Abstract
Over the past decade, policies for industrial pollution control have become increasingly holistic, motivated by the international drive for Sustainable Development. Within this context there has been increased recognition for the need to consider all impacts associated with the provision, use and disposal of products, processes and services. This has lead to the application of life cycle approaches to ensure that all environmental impacts are identified, from ‘cradle-to-grave’, thus ensuring that the reduction of burdens at one point in a system is not achieved at the expense of an increase in burdens elsewhere. The research has used the glass industry for case studies to demonstrate a series of new concepts, which support the integration of life cycle approaches into policy and decision-making processes, both for the regulation of industrial installations and for the wider policy and decision-making arena. Life Cycle Policy Mapping (LCPM) is a novel technique, which has been developed in this research to promote the analysis of the scope and the impacts of environmental policies. It has been recognised that regulatory and fiscal measures have been developing to cover all areas of a product’s life, from cradle-to-grave, i.e. Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), Producer Responsibility, Waste Management Licensing, Aggregates Tax, Landfill Tax and the Climate Change Levy. LCPM facilitates the analysis of the combined influence of these policies over the life cycle and thus promotes a co-ordinated approach to environmental policy making. With respect to the process industries, it has long been recognised that there is a requirement for the integrated control of emissions to air, water and land. The IPPC Directive extends this philosophy to include issues such as energy and raw material use and the off-site disposal of process waste. It has been proposed and demonstrated within the research that a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment can provide an integrated methodology for the determination of Best Available Techniques, to ensure protection of the environment as a whole. Glass industry case studies are used to demonstrate how choice of technology and process design parameters can influence the life cycle impact of an installation. The approach has received widespread interest and is currently being investigated as a possible replacement for the Environment Agency’s Best Practicable Environmental Option assessment (E1). Additional contributions to knowledge have been made concerning the management of uncertainty in Life Cycle Impact Assessment, the development of a greater understanding of the impacts associated with glass manufacturing, the determination of the most suitable method of calibration for glass furnace particulate monitoring equipment and the influence of sustainable development on the process-contracting industry.