Pollution remains one of the critical issues that the majority of countries around the world are facing in their bid to promote improved environmental conservation efforts. One of the most effective approaches that play a central role in reducing pollution is the utilization of the pollution prevention audit (p2 audit). In other cases, the utilization of eco-audits also helps in the evaluation of critical areas that contribute to an increased usage of energy with the sole intention of reducing energy use and reducing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). However, p2 audits encompass more energy as part of creating practical approaches that would be of value in promoting source reduction (Ashby, 2013). The steps selected when embarking on a p2 audit act as determinants of the effectiveness of the audit, especially in the identification of the source of increased energy demand or pollution. Ultimately, this creates favorable structures that tend to reflect more on improving overall outcomes in the process of promoting source reduction. The focus of this p2 audit is to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with the usage of reusable and disposable cups, which remain one of the notable environmental hazards. The audit will seek to provide low-cost or no-cost recommendations that would help limit the usage of such reusable and disposable cups thereby reducing environmental impacts. In preparation, the key focus for the p2 audit is to evaluate statistical information presented on the reusable and disposable cups, as well as, define their carbon footprints. Ultimately, this would help evaluate the overall impacts thereby paving the way for effective implementation of the provided recommendations. In the p2 audit on reusable and disposable cups, one of the key aspects that would be important is the process flow sheets, which define each of the audit metrics in-depth for effectiveness in the audit process. The process flow sheets, in this case, would focus more on creating a comparison between three types of cups, which are polypropylene, polycarbonate, and cardboard. The focus of the evaluation is to establish the overall carbon footprint associated with each of the types of cups to determine the cup that would be environmentally friendly. The sheets would also evaluate the cups depending on their re-usability, as this is a crucial aspect to consider in reducing pollution of the environment. The preliminary assessment of the p2 audit suggests that reusable and disposable cups remain as a critical ecological challenge attributed to their overall levels of impact on the environment. The assessment also indicates that the usage of polypropylene and polycarbonate, which are primarily reusable cups tends to have a higher carbon footprint when compared to the usage of cardboard cups, which are disposable with low carbon footprints. Lastly, the assessment also indicates that cardboard cups are more viable when compared to polypropylene and polycarbonate cups attributed to the molding energy used in the latter cups. The next steps seek to evaluate these three types of reusable and disposable cups further to provide practical recommendations. In the case of reusable and disposable cups, the primary inputs to consider are molding energy, molding carbon footprint, and electrical energy for a single wash. In the case of molding energy, polypropylene utilizes molding energy of 21 MJ/kg, polycarbonate 18.5 MJ/kg, and cardboard 0 MJ/kg. The molding carbon footprint associated with the three types of cups is polypropylene accounting for 1.6 kg of carbon/kg, polycarbonate 1.4 kg of carbon/kg, and cardboard cups accounting for 0 kg of carbon/kg (Garrido & Del Castillo, 2007). When focusing on the electrical energy for single wash (kWh), polypropylene and polycarbonate account for 20kWh per 1,000 cups with cardboard cups accounting for 0kWh, as they are disposable. When evaluating the aspect of off-site wastes, one of the critical areas to consider is the weight of the materials during their release into the environment, as this would establish the overall impacts that the documents would have on the environment. When dealing with polypropylene and polycarbonate cups, which are reusable cups, the mass per 1,000 cups is approximately 113 kg. However, the weight of cardboard cups, which are disposable, is approximately 16kgs per 1,000 cups (Imhoff, 2005). In that view, increased usage of polypropylene and polycarbonate cups would have a higher level of impact on the natural environment. When dealing with reusable and disposable cups, the primary materials used in the production of these cups are plastic and paper depending on the type of cup selected. For polypropylene and polycarbonate cups, polypropylene and polycarbonate are the primary materials, which are different types of plastics. The idea of using different types of plastics is to create cups that would have varied usability capacities with little consideration of the impacts on the environment. However, in the case of disposable cups, and cardboard, the primary material used in the development of these cups is paper, which is biodegradable, thus, limiting the impacts on the environment. Based on the evaluation presented in the previous steps, one of the key aspects to note is that increased usage of polypropylene and polycarbonate cups, regardless of them being reusable, has had notable effects on the environment. The primary recommendation is for companies to embrace the idea of using cardboard cups, which are disposable, and their impacts are very minimal or less visible when compared to the previous types of cups. The first option would be to engage in a process that would see the usage of paper in the development of reusable cups, which would limit the number of cups disposed of within the natural environment. In this option, the central area of focus is increased research and development to incorporate the idea of reusable cups for cardboard cups. The second option involves the implementation of policies that would see companies move towards the usage of cardboard cups while limiting the usage of polypropylene and polycarbonate cups. The action plan involved in this particular p2 audit involves a shift from polypropylene and polycarbonate to more usage of cardboard cups, which have a lesser carbon footprint on the environment. The main idea is to engage the companies or businesses that utilize cups as part of their business model with an intention of educating them on the impacts that polypropylene and polycarbonate tend to have on the environment. In the long-term, this will be viewed as a positive approach or a practical action plan that works towards ensuring that reusable and disposable cups do not cause any environmental challenges.
References
Ashby, M. F. (2013). Materials and the environment: Eco-informed material choice (2nd ed.). Waltham, MA: Butterworth Heinemann.
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Garrido, N., & Del Castillo, M. D. A. (2007). Environmental evaluation of single-use and reusable cups. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment , 12 (4), 252-256.
Imhoff, D. (2005). Paper or plastic: Searching for solutions to an overpackaged world . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
