Unit-4

Environmental Legislation and Life cycle Assessment

Environmental laws and protection acts

The awareness and consideration for environment covers several environmental issues such
as pollution of water, air and soil, land degradation, industrialization, urbanization, depletion
of natural resources etc.
Environmental Law plays a very crucial and important role in regulating the use of natural
resources and in protecting the environment. The success of environmental legislations
mainly depends on the way they are enforced. Legislation also serves as a valuable tool for
educating masses about their responsibility in maintaining healthy environment.
Numerous legislations have already been put forth at national and international levels. In this
lesson, you will learn about some important environmental legislations. Indian legislations
are called Acts whereas the international legislations are in the form of conventions, protocols
and treaties.

Objective of Legislation
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
• describe the constitutional provision for environmental protection and conservation in India;
• list and describe the various Indian environmental laws along with their objectives;
• describe the various pollution related acts such as water, air and environment act;
• explain the various global conventions and their objectives in the field of environment.

The genesis of various legislations in the country lies in the environmental problems. There
should be effective legislations to protect the environment or else the need for resources by
the growing population will create havoc on the environment. The other important aspect is
enforcement of these laws. To safeguard our environment from further degradation and
pollution these must be enforce laws forcefully and effectively

Need for legislation

In the recent past, numerous environmental problems have become threatening for human
welfare. An important aspect of environmental problems is that their impact is not confined
to the source area but spills over far and wide area. Effective legislation is needed in order to
prevent misuse and degradation of the environment. To curb the destructive practices of
unscrupulous people, forest mafia groups, poachers, polluters and over exploitation of
environmental resources, effective legislation is necessary. Pollution is an important factor
and it does not observe political territories or legislative jurisdictions. Thus environmental
problems are intrinsically global in nature. Therefore, to prevent such problems
environmental legislation is not needed only at the national level but also at the international
level.

NATIONAL LEGISLATION
At national level serious efforts have been made for the improvement and protection of
environment by incorporating changes the constitution of India. Our constitution, originally,
did not contain any direct provision regarding the protection of natural environment.
However, after the United Nations Conference on Human Environment, held in Stockholm in
1972. Indian constitution was amended to include protection of the environment as a
constitutional mandate.
The forty second amendment Clause (g) to Article 51A of the Indian constitution made it a
fundamental duty to protect and improve the natural environment.

“It shall to be duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment
including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life and have compassion for living creatures.”

There is a directive, given to the State as one of the Directive Principles of State Policy
regarding the protection and improvement of the environment. Article 48A states “The State
shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests
and wildlife of the country”.

The department of Environment was established in India in 1980 to ensure a healthy

environment for the country. This later became the Ministry of Environment and Forests in
1985. This Ministry has overall responsibility for administering and enforcing environmental
legislations and policies.

The constitutional provisions are backed by a number of legislations – Acts and rules. Most
of our environmental legislations are Acts of the Parliament or the State Legislatures. These
Acts generally delegate powers to regulating agencies, to make rules for the purpose of their
implementation. The Environment Protection Act of 1986 (EPA) came into force soon after
the Bhopal Gas Tragedy and is considered umbrella legislation as it fills many lacunae in the
existing legislations. Thereafter, a large number of environmental legislations have been
passed to deal with specific environmental problems. For example in the recent past the use
of CNG for public transport vehicles has been made mandatory in Delhi. This has reduced air
pollution in Delhi.

