An Introduction to the Concept
of Cleaner Production
Industry has been and continues to be a major source
of environmental problems, both locally and globally.
Industry accounts for approximately one third of
the green house gas emissions and a large percentage
of the hazardous waste generation.
With the convening, in 1992, of UNCED and the adoption
of Agenda 21 and related Conventions,the world community
adopted a comprehensive international policy statement
on the need to attain sustainable patterns of development.
Agenda 21 has profound implications for industrial
policy and industrialization patterns in developing
countries and poses two critical challenges.
- To ensure conservation of environmental resources
in the most cost efficient manner
- To enable industry in developing countries to
respond to trends which may emerge from international
environmental norms and Standards.
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The Main Objectives of NCPC
Creating awareness and taking
down the message of Cleaner Production to as many
industries as possible.
Providing professional consultancy/advisory
services to industries.
Training of Industrial personnel
in launching and conducting cleaner production Assessments
in industries and training of universities to include
CP into university curricula.
Keeping an up to date information
base on CP and providing relevant and appropriate
information.
Assistance in promoting access
to financing for CP investment projects.
Providing appropriate inputs and
interventions to the policy formulators and enabling
then to effectively introduce CP in industrial and
environmental policies (including training of government
officials)
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What is Cleaner Production
Cleaner Production is the continuous
application of an integrated preventative environmental
strategy to processes, products and services to
increase eco-efficiency and reduce risks to humans
and the environment.
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Production Process : |
Conserving raw materials and energy,
eliminating toxic raw materials and reducing
the quantity of toxicity of all emissions and
wastes at the source. |
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| • Products : |
Reducing negative impacts along the entire
life cycle of a product, from design to ultimate
disposal |
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| • Services : |
Incorporating environmental concerns into
designing and delivering services. |
Cleaner Production requires changing attitudes,
exercising responsible environmental management
and evaluating technology options.
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Cleaner Production Initiation
in Sri Lanka
Although, framework for pollution
control was well established with varying mechanisms,
the pollution control measures were not adopted
in general by industries mainly due to the high
cost of End Of Pipe control methods and equipment.
Industries, which were trying to survive in the
market were not ready to add further costs to treat
pollutants. Cleaner Production was introduced in
1995 which gave a sustainable method to mitigate
pollution whilst remaining competitive.
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CP Initiatives
| (I) Industrial Pollution Reduction
Programme (IPRP Project). |
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| IPRP Project, a UNDP funded CEA/UNIDO
managed Project, was based at the Central Environmental
Authority. While the project covered various
facets of Industrial Pollution Abatement. The
most significant and result-oriented aspect
was in the field of Cleaner Production. Under
this programme, the following major activities
were carried out :- |
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Training of two
batches of technical personnel 15 each in the
field of Cleaner Production Assessment. The
professionals trained were picked from a wide
area of economic sectors ranging from industry
to academic institutions, Development Banks,
private consultants, research institutions etc.
The two batches together conducted CP demonstration
exercises in 10 different industries. The industry
sectors covered were: |
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• Coconut industry |
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• Leather Tanneries |
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• Rubber (Latex Processing) Industry
(2 Nos.) |
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• Meat and Chicken Processing Industry
(2 Nos.) |
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• Paint Manufacturing Industry |
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• Hotel Industry |
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• Glass Industry |
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• Rubber Product Manufacturing Industry |
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Consequently, there is a capacity of 10 trained
professionals working in the industry and 20
other professionals working elsewhere. |
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b) |
CP demonstrations in three industrial sectors
were covered during the project namely in electroplating,
textile and tannery industries. The CP demonstrations
were carried out by local institutions under
the guidance of international experts |
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c) |
Financial assistance
for implementation of CP measures under a Revolving
Fund. Such assistance was provided to a number
of industries including Glass industry, Sugar
industry, Distillery, Metal Finishing, Textile,
Tannery etc. |
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Organizations Implementing
"CP" in Sri Lanka
I. Small and Medium Enterprise
Developers (SMED)
Small
and Medium Enterprise Developers (SMED) is a
Project of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce
and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) and Friedrich
Naumann Stiftung (FNSt) in Sri Lanka, was set up
to develop management and technical capacity in
industry and the service sectors.
