While the term can have many meanings depending on context, sustainability as it relates to environmental compliance and stewardship is based on the fundamental principle that everything that humans need for survival and welfare depends, directly or indirectly, on the natural environment. To pursue sustainability is to develop and upkeep the conditions under which humanity and nature can exist in gainful harmony to support current and future generations.

In business terms, sustainability can be described as managing a company’s triple bottom line of people, planet, and prosperity; in other words, sustainability speaks to the social, environmental, and financial obligations and opportunities facing every organization.

When business initiatives are centered on all three of these pillars of sustainability, the advantages and ongoing effects often extend far beyond any single project. Incorporating sustainability into everyday decision-making can greatly improve business opportunities, even if a project does not cross all three pillars. Sustainable thinking positions a business to be more efficient with resources, more resilient to change, and more competitive in the marketplace.

• Sustainability looks at the connection between environmental considerations and social and financial effects.

The World Commission on Environment and Development defines sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Sustainability does not mean “no growth,” rather it considers the environmental effect of each developmental stage, whether the growth occurs on a national, local, or individual business level. Sustainability looks at the connection between environmental considerations and social and financial effects.

Additionally, sustainability is a holistic concept. It is not the same idea as “going green.” While green ideas can indeed be sustainable, they are typically only applied to the environmental or health impacts of an individual product instead of a system. Evaluating the sustainability of a system can include energy, transportation and logistics, waste and recycling, water, wastewater, and various supplies.

A sustainable business is one that includes the following qualities:

• Includes “green thinking” in the company culture;
• Removes inefficiencies;
• Lessens its impact on the environment;
• Streamlines its processes;
• Imagines and strategizes long-term;
• Evolves and transforms alongside new information in a changing world; and
• Pursues ongoing improvement.

• Environmental, social, and economic are the three pillars of sustainability, with six different overarching topics in each pillar.

A sustainable approach is a systems-based approach that links interactions among environmental, social, and economic pillars to better comprehend the effects of our actions. Within each of the three pillars of sustainability there are six different overarching topics.

Topics to support the Environmental pillar of sustainability:

1. Ecosystem preservation: Protect, support, and restore the health of crucial natural habitats and ecosystems.
   1. Example: Progressive nutrient management techniques (i.e., green infrastructure and agriculture)
2. Green engineering and chemistry: Outline chemical products and processes to remove toxic hazards, reuse or recycle chemicals, and reduce entire lifecycle costs.
   1. Example: Redesigning products to require coatings with low or zero toxics
3. Air quality: Meet and maintain air-quality standards and lower the risks associated with toxic air pollutants.
   1. Example: Investigate reduction strategies for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
4. Water quality: Lessen exposure to contaminants in water systems and infrastructure (including source water protection), retrofit aging systems, and install next generation treatment technologies and approaches.
   1. Example: Purpose-driven water reuse and treatment technologies
5. Stressors: Lessen impacts by stressors (e.g., pollutants, GHG emissions, genetically modified organisms) to the ecosystem and at-risk populations.
   1. Example: Determine fate of altered nanoparticles from process discharges
6. Resource integrity: Lessen negative effects by reducing waste generation to prevent accidental release and associated cleanup.
   1. Example: Take advantage of new technologies and processes to prevent environmental effects

Topics to support the Social pillar of sustainability:

1. Environmental justice: Protect the health of communities over-burdened by pollution by enabling them to better their health and environment.
   1. Example: Initiate partnerships with local, state, tribal, and federal organizations to accomplish healthy and sustainable communities
2. Human health: Protect, maintain, and improve human health.
   1. Example: Use models to predict toxicological impacts of products
3. Participation: Use open and clear processes that engage applicable stakeholders.
   1. Example: Create a database of reduced-risk pesticides for regularly used products
4. Education: Enhance sustainability education of the general public, stakeholders, and possibly affected groups.
   1. Example: Provide educational material to students and communities to learn about sustainability
5. Resource security: Protect, upkeep, and restore access to principal resources (e.g., water, food, land, and energy) for present and future generations.
   1. Example: Examine impact of dispersants/oil combination on natural waterways
6. Sustainable communities: Encourage the development, planning, building, or modification of communities to advance sustainable living.
   1. Example: Landscape with native plant species

Topics to support the Economic pillar of sustainability:

