Preventing pollution: substituting materials or feedstock
Replacing the substances you use with more environmentally-friendly alternatives.
Questions to ask yourself
- Is your product made of low-impact, non-hazardous, recycled or recyclable material?
- Is it designed to be shipped cleanly and efficiently with minimal and recyclable packaging?
- Is it designed to be as energy, fuel or water efficient as possible?
- Can you increase the lifespan of your product by making it upgradeable, repairable or more durable?
- Is your product easy to manage at the end of its life because it is reusable, recyclable, refurbishable or easy to dispose of?
Canadian companies preventing pollution
The following examples come from Canadian companies that have reported to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI):
- a paper manufacturer replaced fuel oil with natural gas and wood waste
- a computer and electronic product manufacturer has replaced lead-based solders with lead-free solders
- a primary metal manufacturer substituted its most hazardous chemical on site, nitric acid, for the more environmentally-friendly citric acid
- a plastics and rubber manufacturer replaced solvent-based adhesives with water-based adhesives