Status of Cleaner Production in Western Australia Professor Rene Van Berkel Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production Curtin University of Technology GPO Box U 1987 Perth WA 6845 Tel: (08) 9266 4240 Fax (08) 9266 4811 Email:
[email protected] Internet: http://cleanerproduction.curtin.edu.au/
Abstract Cleaner Production is about preventing the generation of wastes and emissions from industrial and commercial operations, which generally delivers both economic and environmental benefits (“Eco-Efficiency”) to the implementing organisations. This paper provides an update of Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency initiatives in Western Australia, covering industry implementation, professional training and policy development.
Introduction Cleaner Production has its roots in adopting a preventive approach to addressing waste and emission generation from industrial and commercial operations. Cleaner Production has been around for about 25 years in the international arena and about a decade in Australia. The coordinated promotion of Cleaner Production in Western Australia however only started in 1999 in particular through the establishment of the Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production, proudly supported by the Waste Management and Recycling Fund. The Centre has catalysed a number of other Cleaner Production and related activities in the State. This paper aims to provide an impression of recent and current Cleaner Production initiatives and projects in Western Australia. The update is divided into five areas in which significant progress has been achieved, respectively: 1. Exploration of the scope for Cleaner Production 2. Documentation of the business and environmental benefits from Cleaner Production 3. Development of professional training programs on Cleaner Production 4. Establishment of sector specific Cleaner Production initiatives 5. Development of Cleaner Production policy The paper concludes with an outlook regarding emerging initiatives and priorities.
Scope for Cleaner Production Cleaner Production was initially considered to reduce waste generation, or even stricter as deferring waste from being land-filled. Cleaner Production is however increasingly considered as making more efficient use of the materials and energy we employ when we conduct business. It leads to the conservation of energy, raw materials and water as well as
the reduction of the generation of wastes and emissions. Moreover, it enables better economic efficiencies as a result of cost savings on the purchase of energy and materials and on the disposal of waste and emissions. Cleaner Production is therefore also referred to as EcoEfficiency, as both ecological and economic efficiencies are being improved. Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency are guiding posts for the business journey to sustainable development [1]. Cleaner Production is about preventing waste and emissions, including the loss of energy, rather than dealing with them once they have been generated. More precisely, it is most often defined as “the continuous application of an integrated preventative environmental strategy to processes, products and services to increase efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment”. Eco-Efficiency is about better products that have a lower ecological impact, are competitive and better meet customer needs. More precisely, it entails “the delivery of competitively priced goods and services that satisfy human needs and bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological impacts and resource intensity throughout the life cycle, to a level at least in line with the earth’s estimated carrying capacity”. Eco-Efficiency and Cleaner Production are truly complementary concepts, with Eco-Efficiency focusing on the strategic side of business (‘value creation’) and Cleaner Production on the operational side of business (‘production’). Accordingly, it is becoming common practice in Western Australia to substitute Cleaner Production for Eco-Efficiency and vice versa. Cleaner Production involves changing attitudes, improvement of technology and management systems and applying know how. The application of Cleaner Production principles to industrial and commercial processes and products leads to practical solutions that generally sit in any of the following categories (or combinations thereof): Ø
Modification of the product: product design changes that reduce the product’s environmental impact in manufacturing, use and/or disposal
Ø
Substitution of input materials: using environmentally benign materials in products and processes
Ø
Modification of technology: changes in equipment and technology that make the process more efficient and reduce waste and emissions
Ø
Good housekeeping: adopting sound operation and maintenance procedures, to avoid leaks, spills, etc.
Ø
On site recycling: recovery and reuse of waste materials, water and heat on site.
Table 1 contains examples of each of these five categories. The examples evidence that Cleaner Production is equally relevant for reducing resource consumption (such as energy) as for minimising the generation of waste or emissions.