1. Jobs: Improve and maintain present and future jobs.
   1. Example: Encourage job creation through introduction of progressive technologies and practices that give multiple advantages to communities and the environment
2. Incentives: Encourage incentives that work with human nature to promote sustainable practices.
   1. Example: Collaborative urban stormwater management approaches
3. Supply and demand: Encourage informed accounting and market practices to advocate for environmental health and social prosperity.
   1. Example: Take into consideration the lifecycle cost and benefit for each raw material used in product design
4. Natural resource accounting: Strengthen understanding and quantification of ecosystem impacts in cost-benefit analyses.
   1. Example: Conduct sustainability assessments
5. Costs: Positively influence costs of processes, services, and products throughout the entire lifecycle.
   1. Example: Aim to create waste-free processes, removing the need for regulation, treatment, and disposal costs throughout systems
6. Prices: Encourage cost structures that lower risk for innovative technologies.
   1. Example: Speed innovative technologies and methods to the market through presentation and testing with community partners

• A sustainability report is an annual document issued by a company or organization about the economic, environmental, and social effects that arise from its daily activities.
• Sustainability reporting is considered non-financial reporting and is typically voluntary.

A sustainability report is an annual document issued by a company or organization about the economic, environmental, and social effects that arise from its daily activities. A sustainability report also showcases the organization’s values and governance model and outlines the connection between its strategy and its dedication to a sustainable economy. Sustainability reporting allows organizations to consider their effects on a broad range of sustainability issues, helping them to communicate their risks and opportunities.

Public reporting of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues began decades ago with corporate environmental reporting, which later expanded to corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. CSR and ESG are basically parallel to sustainability reporting, and the terms are often used interchangeably. These sustainability reports are becoming common practice for many organizations ranging from businesses to governments to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and this reporting is considered non-financial and is typically voluntary. Organizations self-select what aspects of sustainability are addressed in their reports, and a report’s focus may be based on a variety of factors, including industry expectations, organizational principles, data quality and availability, or consumer demand. There have been some efforts in different countries, such as those in the European Union, to make ESG disclosures required for businesses that are a particular size or in specific industries.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) established a reporting framework that is now the most widely adopted model used for sustainability reporting worldwide. The framework has gone through several revisions and appeared in new iterations over the years that boost its precision and applicability. Other organizations active in the standardization of sustainability reporting include the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).

• Sustainability reporting can help an organization reduce risk, identify new business opportunities, and create a positive business reputation.

Sustainability reporting demonstrates to company stakeholders and the general public an organization’s responsibility, transparency, and honesty in how it manages its impacts on people and the environment. Reporting can help an organization pinpoint and reduce risks, identify and take advantage of new opportunities, and serve as an indicator of an organization’s accountability and trustworthiness in a world increasingly focused on sustainability. 

Business benefits that can be gained from environmental and sustainability reporting include:

• Protecting and improving the company’s reputation amid a business climate that values good environmental stewardship.
• Increasing the business’s competitive advantage with wider market appeal and improved efficiency.
• Staying ahead of regulatory developments with a proactive rather than reactive stance.
• Using the data in your reporting strategically to uncover emerging environmental issues and opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked.
• Tracking and comparing the performance and progress of sustainability initiatives against industry peers.

• CDP is a worldwide third-party system for companies to measure, disclose, maintain, and share various data and information on their energy and environmental practices.
• GRI is a non-profit organization that provides businesses with sustainability reporting guidance and keeps a database of sustainability reports.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) highlights two organizations that provide frameworks and guidance for corporate sustainability reporting (CSR) and/or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting.

CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project)

CDP is a worldwide third-party system for companies to measure, disclose, maintain, and share various data and information on their energy and environmental practices. There are thousands of companies that report each year, making CDP the world’s largest registry of corporate energy and environmental information. By finishing CDP’s questionnaires on climate change, forests, and water security, companies identify ways to manage their environmental risks as well as communicate relevant information back to customers, investors, and the market.

Global Reporting Initiative

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a non-profit organization that provides businesses with sustainability reporting guidance and keeps a database of sustainability reports. GRI has pioneered and created a comprehensive Sustainability Reporting Framework that is used around the globe and allows organizations to quantify and report their ESG performance. The GRI Standards incorporate Universal Standards and Topic Standards. Using these standards, an organization can compose and report information that targets its material topics, mirroring its major sustainability impacts.

