The comparison shows no clear environmental superiority of one model for managing
chemicals over the other (Figs. 11.4 and 11.5) although the trend is slightly
better for CMS when looking at process water index. Most plants show improvements
in VOC emissions and process water use, regardless of business model as
shown in general averages. Two internally managed plants have increasing use of
process water, mainly due to a big increase in production and therefore the overall
average is slightly higher than the CMS average for process water use. The better
result shown for CMS however, is not statistically significant for such a small
sample of plants. Similarly, one FMS plant and one internally managed plant show
an increase in VOC emissions. In this case, the resulting averages are nearly equal.
A corresponding comparison of the hazardous waste index was performed, but
could not be used due to changes in the definition of hazardous waste.
The trends of the investigated indexes show environmental improvements in
both CMS partnerships and in internal chemical management. Thus, the CMS
partnership cannot be shown to be the most environmentally beneficial, but the
opposite cannot be shown either. Two possible reasons for this are: