Introduction The majority of businesses operate with the bottom line of making a profit. This report shall explore the question of “whether there is a business case for reducing environmental impact of goods and services”. Considerations have to be made about a number of factors such as the competitive environment that the business operates in, the nature of their consumers and government legislations. Environmental investments should be made for the same reason other investments are made, because there is an expected return on these investments or to reduce risk. Based on various sources of literature it would be fair to say that focus should be shifted from asking the question whether it pays to be green, to under what conditions do environmental investments deliver benefits to businesses. This report will explore how businesses can react to different forces on them, and how businesses can in turn form a strategy that should give them the opportunity to either increase revenue or reduce costs. Whilst at the same time trying to identifying what circumstances are most likely to lead to lead to both better environmental and economic performance.
This shall be done by looking at relevant case studies and literature. Pollution prevention-what does it entail? The definition of pollution prevention given by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is as follows.
“Pollution prevention (P2) is reducing or eliminating waste at the source by modifying production processes, promoting the use of non-toxic or less-toxic substances, implementing conservation techniques, and re-using materials rather than putting them into the waste stream”
The type of pollution prevention most likely to be chosen by a firm depends on its capabilities and its needs. Some areas of interest for pollution prevention are : Site drainage Deliveries and materials Handling Storage Waste management Trade Effluent Groundwater protection Training and...