State companies vow to protect environment

JAKARTA (JP): More than 117 state-owned companies yesterday pledged to carry out environmentally sound practices and to live up to international trade standards.

"In international trade ... we are already feeling the constraints in marketing our products, as a large part of Indonesia's export destinations of finished products are countries which have applied strict environmental criteria," said Suardin, the production director of PT Pupuk Sriwijaya Palembang, a state-owned fertilizer company.

Accompanied yesterday by Supardi, the president of PT Asuransi Expor Indonesia, Suardin read the commitment and a list of action plans at the end of a one-day seminar on environmental management which was attended by 117 of the 186 state-owned companies.

The seminar was organized by PT Surveyor Indonesia, which recently began cooperation with two United Kingdom-based accreditation agencies for quality and environment management systems. Surveyor Indonesia now provides consultation services for the management systems and has the right to issue certifications to companies.

State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said he hoped more companies would issue these services in the future under the government's coordination.

Sarwono said the commitment of the state-owned companies was "a new landmark" and "very encouraging," particularly with the presence of the Director General of the Promotion of State-owned Companies under the Ministry of Finance, Martiono Hadianto.

"I hope that this is the beginning of a new phase (of environmental awareness) among business entities which have a large influence," said Sarwono.

Martiono told reporters earlier that the Ministry of Finance supports the effort of voluntary compliance with environmental standards, "although the implementation will depend on the resources of each company."

Sarwono stressed that the international standards, particularly the ISO 14000 certification, which states that a company has met the requirements of an environmental management system, are not mandatory.

"With these standards there are no rules or sanctions...but nobody will buy your goods if you fail to follow," he said.

The action plans include steps to maintain profit through environmentally sound practices by seeking clean production strategies, aiming towards "zero emission" of pollutants and efforts to produce environmentally-friendly goods.

The Director of Finance of Surveyor Indonesia, Toga Sitompul, said many businesses used to regard environmental campaigns as "meaningless hysterical shouting."

"Others understood but did not know what to do, and still others thought that complying with the demands would involve huge costs in changing their production processes."

"But (complying with environmental standards) is the only way to survive," Sarwono said.

An executive of another state-owned fertilizer, PT Pupuk Kaltim, said the company's three factories in Bontang, East Kalimantan, may be ready to qualify for the ISO 14000 certification.

"Since 1984 we have applied new technologies to reduce the level of our pollutant, ammonia, from the middle of the production process," said Sutarman H., the company's technical chief.

Sutarman said the level can be reduced from 0.75 kilograms of ammonia per ton of fertilizer production, which is the maximum level permitted by the government, to 0.4 kilograms. (anr)