• CSR is a management idea that examines the integration of social and environmental issues into a company’s operations.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a management idea that examines the integration of social and environmental issues into a company’s operations. Examples of activities that may be incorporated into a CSR plan include:

• Energy use in manufacturing, lighting, heating and cooling, and transportation;
• Air emissions (both direct and indirect);
• Water usage;
• Material use, reuse, and recycling programs;
• Workplace safety and health, including employee wellness programs;
• Labor conditions at international locations; and
• Community engagement and philanthropic contributions.

A company’s first step in CSR planning is to pinpoint the environmental and social concerns that align with its primary mission as well as its fiscal objectives. By choosing to do what is right for both its bottom line and the values it holds as most essential, the company will acquire significant advantages. It will be in a stronger position to lead by example, improve its brand identity, and build trust and more impactful relationships with customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, the local community, and other stakeholders. Once a company creates a CSR plan, it may set particular targets or goals and then publicly report or disclose progress in a similar way that fiscal objectives are set and reported. This will allow the company to stay on track to meet its sustainability goals and build stronger credibility among stakeholders and the public.

• There is no legal requirement to supply disclosures on ESG matters for public companies listed in the United States.
• Certain best practices can stand as a helpful guide as companies try to improve ESG disclosures.

There is significant interest in information relating to corporate sustainability and how companies are tackling and approaching applicable environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics. That interest only continues to gain momentum, and the number of companies that have decided to publish annual sustainability or ESG reports has increased greatly in recent years.

There is no legal obligation to supply disclosures on ESG matters for public companies listed in the United States. As a practical matter, though, it can be anticipated that important stakeholders, such as investors, insurance companies, lenders, regulators, and others (including the general public), will increasingly look to companies’ disclosures to investigate whether those companies have adopted ESG agendas. Even without legal requirements to disclose, when a company does report, the information disclosed becomes subject to securities laws.

Policymakers have been debating in the U.S. and around the world how companies should go about disclosing ESG information to investors as well as other stakeholders. To the extent that ESG information is material under the U.S. federal securities laws, public companies are already obligated to include it in their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Given the progress that companies have made with voluntary ESG reporting, even in the absence of required filing to a regulator or government body, many argue that regulatory requirements mandating ESG disclosures are not necessary.

To further advance the steps taken toward effective voluntary ESG disclosures, the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has created best practices regarding standalone ESG reports. These best practices can help direct the creation of a broadly accepted approach to voluntary ESG reporting without the need for further regulatory mandates. Some disclosure variability is appropriate given the shifting relevance of ESG factors from industry to industry and company to company as well as the various differences in business models, geographies, customer bases, and other considerations. The following best practices can serve as a helpful guide for companies looking to improve their ESG disclosures:

• When plausible, ESG disclosures should center on a company’s risks and opportunities that have enough potential to influence the company’s long-term operational and financial performance within the context of its primary business function(s). The disclosures should explain the company’s approach to risk management and make the connection between the reported ESG topics and the company’s value creation strategy.
• Before preparing its ESG disclosures, a company should take into account the intended audience(s) of its reports and should tweak the tone and content appropriately, taking care to highlight information that would be most helpful for investors or other ESG-oriented stakeholders.
• Preparers of ESG reports should consider how best to coordinate with applicable departments and functions within the company to verify that all appropriate information is gathered and analyzed and that diverse perspectives and inputs are taken into account. When it comes to deciding whether information is material as a matter of law, however, that assessment should be made by a company’s legal department.
• In their ESG reports, companies should define technical terms in plain English and clarify any terms that do not have a globally accepted definition.
• It is critical that companies are allowed discretion in how they report and explain ESG information. Each company should have the flexibility to decide which ESG factors and related metrics are applicable and what disclosures are purposeful for its stakeholders rather than automatically adhering to what is recognized in various third-party frameworks and standards.
• Issuers preparing ESG reports should discuss why they selected the metrics and topics they eventually disclose, including why management thinks those metrics and topics are paramount to the company’s success.
• ESG information should be easy for users to find, such as through dedicated ESG disclosure web pages and links. ESG reports need not be incorporated into SEC filings to fulfill this objective, nor should ESG information be mandatory as part of an SEC filing if it is not material present under the Supreme Court’s well-established definition of materiality for federal securities law purposes.
• A company should consider including an explanation of the company’s internal review and audit processes or any external verification of the information that the company collected.