Table 1: Cleaner Production Examples by Prevention Practice [2] Prevention Practice
Business Example
Product Modification
Dale Alcock Homes (Perth, WA) actively pursues passive solar energy in its housing designs. This saves new owners a considerable amount on power costs without sacrificing comfort, due to the orientation and construction materials used. Noranda Primary School (Noranda, WA) installed a 3kWh photovoltaic renewable energy system that generates about 10 per cent of the school's electricity requirements from the sun. Excess power generated during weekends and school holidays is sold to the grid. Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by over six tons annually. Coca-Cola Amatil (Kewdale, WA) installed a Clipsal C-Bus lighting control system to control its lighting according to ambient light levels and activity levels in its factory. This resulted in a 30-40% energy saving, resulting in cost savings of $30,000-$50,000 per annum and an annual greenhouse gas emission reduction of 2,000 ton carbon dioxide equivalent. WestPac introduced an energy management strategy for all its banking operations. Staff awareness is one of the key areas, as staff behaviour influences about $ 200 per person per annum in energy cost. Through concerted action to minimise excess lighting, idle operation of computers and other equipment, etc., energy savings of 10-30% are being achieved (with variations between operation of different branches). Iluka Resources (Capel, WA) recovers waste heat from its synthetic rutile plant to produce on average 5.5 MWh electricity for use on site, with the remainder being fed into the power grid. The investment of $ 20 million, avoided the need for pollution control equipment worth $ 9 million, and will recoup itself in 8 years.
Input Substitution
Technology Modification
Good Housekeeping
On-site Recycling
Business and Environmental Benefits The promotion of Cleaner Production was hampered by the lack of publicly documented case studies documenting the business and environmental benefits for Western Australian businesses. The Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production therefore developed ten case studies with support from Environment Australia and the Alternative Energy Development Board. All are available through the internet website of the Centre [3]. These include: Ø
Atlas Drycleaners, a leading firm in Perth, is committed to environmental best practice. It has been achieving business benefits for itself by pursuing Cleaner Production initiatives as well as assisting other drycleaners to improve. Through pipe lagging alone it has reduced its daily gas use by 30% and electricity use by 11%. It has been investigating perchloroethylene recovery options, which could reduce its cleaning residue waste volume by 70% and save $3,500 a year.
Ø
Perth Zoo, as a modern zoo, has a strong conservation and educational mission. As part of this, it has been actively seeking to improve its own environmental performance, particularly in the areas of water, energy and waste. It is presently developing a sustainable resource management plan and recognised that it would be financially exposed if it ever had to replace its present heavy use of bore water with scheme water. Aquifer protection and reducing water use are therefore strategic issues.
Ø
Tiwest Pigment Plant has been actively pursuing Cleaner Production initiatives in the areas of energy, materials and water efficiency. These include a new process to recover synthetic rutile, which has potential net savings of about $ 31,000 a day. Waste hydrochloric acid is converted by a neighbouring company into ammonium-chloride for use at another Tiwest operation supplying the pigment plant.
Ø
Alcoa World Alumina has implemented a range of Cleaner Production initiatives in its WA bauxite mines and alumina refineries. These have included dust control measures at its mining sites, improved vessel descaling (using acid and caustic solutions instead of mechanical and water blasting), improved bauxite quality (by carefully removing soil overburden), reduction of fine alumina waste from its refineries, and actively seeking markets for its residues. Approximate annual savings are $ 0.5 million for dust control, $ 10 million for better bauxite quality, $ 5 million for vessel descaling and $ 14 million for fine alumina reduction.
Ø
Solahart is the world’s leading producer of solar powered hot water systems. Besides benefiting the environment through its products, Solahart has been actively pursuing Cleaner Production at its Welshpool manufacturing plant, particularly in energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions and waste minimisation. It has been achieving significant financial savings and quality benefits. Projects have included upgrading the furnace and adding a hexi-float (a floating blanket) to the plating solutions to prevent heat loss and evaporation.
These examples illustrate that leading Western Australian businesses have already benefited significantly from the application of Cleaner Production practices and technologies. Moreover, the examples cover sectors with few interstate or overseas examples (such as service and mining sectors). The ten new WA examples thus clearly support that Cleaner Production is a generally-applicable productivity improvement strategy across all sectors of industry.
