Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business/

Responsible Business)[1] is a form of corporate selfregulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. CSR is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders. The ISO 9000 family of standards is related to quality management systems and designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders[1] while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements related to the product. The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, and available through National standards bodies. ISO 9000 deals with the fundamentals of quality management systems,[2] including the eight management principles[2][3] on which the family of standards is based. ISO 9001 deals with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard have to fulfil. ____________________________________________________ The ISO 9000 family of standards is related to quality management systems and designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders[1] while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements related to the product. The standards are published by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, and available through National standards bodies. ISO 9000 deals with the fundamentals of quality management systems,[2] including the eight management principles[2][3] on which the family of standards is based. ISO 9001 deals with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard have to fulfill.[4] Third party certification bodies provide independent confirmation that organizations meet the requirements of ISO 9001. Over a million organizations worldwide[5] are independently certified, making ISO 9001 one of the most widely used management tools in the world today. Despite widespread use, however, the ISO certification process has been criticized[6][7] as being wasteful and not being useful for all organizations __________________________________________________________________________ ISO 8402 quality control and quality assurance standard, included in ISO 9000 ___________________________________________________________________________ Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. It is defined as any change or disturbance to the environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable.[1] Environmental degradation is one of the Ten Threats officially cautioned by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations. A life-cycle assessment (LCA, also known as life-cycle analysis, ecobalance, and cradle-to-grave analysis)[1] is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from-cradle-tograve (i.e., from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling). LCAs can help avoid a narrow outlook on environmental concerns by:

Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases; Evaluating the potential impacts associated with identified inputs and releases; Interpreting the results to help make a more informed decision.[2]

Environmental Management standard: documented agreement containing technical specifications or other precise criterion to be used consistently as rules, guidelines, or definitions of characteristics to ensure that materials, products, processes, or services are fit for their purposes and functions. _________________________________________________________________ British Standards are the standards produced by BSI Group which is incorporated under a Royal Charter (and which is formally designated as the National Standards Body (NSB) for the UK).[1] The BSI Group produces British Standards under the authority of the Charter, which lays down as one of the BSI's objectives to:[2] (2) Set up standards of quality for goods and services, and prepare and promote the general adoption of British Standards and schedules in connection therewith and from time to time to revise, alter and amend such standards and schedules as experience and circumstances require BSI Royal Charter, Faller and Graham[2]
LIBNOR is a public institution attached to the Ministry of Industry. It was established by a law-dated 23/7/1962 as the sole authority to prepare national standards & to give the right to use the Lebanese Conformity Mark. National standards cover all products including agro-foods, chemicals, electrical, electronics, information technology, & communication, as well as metrology, symbols, technical dictionary, methods of testing, codes of practice, & structural rules for buildings. LIBNOR is a member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) & of the Arab Industrial Development & Mining Organization (AIDMO). ___________________________________________________________

Association of Lebanese Industrialists - Association that seeks to maintain an environment favorable to industrial investment and growth. _________________________________________________________________ The Marrakech Process is a global process to support the elaboration of a 10-Year Framework of Programs (10YFP) on sustainable consumption and production, as called for by the WSSD Johannesburg Plan of Action. :: Goals

to assist countries in their efforts to green their economies to help corporations develop greener business models to encourage consumers to adopt more sustainable lifestyles.

:: Participants UNEP and UN DESA are the lead agencies of this global process, with an active participation of national governments, development agencies, and civil society. The Marrakech process recognised the need to build a vision of sustainable lifestyles among different stakeholders to achieve sustainable patterns of consumption. Actions proposed include support for sharing best practice examples in this area, awareness raising campaigns, consumer education, and the development of guidelines and manuals giving examples of possible designs for sustainability _________________________________________________________________________________

Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) is about promoting resource and energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing access to basic services, green and decent jobs and a better quality of life for all. The implementation of SCP as an integrated approach helps to achieve overall development plans, reduce future economic, environmental and social costs, strengthen economic competitiveness and reduce poverty. Sustainable consumption and production is defined as the use of services and related products, which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimising the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations. Norwegian Ministry of Environment, Oslo Symposium, 1994.