POLLUTION RELATED ACTS

Among all the components of the environment air and water are necessary to fulfill the basic
survival needs of all organisms. So, to protect them from degradation the following acts have
been passed.
• Water Acts
• Air Acts
• Environment Act
A few important legislations of each category with brief description are given below:

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1974 and Amendment, 1988
The main objective of this act is to provide prevention and control of water pollution and
maintaining or restoring of wholesomeness and purity of water (in the streams or wells or on
land).
Some important provisions of this Act are given below:
• The Act vests regulatory authority in State Pollution Control Boards and empowers these
Boards to establish and enforce effluent standards for factories discharging pollutants into
water bodies. A Central Pollution Control Board performs the same functions for Union
Territories and formulate policies and coordinates activities of different State Boards.
• The State Pollution Control Boards control sewage and industrial effluent discharges by
approving, rejecting or impose conditions while granting consent to discharge.
• The Act grants power to the Board to ensure compliance with the Act by including the
power of entry for examination, testing of equipment and other purposes and power to take
the sample for the purpose of analysis of water from any stream or well or sample of any
sewage or trade effluents.
• Prior to its amendment in 1988, enforcement under the Water Act was achieved through
criminal prosecutions initiated by the Boards, and through applications to magistrates for
injunctions to restrain polluters. The 1988 amendment strengthened the Act’s implementation
the pollution provisions. Board may close a defaulting industrial plant or withdraw its supply
of power or water by an administrative order; the penalties are more stringent, and a citizen’s
suit provision supports the enforcement machinery.

The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act of 1977

The Water Cess Act was passed to generate financial resources to meet expenses of the
Central and State Pollution Boards. The Act creates economic incentives for pollution control
and requires local authorities and certain designated industries to pay a cess (tax) for water
effluent discharge. These revenues are used to implement the Water Act. The Central
Government, after deducting the expenses of collection, pays the central board and the states
such sums, as it seems necessary. To encourage capital investment in pollution control, the
Act gives a polluter a 70% rebate of the applicable cess upon installing effluent treatment
equipment.

The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981 and amendment, 1987
To implement the decisions taken at the United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment held at Stockholm in June 1972, Parliament enacted the nationwide Air Act.
The main objectives of this Act are to improve the quality of air and to prevent, control and
abate air pollution in the country.
Important provisions of this Act are given below:
• The Air Act’s framework is similar to that of the Water Act of 1974. To enable an
integrated approach to environmental problems, the Air Act expanded the authority of the
central and state boards established under the Water Act, to include air pollution control.
• States not having water pollution boards were required to set up air pollution boards.
• Under the Air Act, all industries operating within designated air pollution control areas
must obtain a “consent” (permit) from the State Boards.
• The states are required to prescribe emission standards for industry and automobiles after
consulting the central board and noting its ambient air quality standards.
• Act granted power to the Board to ensure compliance with the Act including the power of
entry for examination, testing of equipment and other purposes and power to take the sample
for the purpose of analysis of air or emission from any chimney, fly ash or dust or any other
outlet in such a manner as may be prescribed.
• Prior to its amendment in 1987, the Air Act was enforced through mild court administered
penalties on violations. The 1987 amendment strengthened the enforcement machinery and
introduced stiffer penalties. Now, the boards may close down a defaulting industrial plant or
may stop its supply of electricity or water. A board may also apply to the court to restrain
emissions that exceed prescribed limits. Notably, the 1987 amendment introduced a citizen’s
suit provision into the Air Act and extended the Act to include noise pollution.
Environment Acts
The most important legislation in this category is The Environment (Protection) Act of 1986.
Through this Act Central Government gets full power for the purpose of protecting and
improving the quality of the environment and preventing, controlling and abating pollution.
Details of this Act are given below:

The Environment (Protection) Act of 1986

In the wake of the Bhopal tragedy, the government of India enacted the Environment
(Protection) Act of 1986. The purpose of the Act is to implement the decisions of the United
Nations Conference on the Human Environment of 1972, in so far as they relate to the
protection and improvement of the human environment and the prevention of hazards to
human beings, other living creatures, plants and property. The Act is an “umbrella” for
legislations designed to provide a framework for Central Government, coordination of the
activities of various central and state authorities established under previous Acts, such as the
Water Act and the Air Act.
In this Act, main emphasis is given to “Environment”, defined to include water, air and land
and the inter-relationships which exist among water, air and land and human beings and other
living creatures, plants, micro-organisms and property. “Environmental pollution” is the
presence of pollutant, defined as any solid, liquid or gaseous substance present in such a
concentration as may be or may tend to be injurious to the environment.
“Hazardous substances” include any substance or preparation, which may cause harm to
human beings, other living creatures, plants, microorganisms, property or the environment.