Professional Training In particularly small to medium sized enterprises often lack the skills to undertaken systematic improvement projects, such as Cleaner Production, on their own. Moreover, as many of them are classified as non-prescribed businesses, regulatory incentives for addressing waste and emission generation are weak, while waste management costs are also still comparatively low given the limited size of the waste streams. The Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production recognised the need for customised professional training, and collaborated with the Swan Canning Industry Working Group to develop two professional training packages; one for the owners/operators of light industries (small to medium sized enterprises) and one for local government environmental health officers. The Cleaner Production Program for Small to Medium Sized Enterprises aims to assist business operators to analyse their operations and products, and develop and implement a Cleaner Production plan. Figure 1 provides an overview of the program, which compromised of the following elements: Ø
Plenary workshops: a series of five 2.5 hour workshops. Each workshop covers a step in the development of a business specific Cleaner Production plan.
Ø
Resource manual: a set of explanatory notes and worksheets to explain each of the workshop topics [4]. The worksheets were designed to assist participants with the collection and analysis of data for their own business, and thereby work towards a Cleaner Production plan.
Ø
Technical assistance: Centre staff provided on site assistance to the participating businesses to enable completion of the worksheets and facilitate the development of the company Cleaner Production plan Figure 1: Cleaner Production Program for Small to Medium Sized Enterprises.
workshops
self assessment
on site assistance
Environm ental Managem ent
Cleaner Production
Environm ental Aspects and Costs
Materials and Waste Review
Environm ental Input and Output Inventory
Energy and Water Review
Waste Minim isation and Material and Waste Handling
Cleaner Production Plan
Energy and Water Conservation and Recovery
Cleaner Production Plan
certificate
The program was first delivered in Spring 2000 in parallel for a group of eight drycleaners and a mixed group of ten other industries. Those businesses that completed a Cleaner Production plan that was endorsed by senior management, respectively 67% and 70% of the participating businesses, were presented with a Cleaner Production training certificate. This pilot delivery was generally well received by the participating businesses. The Cleaner Production Plans produced provide practical guidance on how each business can improve its energy, material and water efficiencies, while minimising the generation of waste and emissions. Moreover, the workshops have enabled the companies to gain a proper understanding of the issues involved and build up expertise and skills to improve their business operations. The pilot delivery of the program however also revealed the need for further improvement of the program and materials used. The series of worksheets required further streamlining, in order to better avoid apparent duplication of data collection, and to lead more directly into the final Cleaner Production Action Plan. Moreover, there appeared to be a need for simplification of parts of the program content, to keep focus on the most important issues, and refer to annexes with more details for those companies having more sophisticated management and information systems. The manual has been revised accordingly, and the revised version is being published on the Internet website of CECP (http://cleanerproduction.curtin.edu.au/). In September 2001, a new program has started with participation of six small to medium sized businesses. The Cleaner Production Program for Local Government aims to equip local government environmental health officers with the knowledge and tools to motivate and assist small to medium sized enterprises to adopt Cleaner Production technologies and practices. The program is designed to: familiarise environmental health officers with the Cleaner Production concept, the business opportunities it presents, and the environmental health and management issues it could address; and to train environmental health officers in the principles and practices for the systematic implementation of Cleaner Production technologies and practices in businesses; The pilot program was developed and delivered by the Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production at Curtin University of Technology, in the second half of 2000. The program included the following elements: • Training workshops: three half day workshops were provided, dealing respectively with: small to medium sized enterprises and the environment; Cleaner Production technologies and practices; and environmental costs and management systems. Each workshop
comprised of a plenary introduction of the sessions topics, small group interactive case studies, and plenary discussion of implications for the environmental health practice. • Site visits: two small business operations (respectively engine reconditioning plant and zinc electroplating workshop) were inspected by the trainees and trainers, to practice the identification of environmental aspects and risks. • Industry projects: trainees were requested to complete two industry auditing projects, to practice the program content for the identification and prioritisation of environmental aspects and preliminary identification of Cleaner Production opportunities. • Resource manual: a resource manual was developed to back up the training workshops and be used as an initial reference guide for the training participants [5]. The detailed content of the training modules is summarised in Table 2. Table 2: Overview of Cleaner Production program for local government. Module 1. Introduction to Cleaner Production
2.
