MODULE 2

THE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OBJECTIVES

1. REDUCED CLIMATE IMPACT: In accordance with the UN Framework Convention on

Climate Change, concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere must be stabilized at a
level that will prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. This
goal must be achieved in such a way and at such a pace that biological diversity is preserved,
food production is assured and other goals of sustainable development are not jeopardized.
Sweden, together with other countries, must assume responsibility for achieving this global
objective.

2. CLEAN AIR: The air must be clean enough not to represent a risk to human health or to
animals, plants or cultural assets.

3. NATURAL ACIDIFICATION ONLY: The acidifying effects of deposition and land use must
not exceed the limits that can be tolerated by soil and water. In addition, deposition of
acidifying substances must not increase the rate of corrosion of technical materials located in
the ground, or water main systems, archaeological objects and rock carvings.

4. A NON-TOXIC ENVIRONMENT: The occurrence of man-made or extracted compounds in

the environment must not represent a threat to human health or biological diversity.
Concentrations of non-naturally occurring substances will be close to zero and their impacts
on human health and on ecosystems will be negligible. Concentrations of naturally occurring
substances will be close to background levels.

5. A PROTECTIVE OZONE LAYER: The ozone layer must be replenished so as to provide

long-term protection against harmful UV radiation.

6. A SAFE RADIATION ENVIRONMENT: Human health and biological diversity must be

protected against the harmful effects of radiation.

7. ZERO EUTROPHICATION: Nutrient levels in soil and water must not be such that they
adversely affect human health, the conditions for biological diversity or the possibility of
varied use of land and water.

8. FLOURISHING LAKES AND STREAMS: Lakes and watercourses must be ecologically

sustainable and their variety of habitats must be preserved. Natural productive capacity,
biological diversity, cultural heritage assets and the ecological and water-conserving function
of the landscape must be preserved, at the same time as recreational assets are safeguarded.

9. GOOD QUALITY GROUNDWATER: Groundwater must provide a safe and sustainable

supply of drinking water and contribute to viable habitats for flora and fauna in lakes and
 watercourses.

10. A BALANCED MARINE ENVIRONMENT, FLOURISHING COASTAL AREAS AND

ARCHIPELAGOS: The North Sea and the Baltic Sea must have a sustainable productive
capacity, and biological diversity must be preserved. Coasts and archipelagos must be
characterized by a high degree of biological diversity and a wealth of recreational, natural and
cultural assets. Industry, recreation and other utilization of the seas, coasts and archipelagos
must be compatible with the promotion of sustainable development. Particularly valuable
areas must be protected against encroachment and other disturbance.

11. THRIVING WETLANDS: The ecological and water conserving function of wetlands in the
landscape must be maintained and valuable wetlands preserved for the future.

12. SUSTAINABLE FORESTS: The value of forests and forest land for biological production
must be protected, at the same time as biological diversity and cultural heritage and
recreational assets are safeguarded.

13. A VARIED AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE: The value of the farmed landscape and
agricultural land for biological production and food production must be protected, at the same
time as biological diversity and cultural heritage assets are preserved and strengthened.

14. A MAGNIFICENT MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE: The pristine character of the mountain

environment must be largely preserved, in terms of biological diversity, recreational value,
and natural and cultural assets. Activities in mountain areas must respect these values and
assets, with a view to promoting sustainable development. Particularly valuable areas must be
protected from encroachment and other disturbance.

15. A GOOD BUILT ENVIRONMENT: Cities, towns and other built-up areas must provide a
good, healthy living environment and contribute to a good regional and global environment.
Natural and cultural assets must be protected and developed. Buildings and amenities must be
located and designed in accordance with sound environmental principles and in such a way as
to promote sustainable management of land, water and other resources.

16. A RICH DIVERSITY OF PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE: Biological diversity must be
preserved and used sustainably for the benefit of present and future generations. Species
habitats and ecosystems and their functions and processes must be safeguarded. Species must
be able to survive in long-term viable populations with sufficient genetic variation. Finally,
people must have access to a good natural and cultural environment rich in biological
diversity, as a basis for health, quality of life and well-being.
The rationale of environmental standards
The purpose of environmental quality standards is to protect quality of life and health by controlling
the quantity and quality (mainly in terms of toxicity) of anthropogenic pollutants, emanating mainly
from industrial activities, released to the environment.

It includes:
Concentration and mass standards
Effluent and stream standards
Emission and ambient standards

Mass and concentration.