The main provisions of this Act are given below:

Section 3 (1) of the Act empowers the centre to “take all such measures as it deems necessary
or expedient for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and
preventing, controlling and abating environmental pollution”. Specifically, the Central
Government is authorized to set new national standards for the quality of the environment
(ambient standards) as well as standards for controlling emissions and effluent discharges; to
regulate industrial locations, to prescribe procedures for managing hazardous substances; to
establish safeguards preventing accidents, and to collect and dismantle information regarding
environmental pollution.
• By virtue of this Act, Central Government has armed itself with considerable powers which
include, coordination of action by state, planning and execution of nation wide programmes,
laying down environmental quality standards, specially those governing emission or
discharge of environmental pollutants, placing restriction on the location of industries and so
on.
• The coverage of powers include handling of hazardous substances, prevention of
environmental accidents, inspection of polluting units, research, establishment of
laboratories, dissemination of information, etc.
• The Environment (Protection) Act was the first environmental legislation to give the Central
Government authority to issue direct orders, included orders to close, prohibit or regulate any
industry, operation or process or to stop or regulate the supply of electricity, water or any
other service to an industry, operation and process. Another power granted to the Central
Government was to ensure compliance with the Act which included the power of entry for
examination, testing of equipment and other purposes and power to analyze the sample of air,
water, soil or any other substance from any place.
• The Act explicitly prohibits discharges of environmental pollutants in excess of prescribed
regulatory standards. There is also a specific prohibition against handling hazardous
substances except those in compliance with regulatory procedures and standards. Persons
responsible for discharge of pollutants in excess of prescribed standards must prevent or
mitigate the pollution and must also to report the governmental authorities.
• The Act provides provision for penalties. Any person who fails to comply with any of the
provisions of the Act, or the rules, orders, or directions issued under the Act shall be
punished. For each failure or contravention the punishment included a prison term up to five
years or fine up to Rs. 1 lakh, or both. The Act imposed an additional fine of up to Rs. 5,000
for every day of continuing violation. If a failure or contravention, occurs for more than one
year after the date of conviction, an offender may punished with imprisonment term, which
may be extend to seven years.
• The Environment (Protection) Act contains significant innovations for its enforcement, not
contained in any other pollution control legislation at the time of the Act’s adoption. Section
19 provides that any person, in addition to authorized government officials, may file a
complaint with a court alleging an offence under the Act. This “Citizens’ Suit” provision
requires that the person has to give notice of not less than 60 days of the alleged offence of
pollution to the Central Government or the competent authority. Under the Act, the Central
Government may, by notification in the office Gazette, make rules for the enforcement of the
Act.

Guidelines for control of the loss of biodiversity

Biodiversity loss, also called loss of biodiversity, a decrease in biodiversity within a species,
an ecosystem, a given geographic area, or Earth as a whole. Biodiversity, or biological
diversity, is a term that refers to the number of genes, species, individual organisms within a
given species, and biological communities within a defined geographic area, ranging from the
smallest ecosystem to the global biosphere. (A biological community is an interacting group
of various species in a common location.) Likewise, biodiversity loss describes the decline in
the number, genetic variability, and variety of species, and the biological communities in a
given area. This loss in the variety of life can lead to a breakdown in the functioning of the
ecosystem where decline has happened.

