Subjective factors of Cleaner Production—parallel to risk perception?

Abstract

Cleaner Production (CP) gives a powerful tool to decrease waste production, to limit the pollution of the environment and natural sources depletion. Moreover, the return of investment in CP is quick and so it seems that CP activities should be highly demanded by enterprises. The reality is less optimistic—frequently only limited interest is visible and even after an explanation, people in the enterprises hesitate to become actively involved.

This paradox is similar to human behaviour with respect to risk whereby the reality of risk is not the same as the perception of risk. By definition, risk is the probability of damage or loss and it may be estimated scientifically. Human perception of most risks differs significantly from the scientific evaluation of risk and involves many subjective factors. Usually, risk is subjectively sub-estimated if it is distant in time or space, uncertain, slow, old, voluntary, if it may bring some gain or advantage, or if the consequences are not clearly defined and are probably non-catastrophic. CP is actually the prevention of risks which exhibits several aspects of risks that are easily undervalued, for example uncertainty of impact is high, the risks are old, distributed in time and space, voluntarily taken and bring gain and so they are very often underestimated. The way to improve the uptake of CP and the intensity of involvement of companies will then demand also the overcoming of this psychological barrier.