Graz: The Cleaner production programme ECOPROFIT

Abstract:

The ECOlogical PROject for Integrated environmental Technologies (ECOPROFIT) of the city of Graz is an on-going project which attempts to offer small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) consultative and financial support in order to pursue integrated environmental management practices and to switch to cleaner production methods. These measures are mainly targeted at the waste and energy sector, as well as at organisational restructuring. The ECOPROFIT project is an outstanding initiative for good practice for several reasons:

• triangle co-operation between SMEs, the environmental authority and expert consultants;
• help for self-help for SMEs;
• setting up of an educational programme for SMEs;
• paving the SMEs` way to the ECO-audit;
• dissemination to other cities.

Concept and aims

Small and mid-sized enterprises (SME’s) are increasingly regarded as an important target group of urban environmental policies as their cumulative contribution to pollution is not underestimated by policy makers anymore. Although these companies generate relatively small amounts of waste, one has to pay special attention to these undertakings as they use many different hazardous/toxic substances in their production processes. However, from the municipal authority point of view there is only a limited scope of action to influence SME’s to change production methods, as well as to force them to replace end-of-the-pipe-technology. In regard to the low degree of regulation, or the lack of statutory instruments, and in view of the great number and variety of SME’s, local governments are adopting a co-operative policy style to a greater extent.

By this approach, the environmental authority puts itself into a position from which it can facilitate preventative strategies for pollution and waste problems by mobilising the technical expertise and entrepreneurial skills of the academic, business, industrial, and tourism sectors within its communities. On the one hand, this practice is partly due to the fact that municipal resources are often inadequate to control the environmental status quo at SME’s. On the other hand, this approach is considered to compromise vested interests within the sensitive fields of economy and ecology. The programme works within the existing legislative framework and offers guidance for self-help. The Graz-based ECOPROFIT is an ongoing project, which in the first place, is aiming to tear down the information barrier and to introduce integrated environmental management practices in SME’s. The programme recruits companies on a voluntary basis and facilitates access to technical assistance in order to help companies identify and implement cleaner production technologies and process changes.  All companies in the program receive legal counselling and support for the implementation of their new objectives.  ECOPROFIT uses emission standards contained in legislation enacted as part of the Austrian National Clean Air Act and Clean Water Acts.

An overall goal of each project was the identification of measures which would lead to the minimisation of waste and emission through increased efficiency. The following principles were used as guidelines:

1. anything that leaves the production process should be considered as a product or raw material that can be used directly, or after processing, as an input for another production process;
2. every product is optimised regarding reparability and recyclability;
3. production is based on renewable sources of energy and substances as far as possible, or is based on recycled materials;
4. the producer is responsible for the whole life cycle of his product, including energy consumption and emissions during the use of the products, its reparability, and ability to be recycled or disposed of;
5. the producer chooses material from renewable resources and releases wastes in a way that does not damage nature;
6. the producer minimises the energy demand to a level that can be covered from renewable energy sources.

The activities of the ECOPROFIT projects are steering the companies` policy in two directions:

Firstly, the production process and all other activities of the business get an environmental check-up on the use of materials and energy. This also includes the administrative department.

Secondly, an individual company concept should enable the management to implement future environment-related measures on its own (Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe).

A typical proceeding of an ECOPROFIT project would cover the following areas:

• qualitative analysis of used materials and substances (especially hazardous substances);
• stock-taking of all relevant environmental legislation;
• waste management concept;
• energy saving concept;
• environmental management concept;
• environmental ratio analysis;
• preparation for the award as environmentally friendly business (Grazer Ökoprofit Betrieb).
• eco-design

The ECOPROFIT label improves the public image of the individual company, as well as the region as a whole. Companies which achieve the environmental standards of the programme (significant reduction of pollution and implementation of environmental management) are awarded the ECOPROFIT label by the Municipality of Graz. They can use the label for marketing purposes for one year. The label is granted to the company and not on its products, i.e., it is a certificate which is giving information on how the business is run, not on what it produces. After one year, companies will have to continue to participate in the on-going activities of the programme, and will have to implement further waste minimisation and pollution prevention measures in order to gain re-authorisation to continue to use the label. The criteria for earning the label are derived from the EU environmental auditing scheme (1863/1993), and they are modified for SME’s. The standards that must be achieved are as follows:

• 30% reduction of solid waste;
• 50% reduction of hazardous waste and air emissions;
• environmental sensitivity in production and handling;
• transparency of internal and external information;
• compliance with all legal regulations.

