Ensayo Sostenibilidad

Journal of Cleaner Production 15 (2007) 1205e1216 www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

To make zero emissions technologies and strategies become a reality, the lessons learned of cleaner production dissemination have to be known
Leo Baas*
Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus Centre for Sustainability and Management, P.O. Box 1738, Burgemmester Oudlaan 50, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The NetherlandsAccepted 12 July 2006 Available online 10 October 2006

Abstract With respect to the philosophy of the preventive approach, the bottom line has often been illustrated with the saying: ‘.a gram of prevention is better than a kilogram of cure.’ But you cannot manage a problem that you do not know. In case of cleaner production, the approach is not to solve the problem but to prevent it. This is adeduction in two ways. Firstly, a new problem has to be present in order to be recognised, also for prevention. Secondly, the problem that has to be prevented is connected to the life-cycle of the capital and technology investments in production processes, products and services. A dilemma for new concepts in general is that pilot studies never meet the full conditions that are needed. When theobstacles of routines are overcome, often the momentum for fully conditioned approaches is passed and watered-down definitions and applications are introduced. Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cleaner production dissemination; Institutional theory; Change processes

1. Introduction This article analyses the dissemination of the concept of cleaner production to answer the question:‘‘Why it is so difficult to make Zero Emissions Technologies and Strategies (ZETS) become a Reality?’’ The concept of Cleaner production can be described as: ‘.the continuous application of an integrated, preventive environmental strategy to both processes and products to reduce risks to humans and the environment.’ [1]. In the initial dissemination phases, cleaner production was introduced into industryas a prevention-oriented paradigm for achieving cleaner industry and more sustainable business communities; this was viewed as an important way to supplant or supplement the old paradigm of pollution control. In the cleaner production paradigm, the conceptual approach was to catalyse the

* Tel.: þ31 10 408 2381; fax: þ31 10 408 9104. E-mail address: baas@fsw.eur.nl 0959-6526/$ - see frontmatter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.07.017

transition from waste management policies and approaches to ‘environment included’ waste prevention or industrial innovation policies of waste minimisation. As the concept of cleaner production includes technology innovation and management strategies, it is assumed to have met similar constraints as ZETS will meet.After the initially successful development and implementation of the pollution prevention-oriented approaches within American companies such as 3M and Dow Chemical Company in the 1970s, some companies in other countries also started to experiment with similar preventive initiatives during the 1980s and 1990s. The concept and approaches of cleaner production were spread worldwide via personalpresentations, conference presentations, special promotional efforts from organisations such as the United Nations Environmental programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and through intermediary organisations such as the United Nations National Cleaner Production Centres (NCPC) [2] during the 1990s and early 2000s. Key actors such as academics helped todisseminate

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and facilitate implementation of the concept through presentations and demonstration projects. The concept was presented as being an attractive win-win approach that would improve corporate profitability and at the same time reduce environmental impacts and risks. Although, the cleaner production concept was...