• Mass concentration (mass per unit volume e.g. ppb or μg L−1) is the traditional metric to
report the environmental concentration (exposure) and toxicity thresholds (dose) of
conventional contaminants.
• Mass concentration is also the metric used when investigating the release and fate and
transport of conventional contaminants in the environment. It is likely the best suitable
metric to represent sedimentation of manufactured NMs after aggregation.
• In addition, there are well-validated methods for NM mass concentration determination,
making the production of accurate data easier. Therefore, mass concentration is the current
practical choice for a rapid overall assessment of environmental processes related to the
larger NM fractions (e.g. sedimentation).
• For example, the mass concentration of fullerene C60 was considered critical to predict the
fate of aqueous nanoscale fullerene (C60) suspensions.
• Although mass concentration metrics have been widely adopted in the hazard and risk
characterization of NMs, they are known to have limitations.
• Few studies have investigated the impact of dose metric (mass, number and surface area) on
the dose–response relationship for NMs, but there is no consensus on the best dose metric to
express NM toxicity.
• It is likely that the dose metric will be NM-dependent. This is particularly true for
polydisperse NM samples where mass concentration primarily reflects larger NM fractions.
• A potential challenge is to quantify mass concentration of specific NMs in complex
biological matrices. The NMs can be altered via dynamic interaction with surrounding
media. Finally, manufactured NMs are typically present at low concentrations (parts-per-
trillion to ppb).
• Highly sensitive and specific analytical techniques are required to measure these
toxicologically relevant mass concentrations. This metric is also not appropriate for specific
toxicological processes, e.g. assessing inflammation under high aerosol concentration. In
these cases, the surface properties of NMs are found to play a dominant role.

Effluent Standards: -
• They are generally established for the effluent from industry and municipality waste water
treatment plant to be discharge into stream, land, sewer, ocean etc.
• Effluent standard system is carried out to control the following stream standard system.
 • No detail stream analysis is required to determine exact amount of waste treatment, effluent
standard can serve as a guide to establish the stream classification or during organization of
any pollution abutment program.
• Unless the effluent standards are upgraded, this system does not provide any effective
protection for an over loaded stream.
• Main disadvantage of this type of standards is that there is no control over total volume of
polluting substances added to stream each day

Stream Standards: -
• The system is based on establishing classification or standard quality for a stream &
regulating any discharge to the extent, necessary to maintain the established stream
classification or quality
• The primary objective of stream standards is to protect and preserve each stream for its best
usage on an equitable basis for both upstream & downstream uses.
• The stream standard system is the prevention of excessive pollution regardless of type of
industry or other factors such as location of industry or municipality.
• Pollution abutment should be considered in the decisions concerning location of a plant just
as carefully as the Laboure’s, transportation, market & other conditions.
• It also allows the public to establish goals for maintaining quality of water for present as
well for future needs.

Emission standards
• Emission standards are requirements that set specific limits to the number of pollutants that
can be released into the environment.
• Many emissions standards focus on regulating pollutants released by automobiles (motor
cars) and other powered vehicles but they can also regulate emissions from industry, power
plants, small equipment such as lawn mowers and diesel generators.

An emission performance standard is a limit that sets thresholds above which a different type of
emission control technology might be needed.

Emission Norms: -
• It was in 1991 that first time emission norms were introduced in India for petrol cars, diesel
cars followed in 1992.
• Emission norms mean some rules (which has specified quantity) decided by the govt for
control of air pollution.
• Implementation of mandatory catalytic converters in 1995 for the 4 Metro cities, thus
reducing pollution further.
• From 2000, India introduced strict Emission standards modeled on the European ones. This
means the birth of Bharat Norms, with the first set of norms known as Bharat stage II,
followed by BS III, and BS IV (BS I was the earlier, Indian standard)
Ambient Air Quality Standards (AAQS) are setup for protecting public health from adverse
effects of air pollution and eliminating or reducing to a minimum, those contaminants that are
known to be or likely to be hazardous to human health.

Several approaches have been considered for setting air quality standards. Some of these are:
i. using another community's air as the standard,
ii. using as standard the quality of air that existed at an earlier time for which it was believed
that adverse effects were either nonexistent or tolerable by the community,
iii. using as standard the quality of air that exists in the community on certain days of good
ventilation and
iv. considering health protection - control cost relationship.

National Ambient Air Quality Standards

A National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) is a uniform, national standard establishing the
maximum permissible concentration of an air pollutant in the ambient air - the "portion of the
atmosphere, external to buildings, to which the general public has access.

" The USEPA has setup two types of standards, viz. "Primary Standards" to protect health with a
margin of safety and for "Secondary Standards" to protect welfare

Primary Standards Primary NAAQS define the acceptable concentration of an air pollutant in the
ambient air - necessarily to protect health with adequate margin of safety.

Secondary Standards Secondary NAAQS define the concentration of an air pollutant in the ambient
air necessary to protect the "public welfare.

" Effects on welfare includes, but is not limited to, effects on soils, water, crops, vegetation, man-
made materials, animals, wildlife, weather, visibility and climate, damage to and deterioration of
property, and hazards to transportation, as well as effects on economic values and on personal
comfort and well- being, whether caused by transformation, conversion, or combination with other
air pollutants national environmental standards

Minimum National Environmental Standards for industrial wastewater (often referred to as

NESs)

National Environmental Standards provide the opportunity for central government to promote the
adoption of consistent standards at the regional and district levels.

National environmental standards are regulations which prescribe technical standards, methods or
requirement for land use and subdivision, use of the coastal marine area and beds of lakes and
rivers, water take and use, discharges, or noise. They can also prescribe technical standards,
methods or requirements for monitoring.
Wastewater discharge standards are set (at least) at a national level for centralized treatment
systems for salient receiving environments. The key feature of a water body from a discharge
perspective is its assimilative capacity i.e., maximum amount of pollution that can be diluted or
degraded without affecting preliminary defined designated best uses.

Effluent discharge standards can be concentration-based or load-based. Concentration-based

standards are the most common and specify a permissible mass of pollutant per liter.
A limitation of concentration-based standards can be that it does not promote wastewater treatment,
since dilution can be used to meet the discharge standard.

The original standards developed in Britain were concentration-based although those standards
assumed a minimum 8-fold dilution in the receiving water body. Most countries in the Global South
have adopted discharge standards from the Global North and they have not been developed for their
local context

A national environmental standard may set a minimum standard, allowing councils to impose
stricter standards in their own plans, it may set a 'starting point' standard, allowing councils to
impose more lenient standards, or it may be absolute, so that local rules cannot be more lenient or
stricter than the standard.

National environmental standards may contain qualitative or quantitative standards, discharge

standards, methods for classifying a resource, methods, processes or technologies to implement
standards, non-technical methods and standards and exemptions from standards.

A national environmental standard may:

• Prohibit an activity
• Require resource consent for an activity
• State that a resource consent is not required for an activity
• Allow a resource consent to be granted for an activity only if it complies with conditions
specified in the standard and/or in the rules of a regional or district plan
• Restrict the making of a rule or granting of a resource consent
• Require a person to obtain a certificate from a specified person stating the activity complies
with a specific term of condition in the national environmental standard
• Specify the relationship between existing rules and the rules in the national environmental
standard
• Require the review of a water, coastal or discharge permit
• Determine whether an activity is controlled, restricted discretionary, discretionary or non-
complying
• State the matters over which discretion is restricted or control is reserved
• Specify that a resource consent application must be publicly notified or must not be publicly
notified or notified on a limited basis.
Environmental performance evaluation

The environmental performance evaluation (EPE) is an internal process and mechanism that should
enable continual management of reliable and verifiable information in order to determine whether
the environmental management system meets criteria defined by the management of the
organization.

The EPE uses indicators for gathering the information, and compares current and previous
performance with criteria for environmental performance established by the organization itself.

Environmental performance indicators (EPI)

The standard identifies two categories of EPI, operational performance indicators (OPIs) and
management performance indicators (MPIs).
A third category, environmental condition indicators (ECI) measures how an organization’s
activities, products and services interact with the natural environment at a local, regional, national or
global level.
ISO 14031 provides guidance on the selection of indicators, the measurement and monitoring
processes and the subsequent useof the validated data.
Typical EPIs in the first two categories may include:

• MPIs relate the management system and address:

o policy issues and development, eg effectiveness of environmental commitments
o resource allocation and purchasing
o human resource issues, eg staff training
o planning and practices, eg which objectives are being pursued and achieved
o conformance with regulations and audit programmes.

• OPIs relate to performance of operations, including:

o inputs, eg energy, materials, utilities and contractor services
o through-puts, eg design, installation, operation and maintenance of buildings, materials
used, process equipment and other facilities
o outputs, eg process emissions, trade effluent, emissions to air, solid and liquid wastes,
noise, vibration, light, dust, litter, odour and radiation.

Examples of performance indicator data might include:

• raw materials consumed (including hazardous substances and materials)
• quantities of emissions and discharges that can have a significant impact
• environmental protection measures
• number of polluting incidents or breaches of compliances which attracted fines,
damages or increased costs of regulatory inspections
• performance indicators such as waste generated per unit of production or energy
consumption indicators.

Environmental condition indicators (ECI)

ECIs are principally about the state of the natural environment that may be affected by an
organization’s activities, products and services. This will include local air and water quality and the
condition of land or whether the soil is contaminated.

Overall responsibility for the state of the environmental rests with those governmental and
regulatory agencies responsible for protecting and improving it, hence the need for regulatory
controls and statutory monitoring regimes.

ECIs refer to those activities and operations that might interact or have an impact on the quality of
the natural environment.

A key factor is ensuring that emissions to air, discharges to water and waste, meet regulatory
compliance, but an organisation may also carry out operations or activities that interact in other
ways and should be included in performance evaluation.
ECIs might include:

• Air quality, eg polluting or non-polluting odours that can cause nuisance to local residential
areas.
• Water condition, eg activities that release water causing turbidity in local streams. Equally, are
local water resources suitable for operational use? Is there enough water resource for future
business needs?
• land, eg are activities likely to degrade soil condition? Equally, are there opportunities for
enhancing local biodiversity by planting trees, for example?

By monitoring and measuring EPEs in all three categories described above, organizations can
identify those activities over which it has control or influence and set improvement priorities
accordingly.

Environmental benchmarking

Environmental benchmarking is a business tool that helps companies evaluate their environmental
performance and identify operating practices that contribute to superior performance.

Many companies have begun conducting benchmarking studies for the purpose of identifying work
processes and practices that influence the environmental performance of their organizations.

Organizations are aware that their operations may have detrimental, mitigating, or even positive
impacts on the environment depending upon how the practices are implemented.

The impacts of processes can be quantified and thus used as a statistic to evaluate the organization’s
Performance and competitive standing in the industry. For example, there is an increased awareness
and interest in the contributions organizations make to climate change and the risks of a variable
climate.

The Financial Times FTSE4Good Index, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and the Carbon
Disclosure Project demonstrate the increased emphasis of investors on organizations’ practices
related to carbon and its association with climate change.

Although a benchmarking study should be customized with respect to the organization’s needs,

The general approach to an environmental benchmarking study is as follows:

Define criteria for establishing practices as best-in-class;

Define performance metrics/criteria that address the areas of specific interest and allow for
comparison across firms;
Research industry practices and trends, including collecting and analyzing quantitative and
qualitative data on the policies, actions, successes, and failures of industry peers;

Select individual organizations for study based upon specific criteria that position the organization
as leaders in the industry (e.g., environmental indices, sustainability report measures, industry
awards);

Evaluate the overall performance of individual organizations included in the analysis relative to the
metrics and develop rankings to identify best-in-class;

Perform a gap analysis to highlight an organization’s strengths and weaknesses relative to the field;
and

Provide targeted recommendations for cutting-edge projects, policies, and initiatives that allow an
organization to maximize operational efficiencies, improve environmental quality,

Pollution prevention and pollution control

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India is a statutory organization under the Ministry
of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Mo.E.F.C.C.).

It was established in 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act, 1974. The
CPCB is also entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1981.

It serves as a field formation and also provides technical services to the Ministry of Environment
and Forests under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

It Co-ordinates the activities of the State Pollution Control Boards by providing technical assistance
and guidance and also resolves disputes among them. It is the apex organization in country in the
field of pollution control, as a technical wing of MoEFCC.

The board is led by its Chairperson appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet of the
Government of India The current acting chairman is Shri Tanmay Kumar (August 2021) and the
Member Secretary is Dr. Prashant Gargava and reduce operating costs pollution .

CPCB has its head office in New Delhi, with seven zonal offices and 5 laboratories. The board
conducts environmental assessments and research. It is responsible for maintaining national
standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with zonal offices, tribal, and local
governments.

It has responsibilities to conduct monitoring of water and air quality, and maintains monitoring data.
The agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of voluntary
pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts.

It advises the central government to prevent and control water and air pollution. It also advises the
Governments of Union Territories on industrial and other sources of water and air pollution.

