Cleaner Production Applied in a Small Furniture Industry in Brazil: Addressing Focused Changes in Design to Reduce Waste

Abstract

The wood industry is known for being among the biggest resource consumers, having a relatively low yield. The wood furniture industry as part of the wood industry also remains a big generator of residues and a big consumer of resources. Diverse solutions and technologies have been developed to deal with the residues generated, but those technologies are mostly applied at the end of the production chain with limited results. Cleaner production represents a program based on continuous strategies applied to a more sustainable use of materials and energy, minimizing waste and pollution. This paper presents a case study of a cleaner production program developed in a small furniture industry in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, applying the concepts of cleaner production with parameters of ecodesign developed for the furniture industry. The object of study was the production of a wooden chair made from eucalyptus wood. The application of the cleaner production program and ecodesign parameters allowed a detailed characterization of the waste, resulting in opportunities for a reduction of the use of raw material by 30%, a reduction in waste by 49% and allowing a reduction in energy by 36% due to simplification of the productive process. Among the strategies applied were reshaping pieces, redesigning, and the substitution of materials. The results suggest that despite the existence of more complex environmental methods and approaches, the application of cleaner production plus ecodesign parameters could be more achievable for micro and small furniture industries.

Correlation between Magnetic Properties and Chemical Composition of Non-Oriented Electrical Steels Cut through Different Technologies

“…Thus, during the design of the manufacturing process of an electric motor, the producers should make a careful material selection, which is supposed to be one of the most important characteristics of the motor life cycle. There are preferred high and medium quality non-oriented electrical steels, with low impact on the environment [6][7][8]. Their chemical composition is very important, in order to assure superior magnetic and mechanical properties.…”

Cleaner Production and LCA as Complementary Tools in Environmental Assessment: Discussing Tradeoffs Assessment in a Case of Study within the Wood Sector in Brazil

“…The first phase of the project, carried out in 2017, consisted of the implementation of a CP program aimed to increase the sustainability of that particular production. The CP program did not include any environmental impact assessment nor LCA, because of limitations of time and resources, but, as stated by Gutierrez et al [7], LCA was among the recommendations. As a result, an LCA study was implemented to assess the environmental impacts of the re-designed model-already being produced by that time-with the basic model.…”

“…The change of the material of the seat (i.e., the use of plywood planks instead of bonded eucalyptus boards) was one of the changes that accounted for the higher gains in material reduction and waste generation. The CP team, considering the results, were willing to extend the CP principles to other products, but were also willing to assess the environmental gains with a scientific tool such as LCA, following the recommendation given and published by the authors of [7]. These results represented the entry point of discussion between the use of CP and the use of LCA.…”

“…Regarding the accuracy and completeness of the data, the study included measured data from the productive process of the models previously collected on the CP program (weight of the parts and residues, energy consumption per machinery, and waste produced at every manufacturing stage). Data inconsistencies were complemented by mass and energy balances [7]. Regarding the rest of the stages needed for the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), it was necessary to adapt data from specialized literature and complete the gaps with database values or estimated values based on formulas or distances.…”

“…CP has the additional advantage of highlighting areas of improvement in material and energy consumption that can be used in combination with other tools aimed at improving environmental gains, such as Ecodesign, which is used to obtain higher quality products by choosing alternative materials with less environmental impacts, re-designed processes, and adequate final disposal of products' components [6]. Another characteristic of CP is its suitability for small-and medium-sized enterprises, owing to the relatively low cost of implementation [7]. As a result, CP has been used to improve environmental performance in production systems, with generally good results in a range of successful case studies [1], demonstrating not only the energy and material savings accrued from the use of CP, but also the financial savings in the development of more sustainable products.…”