What is Green Manufacturing?

Green manufacturing is fast becoming a mainstream trend, as more and more businesses strive to become sustainable and leave a positive footprint on the environment, rather than degrading it, as has been an unfortunate side-effect of traditional industrial manufacturing across sectors.

Pollution is a major global problem, which has brought about other challenges including global warming due to greenhouse emissions. Industrial waste management is another area of concern, as most industrial waste ends up in natural systems, destroying entire ecosystems.

Let’s take a look at what green manufacturing is and see its fundamental principles.

What Does Green Manufacturing Mean?

In the most basic terms, green manufacturing strives to have a greener, more positive effect on the environment, as opposed to conventional industrial practices, which often have a negative impact on surrounding ecosystems.

Green manufacturing follows a set of principles to reduce emissions, pollution, and waste. An emphasis is made on reuse and recycle rather than on consuming precious non-renewable resources, which are finite and limited.

In addition to this, green manufacturing also harnesses modern technology to have a positive impact on the environment.

The Principles of Green Manufacturing

The first step in green manufacturing is to examine all processes and workflows from an environmental perspective. Detailed evaluations and audits should be conducted to see where processes leave negative impacts on the environment. Only when the target areas are identified can a business strive to make them greener.

Experts recommend monitoring the inputs and outputs of the industrial system to see if there are negative impacts on the environment. There should also be a relentless focus on lower energy consumption and lesser resource use. Energy, where used, should be derived from renewable sources including solar, biomass, wind, and landfill gas.

Green manufacturing companies use fewer natural resources and instead recycle and reuse the materials that go into processes. Data is collected from across processes to understand where problems (i.e. pollution, emissions, resource overuse, etc.) lie in order to mitigate them.

Wastes in their various forms are reduced, and a focus on 3R: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle is emphasized. The principles improve economic advantage and foster a culture of zero environmental deterioration.