Environmentally friendly technology graining ground

Environmentally friendly technology graining ground

By Harlow G. Russell

JAKARTA (JP): When most people think or read about
environmentally friendly technology, they usually have a
"picture" in their head of large, expensive, "high tech" waste
water treatment plants. Sometimes costing billions of rupiah, the
kind of technology is used to fix the problem once it has been
created, treating water after it has been polluted.

This "picture" creates the common misperception that only big
conglomerates or factories can really do something about
pollution, and that "high tech" solutions are not something the
ordinary consumer can afford or use in a practical way.

Another misconception about environmentally friendly
technology is that any product which is better for the
environment and safer for people will be more expensive to buy or
use than the dangerous product it replaces. Not true. For
example, many new "green" cleaners cost the same as ordinary
cleaners and in many cases are more economical to use.

This misperception is slowly changing. There are now
applications of environmentally friendly technology in Indonesia
which prevent pollution at the source and which are affordable to
use by every Indonesian every day.

Recycled paper and plastic bottles are beginning to appear for
the Indonesian consumer market. Indonesians can now find
environmentally friendly alternatives to environmentally
hazardous products used for the home or office. Low mercury
batteries for cameras and cloth bags instead of plastic are among
the examples.

Cleaning products

Consider cleaning products. Every day every house, every
business, and every factory in Indonesia use chemical liquid or
powder products to clean dirt and grease. Cleaning is a universal
daily event! That bottle of cleaner, though, under the kitchen
sink at home or used in the office, can contain toxic elements
which are dangerous to people and pollute the environment as
well.

Information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) indicates that most cleaning agents today are toxic,
flammable, and non-biodegradable. Due to extensive environmental
awareness and regulation, an estimated 80 percent of these
chemicals will be severely restricted or banned in the U.S. and
Europe during the next two to five years.

This problem is magnified when you consider the fact that
almost all factories in Indonesia use oil products (kerosene,
diesel fuel, and gasoline) for everyday "routine" cleaning and
degreasing. Why? Because for many years, common knowledge has
dictated that oil products are the cheapest and simplest products
to clean with. Common habit ignores the occupational health
hazards and environmental damage of using oil products. It's easy
to see this "bad old habit" right near your home!

Visit any bengkel (vehicle repair shop) and you'll see the use
of kerosene and diesel fuel like it was "water" to clean parts
and degrease engines. Not only is this a health hazard to the
worker from noxious, poisonous fumes, flammability, and skin/lung
problems but also directly increases the pollution of Indonesia's
rivers. This liquid goes into the drains and, unfortunately,
directly into the rivers in most cases.

How many bengkels are there in Jakarta?

Considering a bengkel is one of the easiest businesses to open
in Indonesia, there must be between 10,000 and 20,000 in the
capital. How many bengkels are there in Indonesia? 500,000? One
million? Each using a liter or two or three of diesel fuel a day.
Just try to calculate how many millions of liters of fuel
products that are used every day in Indonesia to "clean."
Millions of liters, maybe more. All goes down the drain and into
the rivers.

The flow of millions of liters of diesel fuel, kerosene, and
gasoline amounts to literally a domestic oil spill happening
every day in Indonesia, yet up to this time, the widespread use
of oil products as cleaners has not been publicized. This is a
tragic waste of Indonesia's precious fuel resources at a time
when there is a growing concern Indonesia will soon become an oil
importer. It is also an unnecessary source of skin, respiratory,
and pollution problems.

Surfactants

Environmentally friendly technology has been developed however
to replace these pollutants. What's more, the application of this
technology has resulted in cheap, effective products that are
safer and healthier for everyone.

Clean technology for this example is based on surfactants. A
surfactant is a family of chemicals that reduce the tension or
"holding power" between molecules. In terms of cleaners,
surfactants are very effective at loosening and dissolving the
bonds between dirt, grease and oil from the surface that it's
attached to. Surfactants can be made from natural vegetable oil
fatty acids like those found in palm oil. They do not contain any
known toxic materials and biodegrade very quickly (in a matter of
days).

"Biodegradable" means something can be broken down into
natural, harmless elements. Actually, everything on the Earth is
biodegradable. Even plastic bags or plutonium will biodegrade
given enough time (in the case of plutonium, with a half life of
24,000 years, you have to wait a very long time until it
biodegrades!).

There are many ways to measure biodegradability including
chemical breakdown and effects on fish and marine life. The key
factor in comparing biodegradable products is to know which one
biodegrades in a very quick amount of time. "Quick" is relative,
but generally speaking, products which biodegrade in a matter of
days are considered to be the best products.

Surfactant technologies, in general, have been available for
several years. But not until the recent consumer concern over the
environment and government mandates in the last five years have
new applications for surfactants, such as industrial and
household cleaning, been made.

In the U.S. and Europe, the production of natural, water-based
surfactants has exploded due to industry being forced to find
non-toxic alternatives for general purpose cleaning. Rapid growth
in demand by consumers for environmentally friendly "green"
cleaners for the house has also changed the supermarket shelves
in the U.S. and Europe. Many supermarkets now display a large
variety of green cleaners. In some countries, such as Germany,
there are now more "green" cleaners sold than "standard" toxic
ones. This trend is also spreading to Asia.

Alternative

In Indonesia, there are already companies pioneering the
manufacture of non-toxic surfactant based cleaners for industry,
business, and consumers. These products can replace many cancer-
causing, poisonous, flammable, and hazardous products commonly
used here. Surfactants technology contains no chemicals listed on
the EPA Sara 313 list. this means the products contain no
phosphates, ketones, chlorinated solvents, or other poisonous
elements.

Biodegradable surfactant technology can be used in almost
every industry: oil, mining, food processing, automotive,
manufacturing, hotel and restaurant. Many companies in Indonesia
have begun using these surfactants as an alternative to oil
products in response to enforcement of pollution law by Bapedal,
the enforcement arm of the Ministry of the Environment.

Use of environmentally friendly cleaning products is one step
towards clean production and waste minimization, the two key
points of Minister of the Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja's
directive to industry.

More importantly, Indonesia consumers will soon have a choice
when they go shopping for products in the supermarket. "Green"
products, particularly in the cleaning section, will begin
appearing here soon for home use.

Considering the increased awareness by the Indonesian public
about the environment, the time is right for the introduction of
environmentally friendly products to Indonesia. People must come
to understand the issue is not just for big companies, but for
each of us, each of our families, each one of our homes. All of
us can help make a difference in Indonesia's future by choosing
products today that reduce pollution.

Harlow G. Russell is the technical consultant of PT Adiprotek
Envirodunia