Leo Baas

Cleaner production and industrial ecosystems, a Dutch experience

This article opens briefly with the recent discussions about the effectiveness of pollution prevention. As pollution prevention and cleaner production are important elements of industrial ecology, the different definitions and approaches of industrial ecology as a term also need clarity. The major part of this article reflects the first results of the cleaner production and industrial ecology concepts, applied in an industrial ecosystem project (INES) in the Rotterdam harbour area. In this industrial area with many refineries and (petro)chemical facilities, the possibilities for companies to reuse waste streams, by-products and energy from each other was researched. The project was initiated by an industrial association. Sixty-nine members of the industrial association joined the INES project and provided confidential information about their resources, products and waste streams to the research team. Based on this information, 15 projects were designed. The selected three projects for further feasibility studies showed the potency to reduce the use of energy, water and bio sludge significantly.

Leaders in sustainable development: how agents of change define the agenda

This article provides an overview of the Eighth Annual Greening of Industry Conference, Sustainability: Ways of Knowing/Ways of Acting. Held in Chapel Hill, NC (USA), 14–17 November 1999, the conference featured diverse visions of sustainability and a range of views on which societal actors should play leading roles in setting the sustainability agenda. The conference revealed a dichotomy between corporate and public visions of sustainability: who should define the agenda, who should lead the transition and the degree of change needed to achieve a sustainable society. Presenters at the conference highlighted innovative sustainability actions of corporations, the challenges and successes of collaborative approaches, and the shift in the NGO tactics towards the corporate role in defining the sustainability agenda. A challenge for future Network conferences is how to catalyse fruitful links and mergers among various visions of sustainable development and the leading agents of change. To that end, a research agenda is proposed. Copyright

The introduction and dissemination of the industrial symbiosis projects in the Rotterdam Harbour and Industry Complex

The dissemination and implementation of the Industrial Symbiosis projects in the Rotterdam Harbour and Industry Complex can be characterised by break-through projects on the basis of long-term industrial ecology projects. The first 4-year Industrial Symbiosis programme started in 1994 and generated the basis for 15 projects that were further developed in a second 4-year programme that started in 1999 and merged into a 8-years Sustainable Enterprises programme in 2003. This development at the system level is created through the activities of individual organisation in a dynamic, loosely coupled network. The concept of sustainability capabilities is used to analyse the way in which these activities lead to the development of the system.

Cleaner production: beyond projects

Empirical research has revealed that, despite the positive results of many Cleaner Production case studies, in practice relatively little spontaneous spreading of the application of Cleaner Product ...

Trajectories of Greening: The Diffusion of Green Organizational Routines in the Netherlands, 1986-1995

Abstract In the Netherlands. there has been an ongoing effort by business firms and government organizations to deal with the ecological impact of industrial activities. Over the years. the set of organizational routines that firms employ to deal with their ecological impact is changing. In this article, we analyze first of all the change in this set of routines in the period 1986-1995. Then we address the question by what mechanisms these changes are brought about. Institutional theory provides us with three possible mechanisms (i.e., forms of isomorphism) by which such changes occur. Our analysis suggests that, in addition to these three forms, there are two distinct mechanisms of change. We also suggest that each mechanism leads to a certain kind of organizational change. We thus develop the concept of trajectories of change.

An Integrated Approach to Cleaner Production

In this chapter, the concept of Cleaner Production is explored as an industrial operationalization of the Sustainable Development. An overview is provided of the developments from environmental end-of-pipe technology via clean technology to an integrated approach in the business management. The concept of Cleaner Production will be illustrated by two case studies-one from Sweden and other one from The Netherlands. Finally, refection will be given to the need of development towards a Cleaner Production paradigm for industrial business management reorientation for sustainability.

Inventing the intervention: how organizations deal with alternative approaches to eco-management

The concept of translation captures the essence of the way in which innovative ideas diffuse to organizations: rather than being transplanted in the same way in every organization, the idea is reformulated into a shape that fits the adapting organization. For instance, pollution prevention, which consists of a conceptual framework as well as a set of organizational routines, is an idea that is translated by adopting organizations into shapes that can differ substantially. When intervening in organizations to implement the idea of pollution prevention, the intervention strategy should be sensitive to this translation process. In this paper, we will present the cases of two chemical firms who participated in an action research project aimed at diffusing the concept of pollution prevention. The way in which members from each of these organizations (re)acted in this process reveals some important points about organizational change, organizational culture and interventions. In the translation process, organizational members reframe an outside idea into concepts and routines that fit with existing practices. Thus, introducing a radically new concept can result in piecemeal organizational change or even no change at all. Differences in the translation process are not determined by the technologies employed by an organization; it is the organizational culture that seems to be more important. Involving governmental agencies in the intervention strategy complicates the translation process: in addition to the firm, the agencies seek to shape the idea of pollution prevention into concepts and routines that fit their own existing practices. Copyright