Achieving Environmental Excellence: Integrating P2 and EMS to Increase Profits

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Summary: Achieving Environmental Excellence
Review: Achieving Environmental Excellence: Integrating Pollution Prevention (P2) and Environmental Management System (EMS) to Increase Profits by Avrom Bendavid-Val and Dr. Nicholas Cheremisinoff is an excellent book for senior-level management. It provides a step-by-step, methodical approach to maximizing the long-term profitability and sustainability of a business by merging pollution prevention (P2) techniques with an environmental management system (EMS), and does so in a unique manner. The book was written as a sequel to Green Profits: The Manager's Handbook to ISO 14001 and Pollution Prevention (Butterworth Heinemann Publishers, 2001). Whereas Green Profits focuses on the fundamental tools for applying pollution prevention within the framework of an EMS, the present volume goes beyond by providing the reader with a flexible management structure that illustrates, with very straightforward explanations and examples, how companies can manage both regulatory and voluntary environmental concerns to maximize profits and minimize environmental risk. While there is literally an ocean of articles and books covering P2 and EMS, rarely can one find the two subjects melded together and in such a unique way. The authors present a model approach to developing a formalized EMS with P2 as the principle engine for financial performance tracking. The concept borderlines the subject of metrics, but focuses only on financial gains associated with good environmental performance. The concept presented is simple, but very eloquently explained. Surprisingly the literature does not present similar discussions.
There are eight chapters. Chapter 1 provides a detailed overview of EMS and ISO 14001. Chapter 2 provides an overview of P2. Of particular interest in this chapter is a breakdown of the costs associated with environmental compliance. The authors make a good point with regard to how traditional approaches tend to heavily discount so-called soft-costs, thereby opening the door for future and long-term liabilities. Chapter 3 discusses the authors' integrated EMS/P2 model program. This chapter sets the stage for the balance of the book and is worth a careful reading. Chapter 4 ' titled Getting Started, describes for the reader innovative approaches to establishing the entire P2/EMS program. Chapter 5 covers pre-planning activities. Chapter 6 covers planning priority environmental management initiatives. Chapter 7 covers planning pollution prevention initiatives and is an exceptionally well written chapter providing good information on life cycle costing and introducing unique concepts like P2 investment portfolios. Chapter 8 wraps up the volume by focusing on monitoring and the importance of top management review, and how to implement environmental management initiatives.
The book includes two in-depth case studies, reviews of six types of environmental management initiatives, has a glossary of EMS and P2 terms, photographs, diagrams, charts and calculations, and end-of-chapter summaries. It also includes an examination of the relationships between activities in each phase and the requirements of ISO14001 and how a company would fulfill ISO 14001 certification requirements through an integrated EMS/P2 approach.
The book is a great volume for senior managers, EH&S personnel, compliance officers, and engineers (especially because of the life cycle costing and risk assessment principles laced throughout the book). The authors are highly knowledgeable about the subject and their bios support a large international experience in applying the principles and practices presented in this volume. Dr. Cheremisinoff in particular is a well-known chemical engineer that has contributed many books and articles on pollution prevention to the industrial press.