ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
23
<< Continued from page 21
played by cleaner production initiatives that focus on reducing
overall water use, closing the water cycle, eliminating wastewater
discharge (zero discharge), and reducing or eliminating solvents
and toxic chemicals (UNEP, 2010).
Cleaner production through green industry creates value by
lowering operational costs through the elimination of inefficiencies
by using the 3R strategy (reduce, recycle, reuse), which also
helps limit environmental impacts (UNIDO, 2010). For example,
the UNIDO Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technology (TEST)
programme has targeted wastewater pollution from industry on
the Danube River, with the goal of improved water efficiency and
less wastewater discharges, by analysing the issues and problems
and introducing cleaner production solutions and new technology
(UNIDO, 2011).
Resource efficiency and enhanced environmental performance
have even been shown to generate economic benefits for
certain SMEs. More broadly speaking, cleaner production has
an important place in industrial ecology, which also includes
pollution control, eco-efficiency, life-cycle thinking and closed
loop production. These allow the identification of opportunities
for enhanced resource efficiency and value-adding activities.
The ultimate goal is zero discharge — the situation in which all
water is recycled within a plant or traded to another, and the only
consumption is through evaporation, which in theory means all the
wastewater is used or recycled and there is no discharge (except
for minor losses).
At that point, water withdrawal (intake) equals consumption
(WWAP, 2006). However, the Jevons Paradox6 can take effect: as
water efficiency improves, overall water use may in fact increase,
with lower cost of production and corresponding increased
industrial output. Once an industry knows its water footprint
and pedigree, it can target its wastewater generation to look for
possibilities of water reuse and recycling.
Moreover, it can expand its efforts into water neutrality
(Hoekstra, 2008), which means that after the industry has
made efforts to use or recycle its wastewater, the negative
impacts of remaining water pollution can be compensated
for by investing in projects that promote the sustainable
management of water (i.e. wastewater treatment) within
local environments. Thus, wastewater might also be seen as
resource for promoting investment. In the nineteenth century,
William Stanley Jevons argued that gains in technological
efficiency did not decrease the use of coal and other resources,
but actually increased their consumption and production
(Alcott, 2005). PA
January 2019 Volume 25 I Number 1