Cleaner Production Technologies and Practices
3.
Environmental Management
Contents § Light Industry and Environment: results of the pilot industry survey, assessment of environmental pollution risks § Overview of Cleaner Production: background and operational definition, and summary of the necessary planning process for the generation and evaluation of Cleaner Production options in industry. § Cleaner Production method: features of general Cleaner Production practices and systematic identification of options by means of source inventory, cause diagnosis and option generation § Cleaner Production profiles for selected industry sectors (metal fabrication/engineering; printing; nurseries; cleaners; food processing and motor trade), including key environmental impacts and key Cleaner Production options § Cleaner Production information sources § Environmental Action Plan: generic pollution risk reduction measures and principles of total cost assessment and cost-benefit analysis for Cleaner Production § Environmental Management Systems: overview of functionality of environmental management systems and key requirements under the ISO 14001 standard.
The pilot program attracted 23 participants, representing local government (70% of the participants represented 12 different local government authorities in the Swan Canning Catchment Area), State government (21% of participants) and others (9% of participants). 60% of the participants completed the assessment requirements ‘on schedule’, with the majority of the others committed to do so, should time permit. The program was well received by the participants, although most had to spend significantly more time completing the program then they anticipated and planned. Some of the participants suggested expanding on the technical aspects of Cleaner Production, while others suggested cutting short on the business angle of Cleaner Production in companies (in particular waste management costs and environmental management systems). The application of the program content by the participants still faces many challenges. Most participants felt it would be very beneficial to use the Cleaner Production knowledge and skills in their work with industry, for both environmental and economic reasons, but could within the current setting not afford to spend the time doing so. The active involvement of local government in promoting Cleaner Production, in particular in small to medium sized businesses in light industry, calls for further clarification of the specific tasks of local government in environmental management of those businesses, and the appropriate resourcing of these tasks by the various local governments authorities.
Sector Initiatives A number of sector specific initiatives have been launched in Western Australia. These include: Ø
Dry-cleaning Industry: the Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production developed a comprehensive support package in collaboration with the WA Branch of the Drycleaning Institute of Australia. The package includes a regular benchmarking service on key eco-efficiency indicators (such as amount of garments cleaned per litre of solvent use, energy consumption per garment, etc.), provision of information on sector-specific Cleaner Production practices and technologies, and an industry specific professional Cleaner Production training (referred to as the Drycleaners Cleaner Production Club) [6]. Six drycleaners completed the training with a Cleaner Production plan, and were awarded with a Cleaner Production training certificate at an industry function in February 2001. Projected savings mount up to an average of $ 6,000 per annum for each of the club members. 17 WA drycleaners participate in the benchmarking service, which has recently been made available nationally.
Ø
Housing Industry: As part of its Partnership for Advancing The Housing Environment (PATHE), the Housing Industry Association developed nationally a comprehensive GreenSmart package, which was launched in WA in October 2001 [7]. The Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production monitored operational and waste management procedures at eight residential building sites in collaboration with the Department of Housing and Works (‘Homeswest’), its builders and their subcontractors. The findings have been used to develop waste reduce, reuse and recycle guidelines for residential construction. The guidelines provide practical suggestions for each of the building trades to improve operations, reduce construction waste and use building materials more efficiently [8].
Ø
Motor Industry: the Motor Trades Association of WA implements with funding support from the Waste Management and Recycling Fund a Green Stamp Program [9]. This includes on site assessments to identify key environmental risks and Cleaner Production opportunities, provision of information sheets (such as a recyclers’ chart) and a newsletter and hands-on-training in environmental best practices. An environmental accreditation scheme is about to be launched, to provide motor businesses that have adopted sound environmental management practices with an endorsement.
Ø
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA is part of the Eco-Efficiency Agreement between the Australian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Environment Australia. As part of this Agreement, the Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production has been contracted to implement sector specific Eco-Efficiency promotion projects for the food processing and metal products industries. These projects will involve a survey of current Eco-Efficiency Practices, development of case studies and information sheets, and delivery of sector specific workshops in early 2002.
Further WA based industry specific Cleaner Production initiatives are about to kick off in the aquaculture industry (as part of the Eco-Efficiency Agreement of the Aquaculture Council of Western Australia) and the printing and book making industry (as part of this industry’s Industry Infrastructure Growth Fund).
Cleaner Production Policy The WA Sustainable Industry Group (i) took the lead to draft a WA Cleaner Production Statement, and seek its endorsement from leading industry, government and community stakeholders. The WA Cleaner Production Statement is a statement of intent, calling upon stakeholders to consider Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency seriously and act accordingly to contribute to a clean and competitive Western Australia [10]. It calls on: Ø
State Government agencies and Local Governments to adopt Cleaner Production principles as a preferred approach for implementing policies, programs and activities, including: current and future policies and regulations; permits, inspections and enforcement actions; technical assistance, outreach and educational programs; and new waste management and environmental protection strategies;
Ø
Manufacturers, service industries and educational institutions to be aware and assess the Cleaner Production approach and have the expertise available to them to apply its principles and practices to their activities, including: designing and managing production processes, and designing and delivering products and services, so as to conserve materials, energy and water, and reduce the toxicity and quantity of waste and pollutants being created;
Ø
Consumers to have the opportunity to support Cleaner Production efforts by demanding products and services that are provided by enterprises that practice Cleaner Production;
Ø
The community to recognise that prices of goods and services should reflect the full life cycle costs of providing those products and services, including the use of natural resources and assets, the recovery of resources from non productive outputs and the ultimate disposal of any wastes.
In May 2001, the WA Sustainable Industry Group established a Register of Signatory Organisations to the WA Cleaner Production Statement. Twenty-four key WA stakeholders took up the challenge of being an inaugural signatory (see table 3). By becoming Signatory, these organisations have endorsed the vision of a clean and competitive Western Australia and committed to promote Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency as an integral part of their communications and outreach to their constituencies, and report annually on progress achieved. Since the opening of the register, the WA Sustainable Industry Group has been working with signatories to implement the Statement, by developing individual action plans for each signatory organisation [ii].
Table 3: Inaugural Signatory Organisations to the WA Cleaner Production Statement Stakeholder Groupings • Industry
Signatory Organisations 1. Beverage Industry Environment Council (WA) 2. Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA 3. Dry-cleaning Institute of Australia (WA) 4. Kwinana Industries Council 5. Motor Traders Association of WA 6. Plastics and Chemicals Industry Association (WA) 7. Printing Industries Association of Australia (WA) 8. Department of Education • WA State Government 9. Department of Environmental Protection 10. Swan River Trust 11. Waters and Rivers Commission 12. Central TAFE • Tertiary Education 13. Challenger TAFE 14. Curtin University of Technology 15. Midland TAFE 16. Murdoch University 17. Notre Dame University 18. SE Metro College of TAFE 19. University of Western Australia 20. West Coast TAFE • Professional and Community 21. Australian Conservation Foundation 22. Australian Institute of Environmental Health (WA) Organisations 23. Environment Institute of Australia (WA) 24. Waste Management Association of Australia (WA)
Outlook This paper illustrated that Western Australia has experienced a steep increase in momentum for and activity in Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency since 1999. The activities have already resulted in a broader understanding of the business and environmental credentials of Cleaner Production, and its twin concept of Eco-Efficiency, as clearly underpinned by ten WA best practice case studies from sectors as diverse as mining, minerals processing, petrochemical, manufacturing, building and service provision. Professional training programs have been developed, and are being offered in combination with practical assistance to businesses and environmental health professionals to provide a platform for Cleaner Production implementation in small to medium sized enterprises. Sector specific projects are underway in five sectors, with comparatively large shares of small to medium sized enterprises, and additional sector projects are expected in at least two other sectors. Moreover, the launch of the WA Cleaner Production Statement and its Signatory Register has already effectively engaged 24 WA stakeholders in the further promotion of Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency within the State. The adoption of Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency in Western Australia will most likely be heavily influenced by the further development of the WA Cleaner Production Statement. The activities each of the Signatory Organisations agrees to include in its Cleaner Production Action Plan will set the Cleaner Production agenda for the State It is planned to review those at an Annual Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency Roundtable in May [10]. Given the current set of Signatory Organisations a strong push for Cleaner Production through the tertiary education system is likely to occur, as is mainstreaming of Cleaner Production into State government policy. In an operational sense, more interest for industrial ecology (‘Cleaner Production between companies co-located in the same industrial or commercial
area’) is evident from two pre-feasibility studies currently underway for the Shenton Park and Kwinana Industrial areas.
References [1]
Van Berkel, R., Cleaner Production in Australia; revolutionary strategy or incremental tool?, in Australian Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 7, pg. 132-146, 2000.
[2]
Eco-Efficiency and Cleaner Production Case Studies, Environment Australia, Canberra, ACT, 2001. Available on the internet at: http://www.ea.gov.au/industry/eecp/ Western Australian Cleaner Production Case Studies, Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, WA, 2001. Available on the internet at: http://cleanerproduction.curtin.edu.au/wa_cs.htm. Cleaner Production for Small to Mediums Sized Enterprises, Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, WA 20001. Available on the internet at: http://cleanerproduction.curtin.edu.au/pub/training/sme_intro.pdf Cleaner Production for Local Government, Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, WA, 2000. Available on the internet at: http://cleanerproduction.curtin.edu.au/pub/training/lga_intro.pdf Altham, J. The Application of Benchmarking to Encourage the Adoption of Cleaner Production in the Drycleaning Industry in Western Australia, Proceedings 7th European Roundtable on Cleaner Production, Lund, Sweden, 1-4 May 2001. Your Home: Design for Lifestyle and the Future, Technical Manual, Housing Industry Association, Canberra, ACT, 2001. Brereton, S. and R. van Berkel, Cleaner Production in Residential Construction, Waste and Recycle 2001 Conference, 26-28 November 2001, Perth, WA. Summary information on the GreenStamp Program can be found on the internet at: http://cleanerproduction.curtin.edu.au/sig/cpap/mta.pdf Western Australian Cleaner Production Statement, Western Australian Sustainable Industry Group, Perth, WA, 2001. Available on the internet at: http://cleanerproduction.curtin.edu.au/sig/sig_pub/cp_statement.pdf Western Australian Cleaner Production and Eco-Efficiency Roundtable, WA Sustainable Industry Group, Perth, 25 May 2001. Available on the internet at: http://cleanerproduction.curtin.edu.au/sig/sig_pub/roundtable_report.pdf
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7] [8] [9] [10]
[11]
i
The WA Sustainable Industry Group (WA SIG) is a multi-stakeholder network of over 200 WA business, public sector, environment, engineering and education professionals committed to a clean and competitive Western Australia. It aims to provide a platform for ‘learning-by-sharing’ on the business case and agenda for sustainable development, by means of workshops, executive briefings, seminars, site visits and a fortnightly newsletter. The WA SIG is facilitated by the Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production. It is also a member of the Regional Network of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Additional information on WA SIG is available on the internet at http://wasig.curtin.edu.au/. ii An update of the signatory register and action plans of signatory organisations can be found on the internet at http://cleanerproduction.curtin.edu.au/sig/cps_ros.htm. The WA SIG has become a Signatory to the International Declaration on Cleaner Production (managed by the United Nations Environment Program), thereby providing recognition under the International Declaration for Signatories to the WA Cleaner Production Statement.
