Environmental Sustainability of Products - Case Study Example

Case Analysis: Environmental Sustainability of Products Name: Student No: Lecturer: Course: Date: Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Part 1 3 Determining environmental sustainability of JTF products 3 Key environmental stakeholders 4 JTF’s significant global and local environmental impacts 6 Inputs 6 Operations 6 Output 7 Risk of civil litigation from JTF operations 7 Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environmental Permitting 2010 8 Key regulators of the organisation and its operations 9 Enforcing the relevant environmental legislation 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Environmental Sustainability of Products Introduction This paper assesses the factors organisation should consider in determining environmental sustainability of its products. Also examined include the key environmental stakeholders and what part they might play in the company’s operations. Others include the company’s significant global and local environmental impacts. Part 2 examines risk of civil litigation from the company’s operations, how the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 govern the organisation’s operations and the key regulators. Part 1 Determining environmental sustainability of JTF products Sustainable products consist of products that have social, environmental and economic advantages while at the same time protecting the environment and public health through their entire life-cycle (Epstein, M 2008, 1). Based on this premise, JTF should consider designing for sustainability to make sustainable improvements to its products through application of the aspects of life-cycle thinking. One of the factors should be customer satisfaction. JTF should ensure that its products satisfy customer needs to be able to survive in the market in the long-term. “Dual focus” is also a factor. Rather than being purely environmental products, the products should have both social and environmental significance (Epstein, M 2008, 1-5). JTF should further consider lifecycle orientation. This means that the metal components should be persistently environmental-friendly throughout their lifecycle. JTF should also consider significant improvement. This means that the sheet metal components should be able to contribute to tackling of socio-ecological problems at a global level (Clark et al 2009, 409). Environmental and social change is another factor to be considered. JTF should also ensure continuous improvement of how it supplies the steel components with regard to the environmental and social changes (Lockton, Harrison & Stanton 2009, 1-4). JTF should also consider making competing offers for the steel components to its supplies. This will ensure the products do not lag behind competing offers, hence serving as a benchmark with regard to the social and environmental performance (Epstein 2008, 1-5). Key environmental stakeholders Stakeholders consist of individuals who can be affected or affect the organisation’s decisions and operations. The company has core stakeholders, who are able to affect the organisation’s decisions given their power and legitimacy, and fringe stakeholders, who are detached from the company and may be disinterested with its operations (Epstein, M 2008, 2-4). The key stakeholders include customers, shareholders, regulators, employees, other suppliers and the neighbouring community. Shareholders: will need to communicate with the shareholders about its sustainable products and how it will sale in the market to enable them know how their money is being invested. This will enable the shareholders to appreciate the company’s environmental mission and value. Shareholders may have to make a decision to endorse the company’s environmental strategy, values and mission (Epstein, M 2008, 2-4). Customers: Customers will want to understand how the sustainable product meets their needs. New market strategies must be developed for the new products. New customer segment must also be developed. The company must also publicise its products as having a dual focus to meet both social and environmental significance (Lockton, Harrison & Stanton 2009, 1-4). Employees: Employees will want to know and understand how the new structure and system works to ensure environmental sustainability of its products. Once, they have known the strategy, trust has to be developed. The company will need to integrate the concept of sustainability into organisational culture to develop commitment from the side of the employees (Epstein, M 2008, 2-4). Suppliers: Suppliers will want to know what new strategy the company has taken and the new supplies the company may need from them. The company has to collaborate with the suppliers to ensure commitment towards its course of ensuring sustainability products. Community: The community surrounding the JTF site should be made aware that the company produces products that have no permanent damage to the surrounding river, and that the oil waste will be disposed in a different manner (Epstein, M 2008, 2-4). Trust will have to be developed with the community to ensure that the community appreciates JTF’s efforts to ensure environmental and social sustainability. JTF’s significant global and local environmental impacts Inputs JTF will have to use biofuels to mitigate local and global climate change through reduction of carbon emissions. Since biofuels also contributes to direct and indirect deforestation, it has to be supplemented with electricity. Use of electricity of fossil fuels will also reduce carbon footprint. JTF should use recycled material as the main raw material for product of sheet metal components (German, Schoneveld & Pacheco 2011, 29). Operations Use of fuel efficient hybrid vehicles to transport supplies will also reduce carbon emission. Output Since much of the raw materials and energy is recycled, the remains of the sheet metal components will remain in the company’s stock. The sheet metal will be disposed in landfills instead of the nearly river. Disposal of waste metals to the landfills is not detrimental to the environment. Rather, it is waste resource (Seppala et al. 2002, 72-73). Overall, since JTF will use high proportion of recycled waste and low carbon energy sources, it will systematically