Sustainable Consumption and Production and Sustainable Industrial Policy: the two main policies covered by the Action Plan. Sustainable Industrial Policy is under the responsibility of DG Enterprise and Industry and aims at setting the right business environment so that greater sustainability becomes an asset for industry's competitiveness and a source of innovation. As described in the Action Plan, SIP mainly includes:

sustainable product policy, which supports the manufacturing and marketing of more environmentally friendly products, notably by fostering their uptake by consumers; support to eco-industries, to foster the competitiveness of environmental industries and favour their uptake by traditional industries; climate change policy, to help industry adapting the new CO2 constrain.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capture and long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2)[1] and may refer specifically to:

"The process of removing carbon from the atmosphere and depositing it in a reservoir."[2] When carried out deliberately, this may also be referred to as carbon dioxide removal, which is a form of geoengineering. The process of carbon capture and storage, where carbon dioxide is removed from flue gases, such as on power stations, before being stored in underground reservoirs. Natural biogeochemical cycling of carbon between the atmosphere and reservoirs, such as by chemical weathering of rocks.

Energy intensity = $ paid for 1 unit of energy Industrial ecology (IE) is the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems. The global industrial economy can be modeled as a network of industrial processes that extract resources from the Earth and transform those resources into commodities which can be bought and sold to meet the needs of humanity. Industrial ecology seeks to quantify the material flows and document the industrial processes that make modern society function. Industrial ecologists are often concerned with the impacts that industrial activities have on the environment, with use of the planet's supply of natural resources, and with problems of waste disposal. Industrial ecology is a young but growing multidisciplinary field of research which combines aspects of engineering, economics, sociology, toxicology and the natural sciences. Industrial ecology has been defined as a "systems-based, multidisciplinary discourse that seeks to understand emergent behaviour of complex integrated human/natural systems".[1] The field approaches issues of sustainability by examining problems from multiple perspectives, usually involving aspects of sociology, the environment, economy and technology. The name comes from the idea that we should use the analogy of

natural systems as an aid in understanding how to design sustainable industrial systems.[2]

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Eco-industries As defined by the OECD and Eurostat, eco-industries are activities which produce goods and services to measure, prevent, limit, minimize or correct environmental damage to water, air and soil, as well as problems related to waste, noise and eco-systems. This includes technologies, products and services that reduce environmental risk and minimize pollution and resources such as waste and waste water management, renewable energy sources, environmental consulting, air pollution and control, eco-construction.

Energy / material flow ---- down stream Waste / emissions flow ----- back stream The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer) is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion. The treaty was opened for signature on September 16, 1987, and entered into force on January 1, 1989 ________________________________________________________________ Acid rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Governments have made efforts since the 1970s to reduce the release of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere with positive results. Nitrogen oxides can also be produced naturally by lightning strikes and sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanic eruptions. The chemicals in acid rain can cause paint to peel, corrosion of steel structures such as bridges, and erosion of stone statues. ________________________________________________________________________________ Sick building syndrome (SBS) is a combination of ailments associated with an individual's place of work (office building) or residence. A 1984 World Health Organization report suggested up to 30% of new and remodeled buildings worldwide may be linked to symptoms of SBS. Most of the sick building syndrome is related to poor indoor air quality.[1] Sick building causes are frequently pinned down to flaws in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Other causes have been attributed to contaminants produced by outgassing of some types of building materials, volatile organic compounds (VOC), molds (see mold health issues), improper exhaust ventilation of ozone (byproduct of some office machinery), light industrial chemicals used within, or lack of adequate fresh-air intake/air filtration (see Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value). Symptoms are often dealt with after the fact by boosting the overall turn-over rate of fresh air exchange with the outside air, but the new green building design goal should be able to avoid most of the SBS problem sources in the first place, minimize the ongoing use of VOC cleaning compounds, and eliminate conditions that encourage allergenic mold growth.
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Industrial Material Exchange is one of the premiere material exchanges of the Pacific Northwest. IMEX is a free listing service designed to help your business find markets for your industrial by-products, surplus materials and wastes. Businesses, offices, schools, and individuals "advertise" their surplus/unwanted materials, or materials that they are seeking, by submitting an electronic IMEX listing form. The listings are then posted on the IMEX web site, where they are viewed by interested waste generators and waste recyclers.

