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 The Mediterranean states commit to reduce their
generation of hazardous waste |
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A major milestone was
set for combating industrial pollution at source in the
Mediterranean when the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona
Convention, during the second week in November, undertook to reduce
20% of the generation of industrial hazardous waste by the year
2010.
XIII
Conference of the Parties to the Barcelona Convention and its
Protocols
Catania, 11-14 November 2003
At their last meeting (13th Meeting of the
Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention, 11-14 November,
Catania) the Mediterranean countries approved the approach
presented in the regional plan carried out by RAC/CP to reduce the
generation of hazardous waste by applying cleaner production in
industrial installations.
During the meeting, Mr Lucien Chabason, Co-ordinator of
The Mediterranean Action Plan, acknowledged the quality of the Plan
and reminded the attendants of the vital importance it represented
since it provides specific measures for the application of the vast
concept of sustainable development in the Mediterranean.
Mr Chabason
recalled the importance of the plan to the Contracting Parties
The Regional plan for the reduction of the
generation of hazardous waste from industrial installations
presents the situation in the Region, identifies priorities to
address according to industrial sectors and types of waste, and
proposes an approach for reducing the "hazardous waste generation
factor" (quantity of industrial hazardous waste generated /
industrial GDP in euros). The plan also provides, among others,
several technical options of reduction at source and on-site
recycling aimed at reducing priority flows of identified hazardous
waste.
The plan was carried out by RAC/CP within the
Mediterranean GEF project for the application of the SAP through an
extensive consultation process involving experts from various parts
of the Region and different actors working within the framework of
The Mediterranean Action Plan. It was also discussed by the national
focal points on cleaner production and presented for information to
the MED POL focal points. Finally, it was presented to the MAP focal
points, who decided to submit it to the Contracting Parties for them
to consider its adoption.
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| RAC/CP
broadens its field of action |
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Following the
proposals made by The Mediterranean Action Plan to the Regional
Activity Centre for Cleaner Production (RAC/CP), the Centre worked
on a project to broaden its field of action in order to better meet
its final goal, i.e. sustainability of the Mediterranean
industry.
The aim of this is helping to spread principles,
advantages, opportunities and tools for the introduction of
sustainability in corporate management, among the economic sectors
of the Mediterranean countries.
Better integration with other MAP components,
especially with the MED POL programme in the implementation of the
SAP, will be enhanced. Thus, a proposal was put to the MAP focal
points in September, and later to the Contracting Parties to the
Barcelona Convention at their last meeting in Catania, to readapt
the role of RAC/CP as a tool for the achievement of sustainable
development by the Mediterranean industry, within the framework of
the SAP implementation.
 
MED
POL and RAC/CP
This proposal was approved by the Contracting
Parties, as was the proposal to carry out joint MED POL - RAC/CP
focal point meetings.
When the proposal to readapt the role of RAC/CP was
presented to the Contracting Parties, the Spanish Delegation
suggested that the Centre should not be excluded from the evaluation
process, as carried out in other Regional Activity Centres, since it
was important to give visibility to the added value provided by the
RAC/CP to attaining the goals set in The Mediterranean Action Plan.
Therefore, the Contracting Parties agreed to launch an external
evaluation of RAC/CP during the next biennium.
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Spreading eco-efficiency in the French textile ennobling
industries |
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By
mid-October 2003, two hundred leaflets containing the study carried
out by RAC/CP on Pollution prevention in the textile industry
within the Mediterranean region, focusing on textile ennobling
(dyeing, printing and finishing), were sent to the French companies
involved in this activity, upon request by the sector itself.
Hard copy of the textile study carried out by
RAC/CP
In France, companies involved in ennobling activities
are grouped in a separate Federation within the Textile Industry
Union, i.e. the Textile Ennobling Federation. The Textile Ennobling
Federation includes more than 150 members that perform ennobling
activities, a subsector particularly affected by the new European
chemicals policy in the textile industry (REACH). In France, the
aforementioned sector has around 60 employees per company, although
there are also a large number of enterprises that employ less than
20 workers.
 
