Environmental audit of a sawmill industry (a case study)
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Date
1999-02-15
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Abstract
A high standard of living and a safe environment have become critical areas of concern for all nations. Therefore efforts to protect and maintain a sustainable environment calls for the integration of environmental audit into industrial production processes in order to save the environment from irreparable damage. As a result, an environmental audit was therefore conducted for Logs and Lumber Limited (L.L.L.), in Kumasi to establish pollution and waste generation levels in the company’s operations and also to assess the company’s environmental controls. The audit was carried out through desk study, questionnaires, fieldwork and laboratory analyses to ascertain information on Production, Environmental History, Energy, Waste Generation and Management Commitments as well as Health and Safety and Personal Protective Equipment.
The audit revealed that the company offers direct employment to about 1,114 people. The main types of solid wastes generated by the company are sawdust, which constitutes 9.56% of the total log volume processed and off-cuts, trimmings, edgings and barks, which form 41.71%. These solid wood wastes are used as fuel for the boilers to generate steam energy. Only a small fraction of the produced sawdust is virtually thrown away as waste at a dumpsite at Daban. Thus, the Management of L.L.L. has integrated waste minimisation as an integral part of their general management practice.
The study further revealed that the company discharges some petroleum liquid waste containing grease and oil with the amounts ranging between 10.0 and 55.0mg/l into the
Nsuben River. These amounts are above the limit of 10mg/l set by EPA Ghana, for discharge of liquid effluent into natural water bodies.
The smoke emissions and the soot from the company’s chimney systems seem to contribute to air quality deterioration in the surrounding areas. The respirable particulates in air recorded were between 40.5972μg/m3 and 127.5917μg/m3. The milling yard and the immediate areas around the cyclones were found to have values above the permissible level of 70 jig/rn3 set by EPA, Ghana.
The noise levels measured at the work locations and the machine centres ranged from 73.2 to 107.4dB (A). The entire site seemed noisy with most of the operational areas recording noise level values above 85d (B) A, which is the maximum noise level to be perceived by a worker for a period of 8-hour shift per day. Management provides medical services at the factory’s clinic for all employees. However, the incidence of respiratory, eye and skin diseases recorded by the company for 1998 was quite high compared with the records from the Kumasi Metropolitan Health Directorate Annual report for 1998.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Environmental Resources Management, 1999