling hazardous waste from the time it is generated units its ultimate disposal – in effect, from "cradle to grave". • The underground storage tank (UST) program, under RCRA Subtitle I, regulates underground storage tanks containing hazardous substances and petroleum products.

  26. US EPA 35/50 CFR • Code of Federal Regulation (1988), protection of the environment identified 16 priority chemicals with the aim of reducing industrial toxicity by voluntary action over a 10 year period

  27. EC 1999/13 VOCs (1999) • The European Directive EC 1999/13 • limit the emissions of VOCs from organic solvents and carriers • organic-based paints • industrial cleaning fluids, etc. • Compliance mandatory since 2007.

  28. EC 2000/53 ELV • End-of-life Vehicles: EC Directive establishes rules for recovering materials from “dead” cars. • Initial target: recycling/reuse of 80% by weight & safe disposal of hazards (2006) • By 2015, 85%. • Encourages re-engineering

  29. RoHS 2002 • Hazardous Substances Directive (2002) • Restriction Of the use of Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment • EU market ban for new equip containing more than certain amount of Pb, Cd, Hg, Hexavalent Cr, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE)

  30. WEEE 2002 • Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. EU directive seeks to increase recovery, recycling, and reuse of electronic equipment. • Producers must finance collection, recovery, and safe disposal of products with certain recycling targets. • Products failing to meet the requirement must be marked accordingly.

  31. WEEE 2002

  32. EuP 2003 • Energy using Products; EU. Establishes framework for ecodesign requirements for energy consuming products. • Manufacturers “shall demonstrate that they have considered the use of energy in their product as it relates to materials, manufacture, packaging, transport, and distribution, use, and end of life. For each of these the consumption of energy must be assessed and steps to minimize it identified.”

  33. REACH 2006 • Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemical Substances. EC Directive, June 2007, phased in over 11 years. • Places responsibility on manufacturers to manage risks from chemicals and find substitutes for bad one. • List has 30,000 compounds on it. • Affects anyone using more than 1 ton/year.

  34. REACH 2006 • Mfgs in Europe and importers into Europe must register restricted substances with a detailed technical dossier. • List properties and assessment of environmental and health impact, and risk-reduction measures adopted. • Without pre-registration, it is illegal for mfgs and importers to place substances on market.

  35. Economic Instruments

  36. Economic instruments manipulate market forces to influence the behavior of consumers and manufacturers in ways that are more subtle and effective than conventional controls, and they generally do so at a lower cost. • UK Dep’t for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

  37. Green Taxes • Landfill tipping fees: $10-40/ton in US (depends on state); $80/ton in UK • Fuel tax: varies by state and country (in US, $0.46 fed + $0.27 state/gal = $$0.73/gal. Holland: $3.50/gal) • Aggregate tax (US: nominal; $0.04/ton; EU $3.00/ton) • Emissions tax (varies) • Deposit on bottles and cans

  38. New Taxes • Does not guarantee environmental outcome • Some will just pay the tax • People don’t trust governments to use the tax money responsibly

  39. Trading Schemes • Create a market for sustainability • Kyoto Meeting 1987 addressed a market for emissions. • Allows participants to buy and sell permits for emissions or credits for reduction in emissions for certain pollutants

  40. Emissions Trading • The Regulator determines total acceptable emissions and divides into tradable units called permits. • These are allocated to participants based on their actual carbon emissions at some chosen point in time.

  41. Emissions Trading • Emissions from a particular company vary up and down with time. • Improved efficiencies can drop the emissions • Increased product demand/sales can increase emissions

  42. Emissions Trading • A company that emits more than its allocated allowances must purchase allowances from the market. • This gives companies flexibility in determining their approach to emissions while still meeting a target value determined by the Regulator.

  43. Emissions Trading • Companies that reduce emissions can sell their allowances and get financial benefit for reduced pollution as well as environmental.

  44. Emissions Credits • Offset carbon release (for example) by purchasing credits in activities that sequester carbon; or replace fossil fuels with alternatives • plant trees, solar power, tidal power...

  45. Emissions Offsets • Offsetting provides an excuse for companies to continue to pollute as usual, passing to cost to the customer • The scheme only works if the mitigation project runs its planned life. Trees typically need 50-80 years - if they are felled prematurely the offset is not achieved. • It is hard to verify that credit payments actually reach the projects.

  46. Carbon Offsets http://www.hulu.com/embed/vr_ICWQceZZUxKs-a_iLew

  47. The Consequences

  48. Some challenges • Documentation of the use of any of 30,000 listed chemicals • Analysis of energy and materials in all energy-use products • Finding substitutes for VOCs and other restricted substances • Mandatory take-back, disassembly, and acceptable disposal of a large range of products.

  49. Increased Mfg Responsibility Standards e.g. ISO 14000 Product Manufacture Rising cost of energy Resource taxes Service provision replacing sales Natural Resources Material Production Product Use Redistribution enabled by IT Takeback Legislation End of First life Landfill tax

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