The Way of the Future- "Green" Production

Over the long course of the environmental protection movement, environmental protection groups have gradually changed their methods; where they used to picket factories, they now gather samples for analysis. Similarly, the once negative attitude of industry has become more positive and pro-active.

In recent years, both environmentalists and the law have been making greater demands on industry. They now demand not only green products, but also green production. What this means is that firms must begin to reduce waste, recycle and re-use resources in their manufacturing processes. And when waste water and waste materials emerge from the end of the production pipeline, they all must have somewhere to go.

Kathen Lee, an ISEP section manager at Powerchip Semiconductor, lays particular emphasis on the fact that it is now demanded that both environmental protection and cost effectiveness be considered when factories are constructed. This is the so-called "design in" concept.

The winds of ISO

For firms, environmental protection has already become a factor they cannot ignore when attempting to lessen the burden on their equipment and increase the competitiveness of their products.

With the increasing prominence of environmental protection, in August of last year the Environment and Development Foundation (EDF) was made independent of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). Yu Ning, the EDF's president, says that last year the US increased taxes on imported products containing ozone-layer-killing chloro-fluorocarbons (CFCs). Yu says, "In the future, such barriers to trade will become more and more common."

ISO 14000 certification, which has recently become all the rage in Taiwan, is one means which companies are using to address this kind of issue. ISO 14000 is a set of management standards intended to encourage firms to build environmental management systems. This means protecting against pollution, making economical use of resources in the production process, manufacturing green products and working to improve the quality of the overall environment by making continuous efforts to improve every aspect of their production processes.

Among Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturers, which lead Taiwan's high-tech industries, ISO 14000 has already gained wide-spread acceptance. Vanguard International Semiconductor is a local firm which has already received its ISO 14000 certification. According to Fan Kuang-jung, head of the risk management department at Vanguard, "There are already a number of semiconductor companies which have received their certification, and those that haven't are trying to get theirs as quickly as possible." The EDF's Yu Ning also mentions that the drive to get certification is moving up and down the entire production chain as major local firms such as Teco Electric and Machinery have even begun requiring that their upstream suppliers pursue ISO 14000.

The production chain

These links between firms in the production chain have also recently become a topic of discussion among academics.

The semiconductor industry requires solvents with a very high degree of purity. After these solvents are used, they are just so much liquid waste to semiconductor firms. However, they may still be useful to firms in other industries. Fan Kuang-jung cites isopropanol, which is used in the industry's cleaning and drying process, as an example. He says that after freezing and recycling, it can be used by other electronics or printing firms.

Chao Chih-cheng, a research fellow and general manager at the IRTI's Energy and Resources Lab, says, "The 'ecological industrial system' perspective is that you not only have to deal with the difficult problem of the final treatment of waste materials, but that you also should make efficient use of materials and energy. The ideal is to create an environment with no pollution."

The goal of a "zero-pollution industry" may sound a little far-fetched, but David C.W. Hsieh, an environmental engineer with China Technical Consultants, has a different take on it: "Because you can never achieve zero pollution, there's always room for environmental protection technology to improve."

"Vein industries"

Roam Guo-dong, director of the Bureau of Water Quality Protection at the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), says that with academic institutions such as the ITRI, National Tsinghua University and National Chiao Tung University all doing research and development work on environmental technology, Taiwan's technology is already quite well-developed. And he says that industry, too, is making progress. David Hsieh adds that the entire world is striving towards this goal. For example, Japan already has its so-called "vein industries," a euphemism for industries that clean up, transport, recycle and dispose of waste.

Looking at Taiwan's environmental engineering industry, there are a number of firms which currently handle clean up and transport of waste materials. However, Chang Fang-shu, vice manager at Axiom Environmental Engineering, which is responsible for the science park's water treastment facility, says "clean up and transport are simple; all you need is a truck. The lack of suitable disposal sites, on the other hand, is a problem that we need to be thinking about before it becomes severe." You can count on your fingers the number of companies that can handle incineration or recycling of toxic waste on behalf of other firms. And there are only three grade-A waste disposal companies in all of Taiwan capable of dealing with organic solvents.

Peggy Chen, deputy sales manager at Sheng Li Chemical, which is one of these three, says that right now there are a number disposal sites available for ordinary waste. However, there is not even one for toxic wastes such as heavy metals. What is fortunate is that the volume of ash from incinerators and residues which cannot yet be processed is currently quite small. So, says Chen, "You just store your own."

From this perspective, it seems our enviromental enginnering industry still has a great deal of room for improvement.

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ISO certification is becoming all the rage in the business community, with virtually all firms pursuing it.