Customizing a Green Manufacturing Model for the Palestinian Plastics Industry

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Date
2018-09-18
Authors
عوكل, وجدي
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An-Najah National University
Abstract
Interests in addressing and reducing the negative impacts on environment and human health are becoming of more importance around the globe. Different sectors adversely contribute to the severity of impacts among them is the manufacturing sector which is characterized by huge consumption of natural resources and a producer of significant amounts of solid wastes. To alleviate such negative impacts of manufacturing, industries have started adopting and employing new strategies represented by shifting to what-so-called green manufacturing (GM) in their operations to become more environmentally-friendly. This study aims at assessing the implementation of GM practices in Palestinian Plastic Industry working in West Bank. More succinctly, based on a general model of GM in the literature, a customized model of GM in Palestinian Plastic Industry has been developed taking into consideration five main attributes associated with their corresponding indicators. Namely, environmental, resource usage, energy consumption, economic and social attributes have been used in the customized model. Relevant data has been gathered via a self-report questionnaire from a randomly-selected sample of 49 plastic factories working in West Bank. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS statistical package where a set of descriptive and inferential statistical tests was conducted to assess the extent of implementation of GM in these industries based on a three-level scale (low, medium, high) of greenness. The analysis revealed that most surveyed plastic factories are on a moderate degree of greenness. Thus, plastic industries stakeholders are highly-encouraged to revisit their manufacturing strategies in order to improve their greenness levels towards the highest ones. In addition, the developed five-attribute customized GM model is highly recommended to be used as an assessment tool for assessing the greenness level of an already established and running plastic factory or a new plastic factory to be established in Palestine.
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