Since, the IPRP Project where
a SMED Consultant was trained in "CP" it initiated
number of CP promotional seminars and workshops
especially with Private Sector. Gradually SMED Cleaner
Production department was established and staff
strength was enhanced. It is now well equipped with
in-house and external expertise in CP, ISO 9000,
ISO 14000, Productivity and Environment Impact Assessment
(EIA).
Staff has been trained locally
and in countries such as Japan, Germany, Taiwan,
India and USA. At present SMED posses five trained
officers in house and has an external resource base
of CP consultants who are utilized depending on
the work in hand.
Several joint workshops and implementation
programs were held in association with the FCCISL,
and other chambers such as Matara District chamber
in the Southern Province Sabaragamuwa Chamber and
the Central Province chamber. Project SMED is also
engaged in promotional campaigns with other organizations
that play a supporting role to the Business sector.
Examples of such institutions are, The Ministry
of Forestry and Environment, The Ministry of Industries,
The Colombo Municipal Council and the Western Province
Provincial council.
SMED has the rare distinction
of having its Chairman as the Vice Chairman of the
Asia Pacific Round Table on Cleaner Production (APRCP)
which is a very powerful organization having links
to UNEP, USAID, ADB,UNIDO etc. SMED was able to
work closely with the donor agencies such as UNIDO
and ADB.
- Since 1997 SMED had conducted number of seminars
and workshops to promote Cleaner Production and
related fields in all parts of Sri Lanka. This
includes awareness programmes targeted to the
media which was held with the assistance of Ministry
of Transport and Environment. As a result publicity
and coverage on CP is increasing both in electronic/news
media.
- Ministry of Environment has entrusted SMED
to conduct one-day walk through CP audits in 50
industrial establishments situated in the Kelani
River Basin.
- SAEP has contracted to conduct a two-week training
program to train CP Auditors which will be commenced
in January 2002.
- First Sinhala publication on Cleaner Production
was launched.
II. ISB Involvement in the
Cleaner Production in Sri Lanka
Industrial Services Bureau (ISB)
of North Western Province has been very actively
participating in energy and environmental management
activities since its inception in 1990. As a natural
extension to well established energy and environmental
management activities, ISB is now actively engaged
in the introduction of “Cleaner Production” to Sri
Lankan industries, particularly that are operating
in the North Western Province.
ISB has carried out three awareness
programmes on Cleaner Production. One programme
was conducted for industrialists representing various
sectors such as desiccated coconut, fruit processing,
rubber industry and hotels. The other two programmes
were aimed at creating awareness on Cleaner Production
in the desiccated coconut sector and coconut charcoal
manufacturing sector. ISB has initiated a program
to conduct a Cleaner Production demonstration project
in the desiccated coconut in association with the
National Cleaner Production Centre.
III. NERD Centre
CP related activities carried
out by the Energy & Environmental Management Centre
of National Engineering Research and Development
Centre (NERD Centre) during 1997-2002.
- NERD has conducted tow Cleaner Production Audits
and 25 Energy Audits sine 1999.
- Have done one Design & implementation of Waste
heat recovery system for a ceramic factory.
- Training Programmes.
Seven programmes have been conducted in CP and
Energy related areas since 1998.
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Other Projects Related to
CP and Environment Management
UNIDO Triplem Bottom Line
Demonstration (TBL) Project in South Asian Countries
I. TBL Concept
Triple Bottom Line (TBL) is a
term coined by an author and management consultant
John Elkington (1997). It is a new concept for business
people to incorporate in their day-to-day work to
achieve better productivity while satisfying the
buyers. TBL refers to three prongs of social, environmental
and financial accountability, which is directly
tied to the concept and goal of Sustainable Development
(SD). This looks into the business ethics, corporate
social responsibility and human rights, all potentially
parts of the SD. The TBL concept, when properly
implemented, will provide information for the buyers
to assess how sustainable an organization is. For
an organization to be sustainable it must be financially
secure, it must minimize or eliminate the negative
impact on the environment and it must act in conformity
with the just demands of the employees.
The TBL Project
United Nation Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO) after studying the international
development and pressure from buyers has undertaken
a project to introduce the above concept in South
Asian Countries. The inaugural seminar of this project
was held on 24th March 2001. The object of the seminar
was to train the representatives from India, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka on the implementation of the TBL demonstration
project in their respective countries. The Small
and Medium Enterprise Developers (SMED),was selected
to Host this seminar and to implement on behalf
of Sri Lanka.
Implementation of the TBL
Project in Sri Lanka
Implementation of the project
was carried out in six export-oriented companies
in four sectors of industries. The four sectors
are: Rubber, Apparel, Textile and Confectionery.
Initially each of these companies was requested
to appoint a team consisting of representatives
of the top management, middle management and workers.
SMED consultants trained the teams to handle the
TBL project work in their respective organizations.
The existing situation on the Financial and Social
bottom lines, including Health and Safety were assessed
through a set of questionnaires. By studying the
waste generated at each unit of the production process,
the team assessed the environmental bottom line.
Finally, through brainstorming sessions, options
were generated to improve the existing situation.
A few of the organizations have implemented these
options. By implementing the options generated,
the factories have achieved the following.
Rubber industry
- Reduction of wastage in Latex from 8% - 6%
in the first month which has resulted in saving
of Rs. 175,000/= per month. One third of this
amount was distributed among the workers.
- By tuning up of the burners of the boilers
and arresting the steam leaks Rs. 10,000/= per
month was saved.
Garment Industry
- The solid waste; cut pieces, Polythene and paper,
was collected separately and sold for recycling.
The money generated from this was used in welfare
measures of the workers.
- The absenteeism which was a problem in one
of the garment industry was reduced from 10% to
5% by appointing a councilor.
Textile
- Here too the solid waste was collected and
sold and the money was used for the welfare of
the workers.
- The chemicals used in the supply chain, which
created production problem in the dying process
were changed after consultation with the suppliers.
This resulted in substantial savings.
Confectionery
- This industry opted only for one high costs
option. That is to install machinery bulk handling
of oil.
II .National Cleaner Production
Centre
The establishment of a dedicated
National Cleaner Production Centre in Sri Lanka
is a very important step in the CP promotion and
capacity building in the country. After the successful
IPRP Program in the country which ended in 1998.
UNIDO sent an international consultant to study
in the Industry of Environment and Natural Resources
and to identify a suitable institution to host the
National Cleaner Production Centre in Sri Lanka
so that successful NCPC network established by UNIDO
/ UNEP can be extended in this country too. The
international consultant after a detail study recommended
the Small & Medium Enterprise Developers (SMED)
– an institution established by Federation of Chambers
of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka and Friedrich
Naumann Stiftung as the most suitable organization
to host the NCPC. The Ministry of Enterprise Development,
Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion of the
government of Sri Lanka was selected as the government
counter part. The Royal Norwegian Government provided
the initial funding through a grant of NOK 13,000,000.
The National Cleaner Production
Centre will be instrumental in promoting of dissemination
of CP in the country and as well as capacity building
for the successful application of CP in industries.
The NCPC will perform the following activities:-
- In plant assessment including integrated CP
/ EMS assessment
- Awareness raising
- Training
- Technical Information dissemination
- Promotion of CP investments
- Policy advise
Industry is gaining awareness very fast on the
benefits of CP which could provide economic benefits
to their operations whilst preventing environmental
damages. Several sectors have already implemented
CP solutions in their enterprises and have obtained
very successful results. These sectors are – Hotel
& Catering, metal, fiber, food, tea, chemicals,
textiles & printing.
