A methodology for evaluating cleaner production in the stone processing industry: case study of a Shandong stone processing firm

Abstract The implementation of Cleaner Production (CP) is a strategy for achieving a corporate's sustainable development and therefore is an important instrument for improving environmental performance. Due to the rapid economic development and urbanization in China, the stone processing industry is developing fast, resulting in several environmental problems. The stone processing sector has begun to implement the CP technologies and practices to tackle with environmental problems caused by the production process. However, the evaluation methodologies of the effectiveness of CP implementation in this sector have rarely been examined in the literature. This paper proposed a CP evaluation system that enables decision-makers to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of CP in the stone processing industry. A three-level framework was structured with 6 first-grade indicators and 24 sub-indicators according to the context and characteristics of the stone processing production. And the evaluation criteria were closely related to the laws, rules, regulations and discharge standards in China as well as the current CP technology level. Using analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy membership degree analysis, the weights of each indicators were determined, and evaluation results were achieved. Moreover, the evaluation methodology was verified to be reasonable and practical in the case study of a stone processing firm in Shandong Province. The entire and detailed assessment results demonstrate that the evaluation methodology is helpful in providing guidelines for the implementation of CP strategy in the industry of stone processing.

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