Five important drivers of biodiversity loss:

 Habitat loss and degradation—which is any thinning, fragmentation, or destruction of
an existing natural habitat—reduces or eliminates the food resources and living space
for most species. Species that cannot migrate are often wiped out.
 Invasive species—which are non-native species that significantly modify or disrupt the
ecosystems they colonize—may outcompete native species for food and habitat, which
triggers population declines in native species. Invasive species may arrive in new areas
through natural migration or through human introduction.
 Overexploitation—which is the harvesting of game animals, fish, or other organisms
beyond the capacity for surviving populations to replace their losses—results in some
species being depleted to very low numbers and others being driven to extinction.
 Pollution—which is the addition of any substance or any form of energy to
the environment at a rate faster than it can be dispersed, diluted, decomposed, recycled,
or stored in some harmless form—contributes to biodiversity loss by creating health
problems in exposed organisms. In some cases, exposure may occur in doses high
enough to kill outright or create reproductive problems that threaten the species’s
survival.
 Climate change associated with global warming—which is the modification
of Earth’s climate caused by the burning of fossil fuels—is caused by industry and
other human activities. Fossil fuel combustion produces greenhouse
gases that enhance the atmospheric absorption of infrared radiation (heat energy) and
trap the heat, influencing temperature and precipitation patterns.

Guideline and recommendations

1. Identify the specific interests and roles of relevant sectors and communities with respect to
alien invasive species issues and target them with appropriate information and recommended
actions. Specific communication strategies for each target group will be required to help
reduce the risks posed by alien invasive species. The general public is an important target
group to be considered.
2. Make easily accessible, current and accurate information widely available as a key
component of awareness raising. Target different audiences with information in electronic
form, manuals, databases, scientific journals and popular publications.
3. Target importers and exporters of goods, as well as of living organisms as key target
groups for information/education efforts leading to better awareness and understanding of the
issues, and their role in prevention and possible solutions.
4. Encourage the private sector to develop and follow best practice guidelines and monitor
adherence to guidelines.
5. As an important priority, provide information and recommended actions to travellers, both
within country and between countries, preferably prior to the start of journeys. Raising
awareness of how much human travel contributes to alien invasive problems can improve
behaviour and be cost-effective.
6. Encourage operators in eco-tourism businesses to raise awareness on the problems caused
by alien invasive species. Work with such operators to develop industry guidelines to prevent
the unintentional transport or unauthorised introduction of alien plants (especially seeds) and
animals into ecologically vulnerable island habitats and ecosystems (e.g. lakes, mountain
areas, nature reserves, wilderness areas, isolated forests and inshore marine ecosystems).
7. Train staff for quarantine, border control, or other relevant facilities to be aware of the
larger context and threats to biological diversity, in addition to practical training for aspects
like identification and regulation. (See Section 5.2.)
8. Build communication strategies into the planning phase of all prevention, eradication and
control programmes. By ensuring that effective consultation takes place with local
communities and all affected parties, most potential misunderstandings and disagreements
can be resolved or accommodated in advance.
9. Include alien invasive species issues, and actions that can be taken to address them, in
appropriate places in educational programmes and schools.
10. Ensure that national legislation applicable to introductions of alien species, both
intentional and unintentional, is known and understood, not only by the citizens and
institutions of the country concerned, but also by foreigners importing goods and services as
well as by tourists.

GUIDELINES FOR MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT .

Rapid urbanization has led to over-stressing of urban infrastructure services including

