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UNIT 3: ENVIRONMENT LAW, VOLUNTARY INITIATIVES AND PRINCIPLES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
environmentally beneficial improvements in operations and procedures to reduce
waste and pollution. Most legal systems also provide for the verification of
compliance through stipulations for the physical monitoring and inspection of
sites and premises by expert inspectors.
The multimedium
approach
demonstrates
the costeffectiveness
of prevention-atsource
initiatives
that avoid the
generation of
waste in the
first place, rather
than dealing with
it once it has
been created.
The Multi-Medium Approach to Environment Law
In the past, environment legislation was designed to address environment
problems concerning a single environment medium (water, air or land), or a
single environment issue such as solid waste or effluent discharge. The drawback
with this approach is that it fails to recognise that pollutants released into
one environment medium can move and impact other mediums. For example,
untreated sewage released into water not only contaminates the water, but can
also contaminate land (if the water is used for agriculture), and creates unpleasant
odours. If the water is directly used for drinking, health impacts are inevitable.
Similarly, sulphur dioxide emitted into the air can end up on land as dry deposit,
which damages forests and buildings, or on water as wet deposit, which increases
the acidity of the water body.
Single medium legislation also creates difficulties of enforcement and compliance.
Both legislators and environment managers have often been frustrated to find
that even after careful and costly enforcement policies and compliance strategies,
overall environment improvement may not be achieved, as meeting standards on
one environment medium has led to violations in others.
These drawbacks are now being addressed through legislation and enforcement
that take a multi-medium approach. This means adopting a more holistic view,
which recognises that outputs to all environment mediums (air, land and water)
be considered in an integrated manner. In addition, enforcement is carried out
through a single permit which covers all releases – emissions, effluents, solid
waste, noise, indoor air quality, etc.
The added benefits of considering all mediums holistically is that it enables
environment managers to consider the environmental burden of the entire
business, and consider a wide range of environment improvement options and
abatement techniques before choosing the most environmentally and economically
favourable option.
The multi-medium approach also demonstrates the cost-effectiveness of
prevention-at-source initiatives that avoid the generation of waste in the first
place, rather than dealing with it once it has been created.
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