Along with these efforts there
are other supporting CP programmes during the years
2001 / 2002. They are :-
- UNIDO ISO 14000 Training of Auditors / Consultants
and the carrying out of a pilot project for the
certification of 10 companies.
- The establishment of a sub-contracting and
partnership exchange by UNIDO at the FCCISL /
SMED which will extend its services to establish
a Waste Exchange and Greening the Supply Chain
programs.
- UNIDO Tannery Development Project : involves
the use of CP Technology for the treatment of
tannery wastes along with the modernization and
re-location of tanneries at the industrial estate
being set up in Bata-atha in the Southern Province.
- SMED, is also hosting a UNIDO funded demonstrational
project for reduction of Green house gases in
introducing with application of “CP” strategies.
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Cleaner Production Financing
Funding for Pollution abatement
is available for Sri Lankan industry for the past
eight years. Several Industries made use of this
to set up effluent treatment plants, Dust extraction
systems etc. With the advent of Cleaner Production
the need to include provision for funding CP options
arose and as a result e-Friends scheme was launched
by the National Development Bank.
E-friends is an environmentally
friendly solutions fund for industrial firms. It
is funded by the JBIC of Japan and administered
by the National Development Bank. It provides technical
assistance and low cost loans to firms that want
to tackle waste minimization, resource recovery/savings
and pollution control/abatement. The fund consists
of two components: a general loan component at concessionary
rates of interest and an interest free technical
assistance loan component. Any financially viable
firm in operation or scheduled to commence operations
will be considered for this loan scheme.
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Government Intervention
Sri Lanka government within a
short time has understood the importance of "CP"
mainly due to the effectiveness of Private Sector
initiatives of "CP" application along with Public-Private
partnership.
Government has taken a major step
to implement the "Clean Industry Development Project"
(CLIND), a one year programme sponsored by the Ministry
of Enterprise Development, Industrial Policy and
Investment Promotion. The program is funded by the
Asian Development Bank. The program is undertaken
with the collaboration of a wide range of stakeholders
to develop the strategy, action plan and public
policies needed by Industry sector of Sri Lanka
to achieve Cleaner Production and the increased
production efficiency, international competitiveness
and sustainable development that Cleaner Production
makes possible. Development of the strategy and
action plan is based on extensive research and discussions,
especially on the advice of representatives from
many private sector firms and organizations. The
combination of understanding, policies, incentives,
rewards, pressures and other conditions that will
change the perspective of the business person to
decide on taking action for CP is in the best business
interest of the firm.
Developing a workable strategy
and action plan requires the collaboration of many
sectors of government, business and community. Representatives
of different perspectives and interests must come
together to discover their common interest in achieving
CP. The agenda of each stakeholder can contribute
to a combined and integrated plan to achieve CP
nationally, and work to integrate principles of
CP into policy and programmes at all levels and
in all sectors of economic activity.
The principle objective of the
project is to formulate a strategy for integrating
Cleaner Production into Industrial Development,
which will assist the Government Of Sri Lanka in
reducing industrial pollution. The project was funded
by ADB.
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Potential for Sri Lanka
With the rapid development of
Industries, Industrial Estates and the SME sector
"CP" will have a great potential in Sri Lanka. Other
sub sectors such as Tourism which is now given a
top priority by the Government, will further enhance
the CP potential specially in Hotel and Catering
Sector. Sri Lanka is also moving in to a more consumer
oriented society and the need for developing the
Agro Food sector and the Health sector is being
felt. Cleaner Production will enable Industries
to comply to Food standards such as HACCP. The recent
health sector reforms are also considering CP approaches
to minimize vector borne diseases. "CP" strategies
are also being considered to find sustainable solutions
to increasing garbage problems (At present 2484
tons per day), acute water problems, high post harvest
loses almost 50% at present and mounting construction
waste. Ref :
- Sri Lanka State the Environment - 2001 (UNEP)
- Central Bank Report -2001
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