Municipal Solid Waste Management because of poor resources and inadequacies of the
existing systems. Therefore, augmenting, operating & maintaining solid waste management
system in a sustainable manner by urban local bodies would require huge capital investment,
introduction of latest technologies which are cost effective, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)
in waste management and introduction of appropriate waste management practices in order to
prevent urban waste from causing environmental pollution and health hazards.
2. Per capita waste generation varies between 0.2 Kg to 0.6 Kg per day in cities with
population ranging from 1.0 lakh to 50 lakh. An assessment has been made that because of
increasing per capita waste generation of about 1.3% per year, and growth of urban
population between 3% and 3.5% per annum, yearly increase in the overall quantity of solid
waste in the cities is about 5%. Waste collection efficiency ranges from 50% to 90%. Urban
Local Bodies (ULBs) spend between Rs.500/- to Rs.1500/- per ton on solid waste
management, of which 60% to 70% is spent on collection alone, 20% to 30% on
transportation and less than 5% on treatment and disposal which is very essential to prevent
environmental pollution. Crude dumping is normally resorted to by ULBs without adopting
scientific and hygienic approach of sanitary landfilling.
3. Problem of urban waste management is notable not only because of large quantities
involved, but also its spatial spread across 5161 cities and towns and enormity and variety of
problems involved in setting up and managing systems for collection, transportation and
disposal of waste.
4. Quantity & Characteristics of Indian Municipal Waste Urban India produces about 42.0
million tons of municipal solid waste annually i.e. 1.15 lakh metric tons per day(TPD), out of
which 83,378 TPD is generated in 423 Class-I cities. Waste generated in 423 Class-I cities
works out to 72.5% of the total waste generated each day and this needs to be tackled on
priority. Municipal solid waste comprises 30% to 55% of biodegradable (organic) matter,
40% to 55% inert matter and 5% to 15% recyclables. Composition of waste varies with size
of city, season and income group.
5. Possible Waste Management Options
At least 50% to 55% of municipal solid waste is also a valuable resource which can be
recovered profitably using different technologies through following processing options:

I. Wealth from Waste Organic fraction of municipal solid waste contains biodegradable
matter ranging from 30% to 55% which can be profitably converted into useful products like
compost (organic manure), methane gas (used for cooking, heating, lighting, production of
energy) etc. through the following processes:-
(a) Waste to Compost
(i) Aerobic / Anaerobic Composting (ii) Vermi-Composting
(b) Waste to Energy
(i) Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) / Pelletization (ii) Bio-methanation (iii) Incineration (iv)
Pyrolysis / Plasma Gasification

II. Recycling of Waste (Plastics, paper, glass, metal etc.) Recyclable materials like paper,
cardboards, plastics, polythene bags, pieces of metals and glass are recycled to recover useful
resource.

III. Sanitary Landfilling Rejects from compost plants, recycling and other inorganic materials
like construction debris in Municipal Solid Waste are sent to scientifically engineered
landfills.

Life cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment or LCA (also known as life cycle analysis) is a methodology for
assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a
commercial product, process, or service. For instance, in the case of a manufactured product,
environmental impacts are assessed from raw material extraction and processing (cradle),
through the product's manufacture, distribution and use, to the recycling or final disposal of
the materials composing it (grave).
An LCA study involves a thorough inventory of the energy and materials that are required
across the industry value chain of the product, process or service, and calculates the
corresponding emissions to the environment. LCA thus assesses cumulative potential
environmental impacts. The aim is to document and improve the overall environmental
profile of the product.
Widely recognized procedures for conducting LCAs are included in the 14000 series of
environmental management standards of the International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO), in particular, in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. ISO 14040 provides the
'principles and framework' of the Standard, while ISO 14044 provides an outline of the
'requirements and guidelines'. Generally, ISO 14040 was written for a managerial audience
and ISO 14044 for practitioners. As part of the introductory section of ISO 14040, LCA has
been defined as the following
‘LCA studies the environmental aspects and potential impacts throughout a product's life
cycle (i.e. cradle-to-grave) from raw materials acquisition through production, use and
disposal. The general categories of environmental impacts needing consideration include
resource use, human health, and ecological consequences.’

