Firms need to implement environmental principles
JAKARTA (JP): The participation of government agencies, particularly the Ministry of Industry, is needed to encourage industrial companies to implement principles of sound environmental management, an environmental consultant says.
Barry Little, the director of Aspects International of Britain, said that given time and guidance industrial companies could obtain a sound production approach, enabling them to use natural resources in a more efficient way.
"Industries need to know that implementing the principles of sound environmental management is financially profitable," he said at the opening of an environmental management course here yesterday.
The two-day course, attended by executives of various companies, also discussed the ISO-14000 standardization for environmental management systems, which will be introduced next year.
Little said that the involvement of government agencies other than the office of the State Minister of Environment, such as the Ministry of Industry, was required for law enforcement, close monitoring and guidance purposes.
Last year in Britain, he said, a major project called Project Catalyst was conducted jointly by 14 major companies, the Department of Trade and Industry and a number of environmental consulting firms.
The project, which involved a total investment of 900,000 pounds, resulted in total annual savings of almost 10 million pounds.
The savings represented an accumulation of many items, including product modification, raw materials modification or reduction as well as energy or utilities reductions.
Among the participating companies were CMP Batteries Ltd., HJ Heinz Company Ltd. and JW Lees & Co (Brewers) Ltd.
CMP spent 175,000 pounds to increase the efficiency of its water usage and saved 175,000 pounds annually after using the new system.
Heinz, which prepares and packages foodstuffs, spent 25,000 pounds to improve its cooker coolers. The improved system saved 50,000 pounds annually and energy costs associated with steam losses.
Meanwhile, Lees saved 25,000 pounds a year after changing its water distribution and plumbing system, all of which was made at zero cost.
Little said that the environmental management systems which are currently recognized are the British Standard (BS) 7750, which was first introduced in 1992, and the Eco Management and Audit System (EMAS), regulated by the European Union in April, 1995.
Since 1991, however, a number of countries, including Canada, France and South Africa, have developed their own environmental management system and others have adopted the BS 7750.
ISO-14000
Meanwhile, the ISO-14000, an international standard developed in 1993 by the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization, will be introduced next April. The ISO-14000 uses the BS 7750 as a model.
Apart from overseeing environment management systems, the ISO- 14000 series also covers auditing, environmental performance, evaluation, environmental labeling, life cycle assessments and other environmentally related topics.
Little emphasized that in introducing environmental management systems, industries must "find out what they are responsible for, what they use and what they produce".
"They can't hide (environmental problems) forever. Greenpeace and the public will find out sooner or later," he said.
Little pointed out that industries can be persuaded to apply environmentally-sound technologies if they understand that it is possible to convert pollutants into marketable products and increase profits from the modifications made. (pwn)