• Sustainable manufacturing is the development of manufactured products through economically sound procedures that also minimize negative impacts on the environment.
• There are major benefits for businesses to implement sustainable manufacturing practices.

A growing number of manufacturers are seeing considerable financial and environmental benefits from implementing sustainable business practices. Sustainable manufacturing is the manufacturing of products through economically sound procedures that also minimize negative impacts on the environment. Often Sustainable manufacturing also amplifies employee, community, and overall product safety.

Major business benefits of sustainable manufacturing include the following:

• Fewer resources being consumed and production costs,
• Reduced regulatory compliance costs,
• Better sales and brand recognition,
• Increased access to financing and capital, and
• Improved employee hiring and retention.

By producing greener products, a business will be joining the ranks of companies who are not only improving outcomes for human health and the environment but are also acquiring an important competitive edge as consumer demand for greener products grows globally.

Where plausible, manufacturers should take steps to ensure their decisions do not end merely in burden shifting — that is, fixing one environmental or human health issue only to create others elsewhere. For example, choosing bio-based products may lessen fossil fuel extraction and the emission of greenhouse gases, but the cultivating and harvesting of bio-feedstocks can pollute water sources and deteriorate soil quality. Administering a life cycle approach and going further than single-issue concerns will provide insight and awareness into the upstream and downstream trade-offs.

Additionally, businesses should contemplate whether the manufacturing process could reduce its environmental footprint by reducing and/or reusing materials. This could not only help the environment by saving energy, lowering waste, and preventing pollution, but it could also find efficiencies that will save the organization money.

• Product stewardship is a product-focused approach to environmental defense.

Product stewardship is a product-focused approach to environmental defense, also commonly known as extended product responsibility (EPR). Product stewardship calls on those in the product life cycle — manufacturers, retailers, users, and disposers — to share responsibility for reducing the impact that their products have on the environment.

While product stewardship realizes that manufacturers must take on a great deal of the responsibility for reducing the environmental footprint of products, any positive change cannot be achieved by producers alone. Retailers, consumers, and the waste management infrastructure must also play a part in order to implement the most practicable, cost-effective solutions possible. Depending on the product systems, solutions and roles will almost certainly vary.

Companies that accept the challenge of product stewardship may realize significant business opportunities. By rethinking products, relationships with the supply chain, and customer needs, some manufacturers are growing their productivity, lowering costs, promoting product and market innovation, and supplying customers with additional value at a smaller cost to the environment. Phasing out the use of toxic substances, designing products for reuse and recyclability, and developing takeback programs are just some of the numerous opportunities for companies to become stronger environmental stewards of their own products. Forward-thinking businesses have realized that demonstrating corporate citizenship and efficient resource productivity are key components to developing competitive advantage and growing shareholder wealth.

• SFI is an independent, non-profit organization that provides supply chain assurances, conservation leadership, and environmental education and community engagement regarding sustainable forest management.
• SFI standards and on-product labels assist consumers in making accountable purchasing decisions.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) is an innovator in sustainability that advocates for future forests through proper forest management. SFI is an independent, non-profit organization that focuses on supply chain, community engagement, conservation leadership, and environmental education. SFI works with stakeholders in a wide range of roles - wood product manufacturers, conservation groups, governments, Indigenous peoples, resource professionals, landowners, educators, and more - to create standards and on-product labels that can assist consumers in making purchasing decisions that support sustainable forestry.

By supporting the SFI program, participating organizations and consumers can improve forest practices in the United States and fiber sourcing worldwide, as SFI-labeled products must steer clear of fiber from controversial sources (e.g., illegal logging and fiber sourced from locations without meaningful social or labor laws).

Who is eligible for certification to SFI standards?

The SFI certification program encompasses organizations throughout the wood product supply chain, from forest managers to manufacturers to distributors to printers. Certified organizations may apply to use SFI on-product labels, which are recognized worldwide and display to customers that their products are derived from sources that are sustainable, responsible, and lawful. There are three types of certification available to organizations.