CPCB along with its counterparts the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) are responsible for
implementation of legislation relating to prevention and control of environmental pollution.

The board has approximately 500 full-time employees including engineers, scientists, and
environmental protection specialist.

Functions of CPCB

Functions of CPCB comes under both national level and as State Boards for the Union Territories.
CPCB, under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and the Air (Prevention
and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, aims to promote cleanliness of streams and wells in different
areas of the States by prevention, control and abatement of water pollution, and to improve the
quality of air and to prevent, control or abate air pollution in the country.

Air quality/ pollution: CPCB runs nationwide programs of ambient air quality monitoring known
as National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). The network consists of 621 operating
stations covering 262 cities/towns in 29 states and 5 Union Territories of the country.

Under N.A.M.P., four air pollutants viz., Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Oxides of Nitrogen as NO2,
Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM/
PM10) have been identified for regular monitoring at all the locations.

The monitoring of meteorological parameters such as wind speed and wind direction, relative
humidity (RH) and temperature were also integrated with the monitoring of air quality. This
information on Air Quality at ITO is updated every week.

Water quality/ pollution: Fresh water is a finite resource essential for use in agriculture, industry,
propagation of wildlife & fisheries and for human existence. India is a riverine country. It has 14
major rivers, 44 medium rivers and 55 minor rivers besides numerous lakes, ponds and wells which
are used as primary source of drinking water even without treatment.

Most of the rivers being fed by monsoon rains, which is limited to only three months of the year,
run dry throughout the rest of the year often carrying wastewater discharges from industries or cities
or towns endangering the quality of our scarce water resources.

The inland water quality monitoring network is operating under a three-tier program i.e. Global
Environment Monitoring System (GEMS), Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic Resources
System (MINARS) and Yamuna Action Plan (YAP).
Urban area programs (Eco City Program): CPCB programs for urban areas, also known as Eco
City Program comes under X Plan to improve environment through implementation of identified
environmental improvement projects in the selected towns and cities.

Pilot studies conducted for urban areas by the Centre for Spatial Environmental Planning created at
the CPCB under the World Bank funded Environmental Management Capacity Building Project
and supported by the GTZ-CPCB Project under the Indo-German Bilateral Program.

According to these studies CPCB develop a comprehensive urban improvement system employing
practical, innovative and non-conventional solutions. Under the X Plan, a budget provision of Rs.
15 crores have been made for the period 2002–03 to 2006-07 for the Ecocity projects.

Municipal Solid Waste rules: Every municipal authority comes under the Municipal Solid Wastes
(Management & Handling) Rules, 2000 (MSW rules, 2000) and responsible for collection,
segregation, storage, transportation, processing and disposal of municipal solid. CPCB collects
necessary information form municipal authorities and provide them technical assistance.

Noise Pollution/ Rules: According to S.O. 123(E) by MoEFC, various sources like industrial
activity, construction activity, generator sets, loud speakers, public address systems, music systems,
vehicular horns and other mechanical devices have deleterious effects on human health. CPCB has
the responsibility to regulate and control noise producing and generating sources with the objective
of maintaining the ambient air quality standards.

Environmental Data Statistics: CPCB manages environmental data statistic in which air quality
data and water quality data comes through. In the case of air quality data, it measures the level of
SO2, NO2, RSPM and SPM. CPCB measure and maintains water quality data as well. Quality level
of river and ponds are the major fields which comes under the water quality data criteria

Cleaner production
Cleaner production can reduce operating costs, improve profitability and worker safety, and reduce
the environmental impact of the business. Companies are frequently surprised at the cost reductions
achievable through the adoption of cleaner production techniques.

Frequently, minimal or no capital expenditure is required to achieve worthwhile gains, with fast
payback periods. Waste handling and charges, raw material usage and insurance premiums can
often be cut, along with potential risks.

It is obvious that cleaner production techniques are good business for industry because it will:
• Reduce waste disposal cost.
• Reduce raw material cost.
• Reduce Health Safety Environment (HSE) damage cost.
• Improve public relations/image.
 • Improve companies performance.
• Improve the local and international market competitiveness.
• Help comply with environmental protection regulations.
• On a broader scale, cleaner production can help alleviate the serious and increasing
problems of air and water pollution, ozone depletion, global warming, landscape
degradation, solid and liquid wastes, resource depletion, acidification of the natural and
built environment, visual pollution, and reduced bio-diversity.

Clean technology

In short cleantech, is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts
through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or
environmental protection activities.

Clean technology includes a broad range of technology related to recycling, renewable energy,
information technology, green transportation, electric motors, green chemistry, lighting, grey
water, and more. Environmental finance is a method by which new clean technology projects that
have proven that they are "additional" or "beyond business as usual" can obtain financing through
the generation of carbon credits. A project that is developed with concern for climate change
mitigation is also known as a carbon project.

Clean Edge, a clean technology research firm, describes clean technology "a diverse range of
products, services, and processes that harness renewable materials and energy sources, dramatically
reduce the use of natural resources, and cut or eliminate emissions and wastes." Clean Edge notes
that, "Clean technologies are competitive with, if not superior to, their conventional counterparts.

Many also offer significant additional benefits, notably their ability to improve the lives of those in
both developed and developing countries

Closed Loop System

• Businesses use all kinds of terms to prove they’re environmentally friendly. “Recyclable,”
“plant-based,” and “energy efficient” all get tossed around a lot and while most people generally
know what those words mean, there’s one frequently used phrase that’s harder to decipher:
closed-loop system.

• When a company says it uses a closed-loop system, it’s referring to its supply chain. Under a
closed-loop system, businesses reuse the same materials over and over again to create new
products for purchase. It’s a way to conserve natural resources and divert waste from the
landfill, and increasingly, more companies are adopting it.

• The phrase “closed-loop system” is often paired with “circular economy,” which is “an
industrial system that is restorative and regenerative by intention or design,” to use the World
 Economic Forum’s definition. It’s helpful to think of literal loops or circles to understand the
core concept. Instead of raw materials moving in a straight line from collection, through
manufacturing, to purchase (and, once it’s broken or used up, the trash can), imagine a loop.
The materials are always moving through this loop, never reaching an endpoint

• When a product has served its purpose, it restarts at collection. Someone pares the item back
down to scraps, providing “new” raw materials. Then it’s manufactured into a finished product
yet again, one the consumer can then purchase.

• Think of aluminum cans. When you finish drinking a beverage out of a can, you put it in a
recycling bin. Factories salvage the aluminum and make another can that is shipped to a store,
where anyone can buy it. The process can be repeated thousands of times.

• Closed-loop systems can be applied to all kinds of industries. Take the beer business. Sierra
Nevada has closed the loop in the company’s Chico, California facilities, where the beermakers
compost waste generated from the brewery into soil used to grow new barley and hops.
• But that’s far from the only example. Companies like For Days are fighting the concept of fast
fashion with closed loop clothing. When customers sign up for a For Days subscription, they
receive a bundle of shirts, ranging from basic tank tops to sweatshirts. Once the clothes are worn
down, stained, or torn, subscribers send them back for a new set derived directly from those
used threads.

Zero-liquid Technologies

Zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) is a water treatment process in which all wastewater is purified and
recycled; therefore, leaving zero discharge at the end of the treatment cycle. Zero liquid discharge is
an advanced wastewater treatment method that includes ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis,
evaporation/crystallization, and fractional electrodeionization.

Clarifier and or a reactor: Essential step to precipitate out hardness, silica salts and metals
Biological process: Decomposition of organic waste using microbes; according to the COD/BOD
ratio, biological processes like activated sludge, Soil biotechnology treatment, Membrane Aerated
Biofilm Reactor, Anaerobic Digestion, can be employed

Chemical feed: Precipitation, Flocculation, Disinfection and Coagulation need chemicals as

precursors for the removal of metals and other suspended solids.

Filter: Concentration of secondary solid waste can be done after pretreatment alongside with an
evaporator

Filtration: It is essential for the removal of suspended solids according to the size of the particles
and helps prevent fouling, scaling and unnecessary eroding or corrosion down the line of treatment.
Filtration includes Microfiltration, Ultrafiltration, Nano-filtration.

Reverse osmosis: Removes dissolved stubborn solids from the stream from the primary and
secondary stages of concentration

Brine concentration: Further concentration of the stream occurs, helps in reduction of the waste
volume

Evaporator: Final stage of concentrating the liquid counterpart of the stream before crystallization.

Crystallizer: Presents the dry solid waste cake which can be readily disposed off, it is devoid of
any liquid

Ultra-filtration: It is used for the separation of suspended solids, colloidal particles, and large size
microorganisms from the liquid effluent.