Implementation

The municipal Department of Environmental Protection, in co-operation with the Graz University of Technology, initiated ECOPROFIT. At the start in 1991, the project was headed by the Waste Minimisation Research Group of the Institute for Chemical Engineering at this University. This group investigated strategies for closed-cycle production, as well as related activities in the field of waste minimisation and ecologically-conscious design.

At the start, information about the ECOPROFIT project was widely disseminated to the public and to local companies in order to recruit participants. Five companies were chosen for the initial phase of the programme as model companies to which the criteria of transference might apply. In the beginning, the ECOPROFIT project included three printing companies of different sizes (from 6 employees to 500 employees), a large vehicle repair garage with 230 employees, and a wholesale coffee roaster and chain-store company with 342 employees. Each business produced emissions into the air and water, as well as solid wastes of varying toxicity. An introductory workshop was held to train the companies’ management in ECOPROFIT methods and data collection methodologies. It is important to mention that programme managers assured the company representatives that internal data would be treated confidentially and would not be released to regulatory authorities.

At the time of the first round of the programme, the ECOPROFIT programme mainly consisted of a consulting assistance in waste minimisation and cleaner production. The emphasis was placed on measures that could be carried out with little or no investment. Therefore, companies had to be classified according to the characteristics of their waste stream and the potential costs. There were three classification categories: firstly, dangerous or hazardous streams (requiring some form of security and including high costs); secondly, waste streams that entail high costs; and thirdly, waste streams that could be minimised or prevented. Waste minimisation measures that could be carried out without investment were introduced in the first phase of a project. The next step was the comparison of companies’ existing internal materials and energy flows with those attainable with the application of state-of-the-art, low, and non-waste technologies. A list of proposed measures was submitted to the company, and in particular, identified measures were classified according to their amortisation period.

In 1993, the philosophy of the ECOPROFIT project was extended by an educational component. Although the implementation of waste minimisation measures is still a dominant goal, the programme managers try to offer support and know-how for self-help. The revised project programme is based on continuous meetings and activities which could last up to twelve months. The new information-oriented approach includes the following parts:

The basic programme contains workshops and coaching. At a monthly workshop up to 15 companies from different branches participate. It became obvious that it is useful to discuss the basic themes of environmental problems from different points of view. The diversity helps to identify the structural, organisational, and even technological aspects, and it stimulated the learning process by the incorporation of external experience. Normally, the participating company is represented by the plant or production manager, or someone from top management which guarantees that the commitment to ecological goals has a strong backing inside the business. In total, the basic workshop programme consists of nine modules. There are special training materials for each topic:

1. information and motivation (introduction workshop);
2. cleaner production and waste minimisation;
3. setting up of a project team and discussion of an environmental programme;
4. material flow analysis;
5. waste management and logistics, as well as handling of toxic substances;
6. laws and regulations;
7. use and saving of energy;
8. eco-controlling and eco-indicators;
9. preparation of the final report.

Each daily workshop has a common schedule with a feed back session, an information block, an interactive phase, and a final discussion. The companies receive training material and work sheets. If special topics are addressed, the ECOPROFIT manager invites experts as discussion partners.

• The innovation pool provides additional consulting for SME’s. The consultancy is elaborated by specialised consultants (e.g. the research company STENUM). The aim is to give further impetus to the activities of waste minimisation and to offer the businesses new options beyond the statutory requirements.
• The ECOPROFIT Club offers a forum for post-project meetings. The participating SME’s should be encouraged to continue environmentally friendly initiatives in co-operation with the STENUM group and the City of Graz. The forum meets four times a year, and there is the possibility to work on topical issues.
• Workshops on the eco-audit supports companies on their way to fulfil the requirements of the EU regulations on environmental management and auditing. As the SME’s have already participated in an ECOPROFIT project, they are fitted for the introduction of an environmental management scheme. The proven method of workshops can offer training, as well as individual consultancy.
• Public relations is becoming increasingly important work. On the one hand it is beneficial to demonstrate the achievements of the particular project, and on the other hand it helps to motivate other companies to join the policy of sustainable production. Dissemination to other cities is also a considerable factor.
• Data support by an electronic data processing module is given by PC software which has been developed by STENUM. This environmental information system provides knowledge on environmental management and controlling tools as it gives an overview of the flow of material and energy.
• A recent aim of ECOPROFIT is to get more support within the younger generation which will take on future responsibilities at all levels of business. Therefore, the trainee programme, ECOPROFIT in vocational schools, was designed.
• In order to accompany all of the ECOPROFIT activities professionally, the Cleaner Production Centre Austria (CPC) was founded. The CPC Austria runs the ECOPROFIT Academy Graz, which functions as the basis for world-wide dissemination and cross-border implementation of the successful ECOPROFIT program.  The target group for the attendance of the Academy are municipal representatives and business consultants.  With natural and virtual methods, such as tele-teaching and tele-learning, the CPC Austria wants to create an international network of ECOPROFIT Centres.  