• SFI forest management certification is available to any organization that owns, maintains, or otherwise manages forestland in the United States and that fulfills the forest management certification requirements in the SFI Forest Management Standard.
• SFI fiber sourcing certification provides organizations with the opportunity to showcase that the raw material in their supply chain comes from lawful and environmentally responsible sources. Organizations that certify to the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard demonstrate a commitment to biodiversity, forestry best management practices, protection of water quality, and outreach to landowners.
• SFI chain-of-custody certification is an accounting system that monitors forest fiber through production and manufacturing all the way to the final product. Certification to the SFI Chain of Custody Standard is available to organizations with processes in place to track fiber from certified forests, certified sourcing, and recycled materials through manufacturing of the product.

What are the benefits of SFI certification?

Certified SFI program participants are permitted to use SFI labels, which show corporate social responsibility (CSR) by demonstrating a commitment to sustainable forest management. It allows them to meet the increasing consumer desire for forest products from certified sourcing.

• Green building is the practice of creating structures and processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s lifecycle.
• Green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the structure on human health and the natural environment.

Green building is the practice of creating structures and processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building’s lifecycle from design, construction, and operation to maintenance, renovation, and deconstruction. This practice expands and complements the classic building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort. Green building is also known as a sustainable or high-performance building.

• Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources;
• Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity; and
• Reducing waste, pollution, and environmental degradation.

For example, green buildings may incorporate sustainable materials in their construction (e.g., materials that are reused, recycled, or made from renewable resources); create healthy indoor environments with minimal pollutants (e.g., reduced product emissions); and/or feature landscaping that reduces water usage (e.g., native plants that survive without extra watering).

On the federal level, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 included energy efficiency and sustainable design requirements for federal and other buildings. Additionally, there have been a series of Executive Orders and agency-specific rules promoting green building since the early 1990s and the federal government has instituted sustainable practices at many of its buildings.

Many state and local governments also have green building laws. These mainly applying to public buildings, though an increasing number are applicable to private buildings as well. Two third-party organizations maintain lists of green building legislation:

• American Institute of Architects’ State Legislation Tracking
• U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®)

There are also many voluntary consensus-based standards organizations that are developing standards for green buildings. The two main recognized standards in the U.S. are:

• American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International’s Technical Subcommittee E06.71 on Sustainability and Performance of Buildings, which developed several green building standards.
• The American Society for Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is partnered with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Illuminating Engineering Society of North American (IESNA) to develop Standard 189, Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®)

Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) is a green building rating system crafted by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a nationwide consensus-based organization of various government agencies, design firms, and product manufacturers and developers. The main product of the USGBC is the LEED® rating system, which is known across the United States and globally as the green building design standard. USGBC along with the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) supplies the infrastructure for improving LEED®, LEED® training, accreditation of professionals, and certification of buildings. Furthermore, it serves as a center of interest for green building professionals through conferences, a website, and subcommittee actions.

• A waste minimization plan can help a company meet goals for sustainability.
• Compacting, neutralizing, diluting, and incineration are not typically considered waste minimization practices.

Reducing, reusing, and/or eliminating waste is a major component of corporate sustainability. All organizations generate waste, and these items can range from food wrappers to fluorescent lamps to ink cartridges to cardboard boxes to manufacturing byproducts... the list is endless.

Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), facilities that generate or manage hazardous waste must certify that they have a waste minimization program in place that reduces the quantity and toxicity of hazardous waste generated to the extent economically practicable.

A waste minimization plan can help a company meet goals for sustainability — even if operations do not generate hazardous waste. Even better, pollution prevention plans can identify areas to reduce or eliminate waste at the source.

Waste minimization refers to the use of source reduction and/or environmentally sound recycling methods prior to energy recovery, treatment, or disposal of wastes. Waste minimization does not include waste treatment, that is, any process designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological composition of waste streams. For example, compacting, neutralizing, diluting, and incineration are not typically considered waste minimization practices. A sound hierarchical approach to materials management includes source reduction, recycling, energy recovery, treatment, and finally, disposal.

Source reduction, commonly known as pollution prevention, reduces or eliminates the generation of waste at the source and refers to any practice that reduces the use of hazardous materials in production processes.

Common examples of source reduction include:

• Early retirement of equipment such as mercury-containing devices like switches and thermostats;
• Reformulating or redesigning products, such as creating new polyvinyl chloride (PVC) compounds without using lead;
• Using less toxic materials, such as switching to the use of lead-free solder in manufacturing;
• Improving work practices, such as reorganizing paint batches in order to reduce cleaning operations.