reduce its environmental footprint hence ensuring sustainable metal components (German, Schoneveld & Pacheco 2011, 29). PART 2 Risk of civil litigation from JTF operations JTF is bound by the precautionary principle, as a key element of the principles of sustainable development. The principle demands that companies should take actions to prevent environmental harm in case of uncertainty regarding its cause and extent. At the level of EU, the principle is contained in the Amsterdam Treaty (1999) and the Treaty of Maastricht (1992) that stated that environmental policy at community level should aim at high level protection based on precautionary principle (Jordan & O'Riordan 1994, 16-17; SNH 2003, 11). UK adopted the EU directive for sustainable development in 1994(Jordan & O'Riordan 1994, 19). Based on the facts of the case, JTF appears to have failed to safeguard the neighbouring community from harm by exposing the community to noise and the children to danger of the boiler steam. JTF is therefore at risk of civil litigation for failing to institute precautionary principle with regards to the exposure for failing to secure the place adequately from entry by people and animals, as the central boiler house raises steam that has the potential to harm. Noise of air pollution could also contribute to the litigation. Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environmental Permitting 2010 The Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 govern JTF’s operations through the precautionary principle (SNH 2003, 11). The UK government adopted the precautionary principle in 1994. The principle is relevant to all kinds of environmental damage. The principle was confirmed in the UK government’s sustainable development strategy in 1999, which translates the principle for integrated pollution control in the Environmental Act 1990 (Jordan & O'Riordan 1994, 19). The legislation prohibits the use of certain operational processes until they have been fitted with the relevant technology, such as for noise abatement, water pollution or air pollution. The legislations therefore govern JTF’s operations by ensuring that the emissions’ from the site are rendered inoffensive and harmless to the environment. Key regulators of the organisation and its operations The key regulators of the organisation include Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP), Local Authority Air Pollution Control (LAAPC) and Department of Environment. The Environmental Protection Act 1990 divides industrial processes into two major groups. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP) regulates large installations under IPPC. On the other hand, air emissions in England and Wales are regulated by under Local Authority Air Pollution Control (LAAPC) and Environment Agency (Farmer 2001, 8). Therefore, JTF’s installation of central boiler house that raises steam would be regulated by HMIP, to ensure that the steam emitted to the air causes no permanent damage to the environment. On the other hand, LAAPC and Department of Environment will regulate JTF’s air emission limits, to ensure that the company’s carbon footprint is reduced subject to the Department of Environment (Farmer 2001, 8). Enforcing the relevant environmental legislation In overseeing the larger installation of boilers and machinery at the company, HMIP will ensure that the required permit conditions are met by JTF. The conditions will be based on the circumstances under which the installation is carried out, such as whether the technological requirements relevant to the local conditions are met (Farmer 2001, 8-9). A more flexible approach would be through the use of Best Available Techniques Not Entailing Excessive Cost (BATNEEC) guidance standards under Integrated Pollution Control (IPPC). These will further be regulated under the local authorities and Department of Environment. JTF will be compelled by the LAAPC and Department of Environment to invest in technologies that are compliant to the regulatory requirements, and whose emissions are not volatile enough to cause permanent damage to the environment, specifically that lead to transboundary air pollution such as tropospheric ozone pollution and acidification. Where applicable, the limits will be applied within the IPPC permits to be issued by HMIP (Farmer 2001, 8-9). Conclusion In ensuring environmental sustainability of its products, JTF should consider factors such as customer satisfaction, dual focus, significant improvement, environmental and social change and making competing offers. JTF however appears to have failed to safeguard the neighbouring community from harm and is at risk of civil litigation for failing to institute precautionary principle under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010. References Clark, G, Kosoris, J, Hong, L, Crul, M 2009, "Design for Sustainability: Current Trends in Sustainable Product Design and Development," Sustainability, Vol. 1, 409-424; Epstein, M 2008, Making Sustainability Work, Daedalus Strategic Advising, Daedalus Farmer, A 2001, Industrial Regulation And Sustainable Development, A Report to the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection 2001 German, L. Schoneveld, G & Pacheco, P 2011, "Local social and environmental impacts of biofuels: global comparative assessment and implications for governance”, Ecology and Society, Vol 16 No. 4, pp29. Jordan, A & O'Riordan, A 1994, The Precautionary Principle in U.K. Environmental Law And Policy, CSERGE Working Paper GEC 94-11, viewed 25 Jan 2014, http://www.cserge.uea.ac.uk/sites/default/files/gec_1994_11.pdf Lockton, D & Harrison, D & Stanton, N 2009, Design for Sustainable Behaviour: investigating design methods for influencing user behaviour, Paper presented at Sustainable Innovation 09: Towards a Low Carbon Innovation Revolution, 14th International Conference, Farnham Castle, UK, 26-27 October 2009. Seppala, J, Koskela, S, Melanen, M & Palperi, M 2002, “The Finnish metals industry and the environment," Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 35, pp61-76 SNH 2003, Applying the Precautionary Principle to decisions on the natural heritage, Scottish National Heritage Policy Statement No. 02-01, viewed 25 Jan 2014, http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A325289.pdf Read More