Environmental performance assessment (EPA): a case study in a graphic company

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a case report involving environmental performance analysis of a big Brazilian graphic company.

Design/methodology/approach

An “environmental performance indicator” (I_epa) was developed, which is calculated taking into consideration the weighting of potential environmental impact of each residue/sub-product generated, the relative spatial dispersion which each residue/sub-product can reach and adequacy evaluation of final allocation accomplished by the company for each residue/sub-product.

Findings

Despite the evidence that the corporations emit gases generated by the burning of volatile organic compounds to the atmosphere, the result obtained is favorable to enterprise, largely, due to the adequate allocation given to industrial effluent, which is the waste with the largest share on I_epa (50.2 percent). Industrial effluent is collected by a company licensed by Environmental Sanitation Company of the state of São Paulo, which is an environmentally adequate practice. The result of I_epa=90.8 percent is explained by the large amount of CO₂ emitted by the operations into the atmosphere throughout the year.

Practical implications

The method used can be applied to measure the environmental impact generated by any business of a graphic service sector.

Originality/value

The authors observed, in the specialized literature, a small number of works dealing with the environmental management of graphic sector companies, as well as methodologies for assessing the environmental performance of companies through environmental performance indicators. The originality of the work is in the developed method, which takes into account: the potential impact of each residue/sub-product generated; the amount of each residue/sub-product generated in a given time period; the dispersion that each residue/sub-product can attain; and the evaluation of eventual allocation of each residue/sub-product.

Citation

Rebelato, M.G., Saran, L.M., Paulino, T.P. and Rodrigues, A.M. (2017), "Environmental performance assessment (EPA): a case study in a graphic company", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 593-608. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEQ-03-2016-0022