Manual on the Development of Cleaner Production Policies ... - Unido

DEVELOPMENT OF CP POLICY
MODULE 5: POLICY TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS
SLIDE: The ECOPROFIT approach
• Voluntary for industry, but gives recognition and publicity;
• Aims to improve both economic and environmental performance;
• Work includes joint workshops, individual consulting and ECOPROFIT
award;
• Municipality participates in the award process and supports enterprise
networking.
The ECOPROFIT approach provides a good illustration of how to organize a
CP programme on the municipal level. You may want to note that several
countries are currently following a similar approach.
Background
ECOPROFIT, an innovative scheme to implement joint Cleaner Production projects, was developed in
1991 in Graz, Austria. To date, more than 100 companies have participated in the programme in Graz
itself. In total, more than 300 Austrian companies have implemented ECOPROFIT projects. Since
1995, the ECOPROFIT approach has been successfully used in Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany,
Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine.
An ECOPROFIT programme usually involves around 15 companies of different sizes and branches.
Experience has shown that the participation of different companies helps promote innovation and
creativity. The programme consists of three elements: joint workshops, individual technical consulting
and the ECOPROFIT award.
During approximately 12 months of the project cycle, participants learn the principles of Cleaner
Production and waste and emissions minimization. Strong emphasis is placed on waste management
and on achieving water and energy savings. The overall goal is to increase the efficiency of companies
by reducing their demand for raw materials and energy, and thus to minimize the environmental
impacts caused by industry. Naturally, the improved environmental performance of the companies,
leads to overall pollution reduction for the whole municipality.
The workshops—held for all participating companies together—are followed by individual training of
technical experts in each company, each firm receiving between two and five days of consultant time.
Topics covered in this component include: input/output data inventory and analysis, material flow
analysis, process optimization, setting up the project team, design of a new waste management system,
review of legal compliance, developing environmental indicators and the audit for the ECOPROFIT
award.
Upon successful completion of the programme, a company receives an ECOPROFIT award. The
companies must demonstrate the following: a waste management system and implementation plan
(including minimization measures), environmental compliance, existing company environmental
policy, documented environmental performance of the previous year and an environmental programme
for the upcoming year, and internal organizational structure for preventive activities. The award has to
be renewed every year, and an independent commission checks whether requirements have been
fulfilled.
The award not only serves as a publicity tool for the companies, but it also helps gain the commitment
of top management inside the enterprise as well as broader acceptance among the employees. It also
allows companies to demonstrate to clients that they are working towards environmental
improvements, without having to obtain costly EMAS or ISO 14001 certifications.
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