Leaflet and CD
containing the textile study,
sent to the French enterprises
The Textile Ennobling Federation notified RAC/CP of its
interest in distributing the study to the entire ennobling subsector
in France, including the "integrated" workshops that also carry out
dyeing, and with that aim, requested from the Centre 200 copies of
the study.
This is just one example of success of approaching the
Mediterranean industries directly to spread eco-efficient measures
in the region. RAC/CP is open to similar initiatives from any
Mediterranean country, not only in the textile sector but in other
industrial sectors (such as surface treatment, tanning, food
canning, dairy products, olive oil, used oils, etc.).
Please contact us for a complete list of
publications: cleanpro@cema-sa.org, tel.: +34 934151112, fax: +34
932370286.
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| New
publications available (2003) |
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The latest
publications carried out by RAC/CP are the following:
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- Pollution prevention in the printing and
allied industries: study (CD form) and leaflet containing
the study. English, French and Spanish.
- MOED (Minimisation Opportunities
Environmental Diagnosis): training course: leaflet
containing the multimedia course (CD form). English, French
and Spanish.
- Pollution prevention in the tanning
sector: video. English, French and Spanish.
- 3rd issue of RAC/CP Annual Technical
Publication - Mediterranean Enterprises and
Sustainability. Articles in English / French as available;
abstract in French / English as available, and Spanish.
- Database of cleaner technologies for the
textiles sector: for consultation on RAC/CP web site
(www.cema-sa.org). English, French and Spanish.
- Database of cleaner technologies for the
paper sector: for consultation on RAC/CP web site
(www.cema-sa.org). English, French and Spanish.
- Med Clean files 45-56: 12 new case
studies for consultation on RAC/CP web site (www.cema-sa.org).
English, French and Spanish.
Please contact us for a complete list of
publications. Copies may be obtained on request to
cleanpro@cema-sa.org, tel.: +34 93 415 11 12, fax: +34 93 237
02 86. |
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| Towards the
entry into force of the new LBS protocol |
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Only 4 additional
acceptances of amendments among the countries of Algeria, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, as well
as Serbia and Montenegro are required for the entry into force of
the new version of the LBS Protocol (Protocol for the protection
of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution from Land-based
Sources).
The LBS Protocol provides the general framework for
implementing the SAP (Strategic Action Programme to address
pollution from land-based activities), which in turn, sets the
priorities for action for the near future in industrial production
and thus, for cleaner production.
The status for the acceptance of amendments to the LBS
Protocol was reviewed at the last meeting of the Contracting Parties
to the Barcelona Convention held in Catania, Italy, on 11-14
November 2003 (COP 13). At that point, it was recalled that the
acceptance by three-fourths of the Contracting Parties is required
for the amendments to enter into force. So far, 13 Parties have
accepted the amendments; the last being Greece and Slovenia, which
have accepted them during the current year.
The Delegation
of Serbia and Montenegro informed that their ratification
of the
Convention and its Protocols was in its final stage
During COP 13, the NGOs expressed their concern at the
lack of progress made by the countries in accepting the amendments
of the LBS Protocol. To which, several of the Contracting Parties
stated that further progress was being made in the acceptance of
amendments, hopefully expected by the end of 2003 or beginning of
2004.
 
NGOs encouraged
the Contracting Parties to
ratify the amendments to the LBS
Protocol
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| The next step in the application of the SAP: the
preparation of National Action Plans |
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During 2001-2003, the
partners involved in the Mediterranean GEF project for the
implementation of the SAP carried out a number of capacity building
programmes and prepared a series of technical documents to be used
as background documents to the National Action Plans (NAPs) that,
according to the SAP, the Mediterranean countries have to prepare.
The National Action Plans, that will establish
precisely how the countries wish to reach the SAP targets on a
national scale, should be ready by the end of 2004.
For this purpose, a limited number of national experts
will be elected by and from each country, to prepare the National
Action Plans. The experts in charge of drafting the NAPs will then
take a course aimed at training the experts on how to integrate all
the background documents (regional plans, guidelines, national
diagnostic analyses and baseline budgets) to prepare a NAP.
Following the SAP, the National Action Plans will have
to address both urban and industrial matters, and it is in the
industrial component of the plans where the preventive approaches of
avoiding the generation of pollution at source in industrial
installations will have to be introduced. Thus, the background
documents prepared by RAC/CP presented best available techniques and
best environmental practices in various industrial sectors.
All the background documents prepared within the
framework of the Mediterranean GEF project for the application of
the SAP are expected to be distributed in the Mediterranean
countries in several formats, as well as posted on The Mediterranean Action Plan website (http://www.unepmap.org/). The
documents prepared by RAC/CP will also be posted on the RAC/CP
website (http://www.cema-sa.org/).
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| Implementing eco-efficiency in Slovenian companies:
ECOPROFIT in Maribor |
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ECOPROFIT, the Ecological Project for Integrated
Environmental Technologies, is a program for sustainable economic
development, which was established by the City of Graz in 1991. The
basis of ECOPROFIT is a win-win model. This model focuses on
sustainable economic development in cities that include local
industry, local government, universities and non-governmental
organisations.
In 2002/03 an ECOPROFIT programme was carried out in
Maribor, Slovenia, in the framework of an INTERREG III A project.
The programme was developed in co-operation with several partners:
the Municipality of Maribor and its Environmental Protection Agency,
the Austrian Cleaner Production Centre in Graz and the City of Graz.
20 enterprises participated in the project, which
trained 19 consultants (8 from the industry and 11 from
municipalities) who were later included in an international network
for the exchange of information on cleaner production.
Participants at the ECOPROFIT initiative in
Maribor
While carrying out the programme, several internal
ECOPROFIT teams were established to search for cleaner production
opportunities in their own companies. Several trivial CP and good
housekeeping options were introduced already at an early stage of
the project. The enterprises drafted and/or upgraded their waste
management plans and environmental protection plans or started with
the implementation of ISO 14001.
All 20 Slovenian companies participating in the project
were awarded ECOPROFIT certificates for the progress achieved in
eco-efficiency measures implemented in their companies (areas of
process optimisation, waste and energy management). Altogether, the
cleaner production options planned and those already implemented
should allow for a reduction in environmental and operational costs
of around 900,000 euros for the years 2002-2004.
Information provided by Mr Janez Petek,
Steng-national cleaner production centre Ltd., Slovenia (e-mail:
stengarm@stp.si). Further information can also be obtained at
www.cpc.at, Austrian Cleaner Production Centre.
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