Environmental Impacts of Definite Products-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Environmental Management System. Answer: A commonly utilized tool in the environmental context makes use of the life-cycle assessment (LCA) to assess the environmental aspects in addition to the potential impacts pertinent to a product in course of all its stages. In this view, studies have been carried out in recent times to evaluate the environmental impacts of definite products. One such product is olive oil that has been extensively investigated for its environmental impacts through relevant studies. I came to know about the available energy recovery alternatives that have the capacity of driving the management of the olive oil industry waste in the Australian context through adoption of LCA procedure owing to the expanding nature of the olive oil industry in the country. The options that are in vogue constituted manufacturing briquettes as solid fuel for the purpose of home heating, application of pellets in two distinctive areas of either domestic water heating or industrial water heating part from other techniques su ch as that of pyrolysis and composting. According to the study findings I came to learn that rather than the current best practice of composting that has been confirmed to exert significant environmental benefits, displacement of electricity from the main grid is capable of harboring better outcomes following utilization of olive waste for the generation of energy products. However, as per the proposition of the study I came to know that highest effectiveness with optimum environmental benefits may be expected from the production of pellets that are applicable for usage in the domestic hot water bodies (El Hanandeh, 2015). Thus, an insight into the choices available for the sake of energy utilization of the solid olive waste in contrast to the industry available practices has been procured through this study that will further add to the knowledge regarding the environmental management system in this regard for future reference. I also referred to another study concerning the small a nd micro scale production of olive oil in northern Jordan that accounted for indicating the environmental efficiency through environmental impacts assessment in addition to conducting the comparative analysis of the olive oil production practices meant for other Mediterranean regions. Assessments were done with respect to five distinct environmental impact categories such as acidification, particulate matter formation, climate change, agricultural land production as well as human toxicity. Referring to the study findings, it became evident to me that environmental efficiency is supported with respect to olive oil production in northern Jordan when compared against large scale olive oil production practices carried out in the Mediterranean regions. Suitable analysis identified climate change and human toxicity as the most sensitive and least sensitive to differences at farm level practices respectively. I understood that the efficacy of the EMS in the region may be further attributed to low utilization of energy, water and chemical resources in addition to fruitful soil management practices that hold potential for improvement through adoption of low tillage or no tillage agricultural practices by the farmers (El Hanandeh Gharaibeh, 2016). Therefore, I believe knowledge acquired about the olive oil production and subsequent waste utilization with respect to two different geographical contexts has the prospect of planning an EMS pertinent to other regions that account for yield of similar product. References El Hanandeh, A. (2015). Energy recovery alternatives for the sustainable management of olive oil industry waste in Australia: life cycle assessment.Journal of Cleaner Production,91, 78-88. El Hanandeh, A., Gharaibeh, M. A. (2016). Environmental efficiency of olive oil production by small and micro-scale farmers in northern Jordan: Life cycle assessment.Agricultural Systems,148, 169-177.