IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jcltec/v3y2021i1p4-78d483431.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Community Based Pollution Prevention for Two Urban Cities—A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Jay N. Meegoda

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07012, USA)

  • Daniel Watts

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07012, USA)

  • Hsin-Neng Hsieh

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07012, USA)

  • Bruno Bezerra de Souza

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07012, USA)

Abstract

Pollution prevention is an approach for generating less waste using fewer toxic chemicals while conserving water and energy. Even though pollution prevention practices have been encouraged for over thirty years, many smaller businesses have not considered or adopted such techniques. This study examines the effect of a community-based approach designed to emphasize the benefits to the health and economic well-being of urban communities when source reduction practices are implemented by businesses in the community. Partnering with existing community groups in Newark and Jersey City, NJ, technical assistance was provided to small and medium-sized businesses under grant funding from Region 2 of the US Environmental Protection Agency. In this research, 32 small and medium-sized businesses were evaluated for source reduction opportunities and implementation plans were drawn up. After these businesses implemented operational changes, emission and cost savings were determined and reported back to respective small business owners as well as to the communities during community meetings designed to encourage additional participation. Based on 32 case studies, several measurable benefits were achieved, including the yearly saving of 932 pounds of hazardous waste, 3917 pounds of non-hazardous waste, 13.62 metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE) of greenhouse gases and $5335 USD. The initial findings suggest that community-based programs such as this can be beneficial but must be sustained over a period of time. One issue that was repeatedly observed, and is likely widely believed, is the concern of small business operators that cooperation with any group funded by a government program may lead to the assessment of fines or penalties for environmental violations. This concern limits the willingness of many smaller businesses to participate. The findings of this study suggest that a sustained community-based program may overcome that concern through demonstration of the benefit to the business and the community, and through credibility building achieved by regular community reporting and the absence of official intervention.

Suggested Citation

  • Jay N. Meegoda & Daniel Watts & Hsin-Neng Hsieh & Bruno Bezerra de Souza, 2021. "Community Based Pollution Prevention for Two Urban Cities—A Case Study," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jcltec:v:3:y:2021:i:1:p:4-78:d:483431
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/3/1/4/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/3/1/4/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael L. Polemis & Thanasis Stengos, 2019. "Does competition prevent industrial pollution? Evidence from a panel threshold model," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 98-110, January.
    2. Sanghita Basu & Mousumi Roy & Parimal Pal, 2019. "Corporate greening in a large developing economy: pollution prevention strategies," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1603-1633, August.
    3. Alexandra Leader & Gabrielle Gaustad, 2019. "Critical Material Applications and Intensities in Clean Energy Technologies," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Adriana C. Neves & Martina M. Moyne & Colin Eyre & Brian P. Casey, 2020. "Acceptability and Societal Impact of the Introduction of Bioplastics as Novel Environmentally Friendly Packaging Materials in Ireland," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 2(1), pages 1-17, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giuseppe Pagano Giorgianni & Valeria Patella, 2024. "Belief distortions and Disagreement about Inflation," Working Paper series 24-08, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    2. Jianing Xu & Weidong Li, 2022. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on Innovation: New Evidence from Panel Threshold Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Xiangyu Chen & Peng Wan, 2020. "Social trust and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 485-500, March.
    4. Mudeer Ahmed Khattak & Buerhan Saiti, 2021. "Banks' environmental policy and business outcomes: The role of competition," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 302-317, January.
    5. Zhou, Taiyun & Gan, Jiawu, 2022. "Institutional investors' site visits and corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    6. Thibault Rafaïdeen & Neha Neha & Bitty Roméo Serge Kouamé & Stève Baranton & Christophe Coutanceau, 2020. "Electroreforming of Glucose and Xylose in Alkaline Medium at Carbon Supported Alloyed Pd3Au7 Nanocatalysts: Effect of Aldose Concentration and Electrolysis Cell Voltage," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-20, June.
    7. Polemis, Michael L. & Tzeremes, Nickolaos G., 2019. "Competitive conditions and sectors’ productive efficiency: A conditional non-parametric frontier analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(3), pages 1104-1118.
    8. Chen, Chaoyi & Polemis, Michael & Stengos, Thanasis, 2018. "On the examination of non-linear relationship between market structure and performance in the US manufacturing industry," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-4.
    9. Kogan, Konstantin & Chernonog, Tatyana, 2019. "Competition under industry-stock-driven prevailing market price: Environmental consequences and the effect of uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(3), pages 929-946.
    10. Chen, Chaoyi & Polemis, Michael & Stengos, Thanasis, 2019. "Can exchange rate pass-through explain the asymmetric gasoline puzzle? Evidence from a pooled panel threshold analysis of the EU," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 1-12.
    11. Woon Leong Lin & Siong Hook Law & W. N. W. Azman‐Saini, 2020. "Market differentiation threshold and the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1279-1293, May.
    12. Shetu Ranjan Biswas & Md. Aftab Uddin & Swadip Bhattacharjee & Mouri Dey & Tarek Rana, 2022. "Ecocentric leadership and voluntary environmental behavior for promoting sustainability strategy: The role of psychological green climate," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1705-1718, May.
    13. Alexandros Botsis & Christoph Görtz & Plutarchos Sakellaris, 2020. "Quantifying Qualitative Survey Data: New Insights on the (Ir)Rationality of Firms' Forecasts," CESifo Working Paper Series 8148, CESifo.
    14. Byungjun Yu & Saixing Zeng & Hongquan Chen & Xiaohua Meng & Chiming Tam, 2021. "Doing more and doing better are two different entities: Different patterns of family control and environmental performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 1-20, January.
    15. Ostadzad, Ali Hossein, 2022. "Innovation and carbon emissions: Fixed-effects panel threshold model estimation for renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 602-617.
    16. Baah Aye Kusi & Lydia Adzobu & Alex Kwame Abasi & Kwadjo Ansah-Adu, 2020. "Sectoral Loan Portfolio Concentration and Bank Stability: Evidence from an Emerging Economy," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 19(1), pages 66-99, April.
    17. Seyyed-Mahdi Hosseini-Motlagh & Mona Jazinaninejad & Nazanin Nami, 2022. "Coordinating a socially concerned reverse supply chain for pharmaceutical waste management considering government role," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 1852-1877, February.
    18. Weidong Sun & Zhigang Chen & Danyang Wang, 2019. "Can Land Marketization Help Reduce Industrial Pollution?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-16, June.
    19. Isabel Palomo-Domínguez & Vaida Zemlickienė, 2022. "Evaluation Expediency of Eco-Friendly Advertising Formats for Different Generation Based on Spanish Advertising Experts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-21, January.
    20. Ewa Lewicka & Katarzyna Guzik & Krzysztof Galos, 2021. "On the Possibilities of Critical Raw Materials Production from the EU’s Primary Sources," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jcltec:v:3:y:2021:i:1:p:4-78:d:483431. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.