The Impact of Environmental Legislation on Manufacturing

The Clean Air and Water Acts have dramatically impacted the way American manufacturing conducts its business. “End-of-pipe”: control of the more obvious pollutants resulting from production processes is now well established. What is less apparent is the impact of third generation environmental legislation on process operations, choice of materials and even choices among alternate production technologies. Pollution minimization at source becomes increasingly important as we become concerned with refractory materials which are toxic in small amounts and expensive or impossible to treat by conventional means. Environmental control is seen more and more as a multi-media effort reaching to the very heart of the factory, involving all aspects of the production process and having implications in the area of product design itself.