Results and Impacts

Up to the end of the 1998/99 round of the ECOPROFIT programme, 75 SME’s of different branches with nearly 21,000 employees, and a turnover of 75 billion Austrian Shillings, participated in the programme. Thirty-seven SME’s from the following industries succeeded in getting the ECOPROFIT label: vehicle repair garages, printing companies, a public transit authority, a brewery, a car production plant, home construction companies, a coffee roaster / chain store enterprise, a machine fabricator, a hospital and three medical surgeries, a health service company, a home construction supply store and an antique restoration company. In the third round of 1995/96, another eleven companies participated. They are an employees’ association, a galvanic company, an iron and steelwork, a metal processing firm, another printing company, a public authority (procurement), another vehicle repair garage, a secondary school, a SME from the social sector, a company producing sun-blinds, a university, and two textiles (laundry and dry cleaning) businesses.

During 1998/99, the projects implemented 302 measures of emission and waste reduction, and in 1999/2000, another 245 options should be put into practice. These 547 measures can be classified in the following way: 23% technological changes, 2% waste treatment, 26% technological changes, 24% efficiency measures, 26% organisational measures, 7% material substitutions, 5% internal recycling, 6% external recycling, 3% product changes, and 4% for other measures.

In 1994 the ECOPROFIT model was successfully transferred to the Austrian City of Klagenfurt. At the first phase, nine companies participated which had a workforce of 1,500 and a turnover of 2,3 billion Austrian Shillings.

In autumn 1995, the third municipality joined in as the City of Dornbirn started to carry out such a programme.

A similar city-based approach has started in the Czech and Slovak Republics under the framework of the UNIDO/UNEO National Cleaner Production Centre activities.

Other similar programme locations are Vienna (since 1996), Munich (since  1998), Kempten, Allgau (since 1998), Leoben (since 1999), Goppingen (since 1999), Augsburg (since 1999).

Finance

The highest possible financial support for an individual project is 300,000 Austrian Shillings (= 21.000 ECU), or up to 30% of the total investment.

Source of Information

Personal Communication: Daniela List, Grazer Umweltamt (1999).

Niederl, Karl / Schnitzer, Hans 1994: Cleaner Production in a City Based Project, City of Graz Department of Environmental Protection, May 1994

Schnitzer, Karl at al. 1994: The Cleaner Production Approach to Sustainability in Austria, Graz University of Technology, Graz, May 1994

ICLEI 1994: Profiting from Pollution, Graz, Austria, Case Study No.24, Toronto

Dreier, Patrizia / Lassnig, Doris / Striedner, Johannes 1995: Ein weites Feld. Bei den Strategien zur Abfallvermeidung versucht Österreich den Brückenschlag zwischen Theorie und Praxis, in: Müllmagazin, Nr.4, 1995, S.46-50

Grabher, Andrea / Schnitzer, Hans 1995: Nutzbringende Ratschläge. Das Grazer Kooperationsprojekt hilft Klein- und Mittelbetrieben beim Umweltschutz, in: Müllmagazin, Nr.2, 1995, S.5-8

Baumhakel-Schruef, Margit / List, Daniela 1995: Zeichen gesetzt. Mit einer Betriebsauszeichnung leistet die Stadt Graz einen wichtigen Beitrag zur nachhaltigen Stadtentwicklung, in: Müllmagazin, Nr.3, 1995, S.6-8

Sage, Jan / Schnitzer, Hans 1995: Ausgezeichnete Ergebnisse. Das Grazer ÖKOPROFIT-Projekt setzt erfolgreich auf Information, Beratung und Kooperation, in: Müllmagazin Nr.4, 1995, S.12-14

List, Daniela et al. 1995: Umweltsachprogramm Graz - Ökostadt 2000, local agenda 21, Herausgegeben vom Magistrat Graz, Umweltamt

Contact:

Cities:

Graz :

Population:

Project was added at 21.06.1996
Project was changed at 22.08.2001

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