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Chemical leasing in the context of sustainable chemistry

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Abstract

Chemical leasing is a new and innovative approach of selling chemicals. It aims at reducing the risks emanating from hazardous substances and ensuring long-term economic success within a global system of producing and using chemicals. This paper explores how, through chemical leasing, the consumption of chemicals, energy, resources and the generation of related wastes can be reduced. It also analyses the substitution of hazardous chemicals as a tool to protect environmental, health and safety and hence ensure compliance with sustainability criteria. For this, we are proposing an evaluation methodology that seeks to provide an answer to the following research questions: (1) Does the application of chemical leasing promote sustainability in comparison to an existing chemicals production and management system? 2. If various chemical leasing project types are envisaged, which is the most promising in terms of sustainability? The proposed methodology includes a number of basic goals and sub-goals to assess the sustainability for eight different chemical leasing case studies that have been implemented both at the local and the national levels. The assessment is limited to the relative assessment of specific case studies and allows the comparisons of different projects in terms of their relative contribution to sustainable chemistry. The findings of our assessment demonstrate that chemical leasing can be regarded as promoting sustainable chemistry in five case studies with certainty. However, on the grounds of our assessment, we cannot conclude with certainty that chemical leasing has equivalent contribution to sustainable chemistry in respect of three further case studies.

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Notes

  1. “Renew the commitment, as advanced in Agenda 21, to sound management of chemicals throughout their life cycle and of hazardous wastes for sustainable development as well as for the protection of human health and the environment, inter alia, aiming to achieve, by 2020, that chemicals are used and produced in ways that lead to the minimization of significant adverse effects on human health and the environment, using transparent science-based risk assessment procedures and science-based risk management procedures, taking into account the precautionary approach, as set out in principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and support developing countries in strengthening their capacity for the sound management of chemicals and hazardous wastes by providing technical and financial assistance.” In the context of the United Nations, this paragraph has been coined by to contribute to meeting the 2020 goal on the sound management of chemicals throughout their lifecycle.

  2. Systems engineering is a discipline that deals with analysis, evaluation and design of complex systems. For further reference to systems engineering and systems thinking, see Haberfellner et al. (1997).

  3. The calculation of the scores for each sub-goal will not be adjusted through weighting factors.

  4. Or any other combination of ‘no data are available’- and ‘sub-goal not relevant’-entries.

  5. Since 2006, the German Federal Environment Agency operates a chemical leasing initiative for Germany. Within this program, a German chemical leasing national working group has been mounted, and several pilot projects have been initiated by the German Federal Environmental Agency. Besides expert monitoring of the case studies, the experiences of existing and initiated case studies fed into the development of sustainability criteria for chemical leasing. Today, the sustainability criteria for chemical leasing are implemented in UNIDO, Austrian and German chemical leasing programs. German environmental authorities have been dedicated to the business model of chemical leasing in general with a special focus on initiating pilot projects since 2007. Today, chemical leasing is established in Germany, triggered by various flagship projects in a number of applications and industries.

  6. Delta Electrical Appliances is the leading Egyptian manufacturer of electrical equipment. It is part of the Olympic Group, one of Egypt’s foremost companies. DEA mainly produces electrical appliances, refrigerators and washing machines.

  7. Akzo Nobel Powder Coating SAE (leading supplier) is part of the international group Akzo Nobel and has a share of around 60 % of the Egyptian powder coating market. It operates mainly in the sectors of domestic appliances, electrical equipment and air-conditioners.

  8. Chemetall Italy (subcontractor supplier and co-partner) is a global company in the field of specialty chemistry. The group’s activities focus on products and processes for the chemical treatment of metal surfaces and plastics, as well as on selected fields of fine chemistry, such as lithium and caesium compounds. The company is represented in Egypt by its authorised agent Obegi Chemicals Egypt. Chemetall operates in a wide range of industrial sectors (automotive, domestic electrical appliances, and the aluminium and galvanization sectors).

  9. Vodokanal of St. Petersburg is the user of the chemicals and specialises in treating and disinfecting water. Vodokanal of St. Petersburg provides drinking water and wastewater services to over 4.5 million people in private households, as well as to more than 17,500 customers in both industrial settings, and providers of municipal services.

  10. Aquatechservice Ltd. is the chemical supplier, specializing in the development and implementation of innovative water purification processes, and in the exploration and maintenance of equipment, as well.

  11. Knjaz Milos, founded in 1811, is the largest producer of mineral water and beverages in the Republic of Serbia. The annual production capacity amounts to 300 million litres of beverages. In 2008, 220 million litres of mineral water and beverages were produced. The company has about 900 employees and is ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 22000 certified.

  12. Ecolab is the global leader in cleaning, sanitizing, food safety and infection prevention products and services with sales of US$ 6 billion and more than 26,000 associates. It delivers comprehensive programmes and services to foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare and hospitality markets in more than 160 countries. The company is certified according to ISO 9001/14001 and EN 46001 (for medical devices).

  13. According to the material safety data sheet, no significant effects or critical hazards on human health are known and no information on ecotoxicity is available.

  14. Newspapers Ltd, the ink user, is the leading Sri Lankan newspaper printing company (15 million newspapers per month) and has 1,500 employees.

  15. General Ink Ltd, the ink supplier, is a medium-sized Sri Lankan company with about 50 employees. The supplier has a strong market share, especially in newspaper printing.

  16. The major legislative act on chemicals safety in Europe is provided by REACH—Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals—Regulation (OJ 2007). Article 3 defines articles as “means an object which during production is given a special shape, surface or design which determines its function to a greater degree than does its chemical composition.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Ferrara, Via Luigi Borsari, 46, 44121, Ferrara, Italy

    Frank Moser

  2. Unit International Chemicals Safety, Sustainable Chemistry, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, P.O. Box 12 06 29, D-53048, Bonn, Germany

    Vassilios Karavezyris

  3. Unit International Chemicals Management, Federal Environment Agency, Wörlitzer Platz 1, D-06844, Dessau, Germany

    Christopher Blum

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  1. Frank Moser
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  2. Vassilios Karavezyris
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  3. Christopher Blum
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Correspondence to Frank Moser.

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Moser, F., Karavezyris, V. & Blum, C. Chemical leasing in the context of sustainable chemistry. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 6968–6988 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3926-0

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