You can search for a wide variety of both wanted and available materials on the IMEX web. Be sure to check out the Miscellaneous category for the more obscure items. If you are looking for someone to take your excess glass slag, or if you are seeking off spec acetone, often times you may find what you are looking for, through IMEX. The goal of IMEX is to conserve energy, resources and landfill space by helping businesses and organizations find alternatives to the disposal of valuable materials or wastes. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. environmental protection agency an independent federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment. Facility Synergy Tool: The Facility Synergy Tool (FAST) is a decision support tool created to aid planners, communities, and facility personnel in identifying potential materials exchange, energy trading, and purchasing coordination opportunities among industrial and non-industrial facilities. FAST is an interactive computer software program that includes: (1) a database containing facility profile information for a variety of industries, utilities, and other businesses; (2) a search mechanism that identifies potential input/output matches among facilities; and (3) a data input screen that allows users to enter information on specific facilities of interest. FAST can be used as a stand-alone product or in conjunction with the Designing Industrial Ecosystems Tool (DIET), a decision support tool for planning and design of eco-industrial parks. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary, roomtemperature conditions. Their high vapor pressure results from a low boiling point, which causes large numbers of molecules to evaporate or sublimate from the liquid or solid form of the compound and enter the surrounding air. An example is formaldehyde, with a boiling point of 19 C (2 F), slowly exiting paint and getting into the air. VOCs are numerous, varied, and ubiquitous. They include both human-made and naturally occurring chemical compounds. Most scents or odors are of VOCs. VOCs play an important role in communication between plants. [1] Some VOCs are dangerous to human health or cause harm to the environment. Anthropogenic VOCs are regulated by law, especially indoors, where concentrations are the highest. Harmful VOCs are typically not acutely toxic, but instead have compounding long-term health effects. Because the concentrations are usually low and the symptoms slow to develop, research into VOCs and their effects is difficult. Saltwater intrusion is the movement of saline water into freshwater aquifers, which can lead to contamination of drinking water sources and other consequences. Saltwater intrusion occurs naturally to some degree in most coastal aquifers, owing to the hydraulic connection between groundwater and seawater. Because saltwater has a higher mineral content than freshwater, it is denser and has a higher water pressure. As a result, saltwater can push inland beneath the freshwater.[1] Certain human activities, especially groundwater pumping from coastal freshwater wells, have increased saltwater intrusion in many coastal areas. Water extraction drops the level of fresh groundwater, reducing its water pressure and allowing saltwater to flow further inland. Other contributors to saltwater intrusion include navigation channels or agricultural and drainage canals, which provide conduits for saltwater to move inland, and sea level rise.[2] Saltwater intrusion can also be worsened by extreme events like hurricane storm surges.[3]
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A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction

with oxygen or another oxidizing agent ______________________________________________ A feed-in tariff (FIT, standard offer contract[1] advanced renewable tariff[2] or renewable energy payments[3]) is a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies. It achieves this by offering long-term contracts to renewable energy producers, typically based on the cost of generation of each technology.[1][4] Technologies such as wind power, for instance, are awarded a lower perkWh price, while technologies such as solar PV and tidal power are offered a higher price, reflecting higher costs. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Mediterranean Solar PlanLaunched in 2008 in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the MSP
has two main objectives to be achieved by 2020: developing an additional 20 GW of renewable energy production capacities and achieving significant energy savings throughout the region.

CP Cleaner Production: The continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy applied to processes, products, and services to increase overall efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment Prevention of Waste generation: Good housekeeping: take appropriate managerial and operational actions to prevent leaks Input substitution: substitute input materials by less toxic or by renewable materials Better process control: modify operational procedures and equipment instructions

and process record keeping in order to run the processes more efficiently and at lower waste Equipment modification: modify the existing production equipment and utilities in order to run the processes at higher efficiency lower waste: Technology change On-site recovery/reuse Production of a useful by-product Product modification