Pollution Prevention Resources for Industries

P2 Fact Sheet - Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

This factsheet is provided by MCES as a service for its Industrial Users. This factsheet summaries existing information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other sources as noted. While P2 addresses waste in all possible media (i.e., solid, liquid, and gas), this factsheet will focus on those waste streams that involve a liquid waste stream (i.e., industrial wastewater).

Background:

Pollution prevention means reducing or stopping the generation of pollutants at the source rather than controlling or treating them after they have been created. This is also known as "source reduction" or "waste minimization."

The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990, "declares it to be the national policy of the United States that pollution should be prevented or reduced whenever feasible; pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled in an environmentally safe manner wherever feasible; and disposal or release into the environment should be chosen only as a last resort..."

Chemical Substitution:

The pharmaceutical manufacturing industry has decreased its use of many chemicals because of their toxicity and contribution to air and water pollution. Use of chlorinated compounds has decreased the most. Based on a review of TRI data from pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, the average annual discharge of chloroform, methylene chloride, carbon tetrachloride, benzene, methyl isobutyl ketone, pyridine, phenol, methyl cellusolve, and xylene has decreased between the years 1987 and 1994. Percent reductions in annual discharge vary from 26% (phenol) to 99% (carbon tetrachloride).

Water Conservation Measures:

Potential water conservation measures include: careful monitoring of water use, installation of automatic monitoring and alarm systems on in-plant discharges, implementation of alternative production processes requiring less water, conversion from barometric to surface condensers, reuse of wastewater from other manufacturing processes, reuse of noncontact water as process makeup water, and treatment of contact cooling water to allow reuse.

Monitoring P2 Progress:

For more information on performing a P2 process audit, establishing performance measurements, and/or performing environmental cost accounting, you can contact the MCES contact for this category. Industrial Users should note that monitoring P2 performance is a means to Pollution Prevention, and it should not an end to itself.

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