Environmental Issues Faced by Business and Society

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Environmental Issues Faced by Business and Society

Businesses face various challenges while in operation and environmental factors constitute some of the hurdles. The law requires that businesses adjust their production methods and equipment in order to meet the set standards. These changes are costly to the business, but they have to be implemented. In the course of production, air emissions and industrial wastes are some of the challenges that businesses have to cope with because they pose a challenge to the environment. In an attempt to protect the environment and implement an environmentally friendly policy, businesses try to recoup the costs incurred in the process through consumer goodwill (Williams, 2013). The essay will point out some of the issues and discuss possible solutions businesses provide to overcome the challenges.

Industrial wastes are one of the challenges that businesses have to overcome because any business produces waste products. Therefore, they have to find a way of disposing it sans harming the environment. Governmental laws and good citizenship practice forbid businesses from indiscriminately disposing their byproducts, and businesses have to come up with ways of dispensing with the waste. It is the ultimate aim of any business to reduce costs of production and maximize on profits, so they take on recycling programs as one of the ways of getting rid of the waste (Pierre & Savage, 2010). Businesses also sell the waste to other businesses that use the waste as raw materials in their production. The process of dealing with the waste products costs the business in terms of handling, procedures, man-hours, and equipment, and this could reduce the business profitability.

Businesses also have to take care of the gas emissions that find their way into the environment through the air or water run-off. The emissions are in the form of dust particles, smoke, chemicals, and ash, which are all harmful to the health of both plants and animals. It is the mandate of the law that businesses protect the environment from harmful emission, some of which are toxic, for example, benzene and carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases cause global warming and depletion of the ozone layer, which is undesirable for humans and animals (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2011). Consequently, businesses have come up with measures to counter the problem. For instance, they have placed screens of specified gauges over smoke chimneys and stacks to trap emissions; wastewater is filtered before releasing it to the system, and lined retention ponds with poly and clay liners to prevent seepage into the ground. Implementation of these regulations in a bid to protect the environment is a costly venture to the business and may affect its profitability.

Sustainable development of raw materials is also a hurdle that businesses have to overcome. The law requires that businesses replace the natural raw materials used in production, for example, wood. Businesses that use wood or wood products should replace them in order to prevent depletion; thus, protecting the environment. This process is costly to the business, and it affects it in the end.

The aforementioned are some of the environmental factors that affect businesses and the society. It is unlikely that an operational business will not emit gases or wastes during production. Thus, businesses face the challenge of overcoming the environmental issues that turn out to be costly ventures that affect businesses enormously. If the issues are not addressed appropriately, they affect the society especially the health of the community. When the emissions and wastes are released to the air or water sources, they pollute the natural resources; thus, affecting the people utilizing the resources. It is, therefore, essential to curb the problems before they affect the society although they have an impact on the business, as well. Unfortunately, businesses have to shoulder the responsibility because they are the source of the issues (Williams, 2013).

References

Carroll, A. B. & Buchholtz, A. K. (2011). Business and Society: Ethics: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Pierre, K. & Savage, D. E. (2010). Environmental issues faced by companies. An Introduction to Environmental Management Accounting. Retrieved on 7 Nov. 2013 from http://www.newmoa.org/prevention/cwm/pr/pdf/KrisPierre.pdf

Williams, J. (2013). Environmental issues that affect business. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved on 7 Nov. 2013 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/environmental-issues-affect-business-4175.html