Industrial Environmental Management

9Industrial Waste Minimization Methodology: Industrial Ecology, Eco‐Industrial Park and Manufacturing Process Intensification and Integration

9.1 Introduction

In the United States, roughly 12 billion T of nonhazardous waste is generated and disposed of by the US industries. That amount is about is over 200 lb of industrial waste per person per day. The largest industrial contributors to nonhazardous waste are manufacturing industries (~7600 million T/Y), oil and gas production (2100–3600 million T/Y), and the mining industry (>1400 million T/Y). Contributors of lower amounts are electricity generators (fly ash and flue‐gas desulfurization waste), construction waste, hospital infectious waste, and waste tires. The rate of industrial hazardous waste generation in the United States is approximately 750 million T/Y (Allen and Shonnard 2012; Allen and Rosselot 1997). Once these materials are designated as hazardous, the costs of managing, treating, storing, and disposing of it increase dramatically. This chapter describes some specific industrial waste minimization processes and technologies that have been successfully operating and provides other methodologies, including industrial ecology, eco‐industrial park (EIP), manufacturing process intensification, and integration. The wastes (in air, water, or as solid) or by‐products generated during manufacturing process are recovered. The materials and energy recovered from waste streams either are reused in the plant or are sold to ...