Life cycle assessment is a technique for assessing the environmental aspects associated with a
product over its life cycle. The most important applications are these:
• analysis of the contribution of the life cycle stages to the overall environmental load, usually
with the aim to prioritize improvements on products or processes
• comparison between products for internal use

An LCA study consists of four stages:

Stage 1: Goal and scope aims to define how big a part of product life cycle will be
taken in assessment and to what end will assessment be serving. The criteria serving
to system comparison and specific times are described in this step.
Stage 2: In this step, inventory analysis gives a description of material and energy
flows within the product system and especially its interaction with environment,
consumed raw materials, and emissions to the environment. All important processes
and subsidiary energy and material flows are described later.
Stage 3: Details from inventory analysis serve for impact assessment. The indicator
results of all impact categories are detailed in this step; the importance of every
impact category is assessed by normalization and eventually also by weighting.
Stage 4: Interpretation of a life cycle involves critical review, determination of data
sensitivity, and result presentation.
Life Cycle Management
LCM is a business management approach that can be used by all types of business (and other
organizations) in order to improve their sustainability performance. A method that can be
used equally by both large and small firms, its purpose is to ensure more sustainable value
chain management. LCM can be used to target, organize, analyze and manage product-
related
information and activities (Remmen et al,. 2007) towards continuous improvement along
the product life cycle.
LCM is about making life cycle thinking and product sustainability operational for
businesses that are aiming for continuous improvement. These are businesses that are
striving towards reducing their footprints and minimizing their environmental and socio-
economic burdens while maximizing economic and social values.

Life Cycle Management is connecting various operational concepts and tools.

Life cycle management

The Life Cycle Management Navigator is a capacity building guide and decision support
tool specifically designed for corporate decision-makers in small and medium sized
enterprises (SMEs) worldwide. It aims to assist them to manage the growing demand and
expectations in the field of Life Cycle Management. Using the Navigator helps to gain an
understanding of the appropriate selection, adoption and usage of today’s most important
Life Cycle management tools.
 Life cycle management navigator

Material Flow Cost MFCA represents a different way of management accounting. In

conventional cost accounting, the data are used to determine whether the incurred
costs are recovered from sales. It does not require determining whether material is
transformed into products, or disposed of as waste
The aim of MFCA is to enhance both environmental and economic performance through
improved material and energy [Link] 2011 a general framework for MFCA has been
provided by the ISO 14051 norm. In order to improve material and energy efficiency
MFCA aims to:

 Increasing transparency regarding material and energy flows and the respective
costs
 Supporting organizational decisions in areas such as process engineering,
production planning, quality control, product design and supply chain
management
 Improving coordination and communication on material and energy use within
organizations.
MFCA is a new accounting and assessment method which combines monetary and
physical data. MFCA quantifies energy, material consumption, and waste output in
physical and monetary units (Guenther, Rieckhof, Walz, & Schrack, 2017) by applying
the cost absorption method (Fekrat, 1972; Staubus, Sorter, & Horngren, 1963). The
uniqueness of MFCA lies in the allocation of all production costs either to the intended
output (the product), or the unintended output (all waste occurring over all the production
steps). Thereby, the transparency of material flows and the associated costs increases
considerably; inefficiencies concerning material and energy consumption are revealed,
and hidden costs uncovered. In the example in Figure 1, the costs are allocated according
to weight (with the exception of waste management costs), showing that 66.5% of the
costs do indeed add value to the product. The conclusion from an MFCA analysis
presents the question as to how this ratio could be improved. The MFCA analysis could
be refined by splitting the non-product output into technically necessary waste and
avoidable waste in order to identify rather simple measures for waste reduction that could
be implemented; the technically more complex processes could be tackled afterward. The
goal is a theoretical value of zero non-product output, while keeping economic
boundaries in mind. One strength of the MFCA method is the integrated plan–do–check–
act (PDCA) cycle. After planning and implementing MFCA, the people responsible for
the single production process should start with the analysis of the data (check) and
develop the necessary actions to improve the process (act). Some changes in the process
can be made without much coordination; here, the improvement measures are executed
directly after the MFCA analysis. However, most production processes are already
optimized; changing a running system is complex, and plant managers are rather reluctant
to make changes for what are often only minor improvements. Thus, one weakness of the
MFCA method is its application in complex production processes because here, the
MFCA analysis may not always be followed by the execution of measures for
improvement.