Recycling, or reclaiming value from production byproducts, can often be used when source reduction is not economically practical. Recycling includes the reuse or recovery of in-process materials or materials generated as byproducts that can be processed further on-site or sent offsite to reclaim value. Recycling is a broad term that encompasses the reuse of materials in original or changed forms rather than discarding them as wastes. Recycling can also be thought of as the collection and reprocessing of a resource so it can be used again, though not necessarily for its original purpose.

Examples of recycling include:

• Direct use/reuse of a waste in a process to make a product, such as reusing a purge product used to clean paint lines rather than disposing of it by incineration.
• Processing the waste to recover or regenerate a usable product, such as collecting vapor from dry cleaning operations, turning it back into liquid, and reusing the liquid to clean more clothes.
• Using/reusing waste as a substitute for a commercial product. When mercury is recycled from old equipment like switches, it can be used in new products that still require mercury, such as fluorescent bulbs. Recycling of mercury has been so successful that there is now enough recycled mercury in the U.S. that manufacturers do not need to use new mercury from mines.

A material is “recovered” if it is processed to recover a usable product, or if it is regenerated. This is known as materials recovery. In energy recovery, waste is converted into usable fuel.

• Reducing waste generation through waste minimization has helped some companies change their RCRA regulatory status from large quantity generator to small quantity generator.
• Waste minimization can improve production efficiency, profits, good neighbor image, product quality, environmental performance, and chemical waste.

Waste minimization not only protects the environment, but it also makes good economic and business sense. For example, reducing waste generation through waste minimization has helped some companies change their Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulatory status from large quantity generator (1,000 or more kilograms of hazardous waste generated per month) to small quantity generator (between 100 and 1,000 kg of hazardous waste generated per month), or even to very small quantity generator (up to 100 kg of hazardous waste generated per month). Some have managed to eliminate the generation of hazardous waste and avoid RCRA regulatory requirements altogether.

Source reduction and/or environmentally sound recycling, reuse, and reclamation practices have helped many organizations reduce:

• The quantity and toxicity of hazardous and solid waste generation;
• Raw material and product losses;
• Raw material purchase costs;
• Waste management recordkeeping and paperwork burden;
• Waste management costs;
• Workplace accidents and worker exposure;
• Compliance violations; and
• Environmental liability.

At the same time, waste minimization can improve:

• Production efficiency,
• Profits,
• Good neighbor image and reputation,
• Product quality,
• Environmental performance, and
• Chemical waste.

Waste minimization, particularly recycling activities, may also allow an organization to meet less stringent requirements in RCRA. Always check with state and local environmental agencies to be sure of compliance with the regulations.

• Most organizations start by implementing lean techniques in a certain production location or at a “pilot” facility, and then grow the use of the methods over time.

Lean manufacturing is a business model and assembly of planned methods that highlights the eradication of non-value-added activities (waste) while delivering superior products on time at the least cost with higher efficiency. In the United States, lean implementation is quickly growing in popularity throughout diverse manufacturing and service areas including aerospace, automotive, electronics, furniture production, and health care as a central business strategy for developing a competitive edge.

While the focal point of lean manufacturing is on driving fast and ongoing improvement in cost, quality, service, and delivery, substantial environmental advantages usually “ride the coattails” or happen coincidentally as a result of these production-focused efforts. Lean production techniques typically develop a culture of steady improvement, employee empowerment, and waste minimization.

Lean involves a core paradigm change from a standard “batch and queue” mass production to a product-aligned “one-piece flow” pull production. Whereas “batch and queue” involves mass production of huge lots of products in advance based on likely or forecasted customer demands, a “one-piece flow” system alters production activities in a way that processing steps of unlike types are conducted right away, adjacent to each other in a constant flow.

This shift needs largely controlled processes operated in a well-maintained, ordered, and unsoiled environment that includes principles of employee-involved, system-wide, ongoing improvement.

While most of these methods are interdependent and can happen jointly, most organizations start by implementing lean techniques in a certain production location or at a “pilot” facility, and then grow the use of the methods over time. Companies commonly tailor these methods to tackle their own distinct needs and circumstances. In doing so, they may create their own terminology around their unique methods.