ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS FROM THE CLEANER PRODUCTION IMPLEMENTATION WITHIN FURNITURE MANUFACTURE FROM NATAL-RN

This study aimed to analyze the environmental and economic benefits achieved through the Cleaner Production (CP) implementation within a small furniture manufacture from Natal, Brazil. This is a case study which included a literature review on the furniture manufacture and CP and a survey which covered the following steps: Environmental and operational analysis - EOA (process flow diagrams, inputs and outputs information, mass balance, environmental aspect and impact analysis, waste studies), Feasibility analysis (technical, economic and environmental analysis, select options for implementation), Implementation and Evaluate performance. The results of EOA pointed out a representative waste of raw materials, such as MDF, glue, sandpaper, etc., besides that it was observed a disorganization of the physical space and an unhealthy production. Thus, some improvement actions were implemented to optimize the glue and sandpaper usage, moreover a waste collection system and a reuse system of MDF for making recycled plates were implemented. In this context, the opportunities for environmental improvement contemplated the levels 1 (source reduction) and Level 2 (internal recycling). As a result, it was noted an optimal use of resources and less pollution, bringing annual economic benefit of R$ 3,600 from an investment of R$ 4,311. In addition, the payback does not exceed two years in each study. To concludeIt was depicted that with the implementation of activities is possible to achieve significant savings as well as operational and environmental improvements.