Saving money and waste, industries make green chemistry a serious business.
Convenience can be costly—to the environment. The hidden cost of plastic gallon milk bottles, for example? Four pounds of waterborne waste and 27 pounds of airborne emissions for every thousand made.

But what if we could have the bottles without the mess?

That's what green chemistry is about, says Bill Glaze, former chair of environmental sciences and engineering at UNC-CH's School of Public Health and current head of the Carolina Environmental Program.

In a broad sense, green chemistry includes anything that improves our quality of life and helps the environment, Glaze says. But, in the narrow sense, green chemistry refers to industry and implies pollution prevention rather than clean-up. "It means applying new chemistry—new science, in general—to deliver the products and services we are used to, but in a more environmentally friendly way," he says.

The work began in the 1970s, when new environmental laws required industry to curb pollution, Glaze says. Companies cut back by recycling chemicals, substituting less hazardous materials, or using the byproducts created during manufacturing.

Some companies saved a lot of money with this kind of "housekeeping," Glaze says, and their success encouraged others to start or expand their own pollution-reduction programs. Now, such programs are standard.

But further reductions probably will depend on decreasing the need for hazardous chemicals in the first place, he says.

One approach is to abandon the old ways of making products and start over. Joe De-Simone's ground-up enterprise is a good example.

But in many industries, there are no alternate technologies yet. Companies must clean up their current processes, which means breaking them down, identifying the dirty steps, and handling each problem individually. That's called control technology, and it's the kind of work Glaze has been doing for 20 years for waste-water treatment facilities.

For instance, the traditional approach to treatment has been to combine waste from many sources and let microbes break down the toxins, Glaze says. But different sources contribute different pollutants, and some can't be treated with microbes. The new approach is to treat sources individually, maybe add a filter to remove a certain toxin, or use chemicals to pre-treat the waste from another source. The goal is to increase efficiency and, ultimately, "zero discharge"—not releasing anything from the main plant.

"Zero discharge is an inspirational goal," Glaze says. "It challenges every operating unit to devise ways to best handle its own problem."

And, with any luck, that approach will mean industry can take care of the environment and still furnish the luxuries that come with technology.

© Copyright 1998 Endeavors magazine. All rights reserved.
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