- Email: [email protected]
Poland
International Environment Management Industry Association. CP will be a major thrust of this organisation. Queensland Universities are actively working with similar ideas and have a keen interest in assisting in disseminating these approaches throughout South-east Asia. In the Federal sphere, the commonwealth EPA and the Industry Tech-
Activity
Report
nology and Commerce Department are looking at industry demonstration programs in CP across the nation. Close by, New Zealand has formed a national CP Foundation and Singapore and Taiwan are developing similar systems. The whole ‘Down Under’ area is awakening quickly to the CP philosophy
and we are expecting exciting and dramatic changes in the short term.
be consistent with the purposes and principles of Part II of the Resource Management Act 1991 including the promotion of sustainable management of natural and physical resources. In order to assist in the implementation of the Government’s waste policy, the Ministry for the Environment is initiating a series of Cleaner Production Demonstration Projects. The Ministry is providing money to initiate these projects in order for research on cleaner production techniques to be made freely available. Research results from the projects will assist the Ministry in its work on waste reduction and will also be shared among the people and organisations most likely to benefit. The Ministry is in the process of setting up a Cleaner Production Task Force (with representatives from both the public and private sectors) which will oversee the Cleaner Production Demonstration Projects. The Task
Force will finalise the projects to be funded and oversee their progress. The Cleaner Production Demonstration Projects will be chosen for their importance to the New Zealand economy and their likelihood of benefiting greatly from using cleaner production techniques. The Centre for Advanced Engineering’s Waste Management Project is~in its final stage with the publication of the reports arising from the work expected in the near future. The major recommendation related to cleaner production.
particularly from the central governmental level. Consequently, the speculative and rapidly growing private sector, has not been very attentive to the environmental impacts of their activities. Most of the companies’ leaders make their decisions based only upon short term bases. Within this unfavorable politicaleconomic environment, some first steps have been taken to meet future needs of Poland. The Ministry of Environmental Protection included the concept of sustainable development and clean technologies in its official policy documents (November 1990). The concepts of this policy document are, however, very far from being implemented. On the positive side, many non-governmental organizations have been formed to fight for a better environment. Many of these organizations are beginning to promote the concepts of cleaner production. One such non-governmental organization, “The Foundation for Promotion
of Cleaner Technology,” TECHEKO, has been formed as a result of cooperation with Netherlands Universities’ Joint Social Research Centre, Netherlands Organization for Technology Assessment and Erasmus University of the Netherlands. TECHEKO is working to promote Cleaner Production in a number of ways. Among them, it is a partner in a Trans-European Mobility Program for University Students and Staff (TEMPUS) Project in which it is actively working with faculty from the University of Lodz and the Technical University of Crakow from Poland, together with faculty of the Danish Technical University of Lyngby, Denmark and of Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. During the 3 years of the TEMPUS program, approximately 50 Polish students will be educated in the concepts of Cleaner Production, within the two cooperating west European Universities. Beginning in 1990/1991 in Katowice,
Darrell Reeve UNEP Metal Finishing Working Group, Australia
New Zealand The New Zealand Government’s waste policy focuses on reducing resource use and waste generation. This policy is also consistent with the Government’s stated objectives of improving the economic efficiency and, therefore, the competitiveness of New Zealand industry in international markets. In August 1992 the Government stated that New Zealand’s waste management policy should be: (i)
(ii)
to ensure that as far as practicable, New Zealand’s waste generators should meet the costs of the waste that they produce; and to encourage the implementation of the internationally recognised hierarchy of reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery and residual management by all involved in waste generation and management in New Zealand.
The implementation of the policy should
Ministry
Dr Margaret L. Bailey for the Environment New Zealand
Poland In 1989, the concept of Cleaner Production and Cleaner Technologies was first introduced into Poland. In January 1990, when the centrally planned economy, imposed by the state, passed into history, we became hopeful that the integrative and preventive approach for environmental improvement, called Cleaner Production, would help us make the transition to market economies. However, due to high inflation, expensive credit, loss of Soviet Union markets for lower quality goods, many Polish companies have gone or are going bankrupt. Additionally, the economic and legal status of the large state owned companies, which still provide 70% of the GNP, is very uncertain because of the process of privatization. There is much legal instability in regard to the proper behaviour of companies and society in a market economy. These and many other aspects of Polish society have marginalized the environmental policy, .
J. Cleaner
Prod. 1993 Volume
1 Number
1
57
International
Activity
Report
one of the most polluted regions of Poland, led by the efforts of the Norwegian government, a Cleaner Production School was established. Prof. Zygfryd A Nowak, of the Central Mining Institute of Katowice is the Polish coordinator of this school. Dr. Olav Nedenes of the Norwegian Engineers Federation is the coordinator from the Norwegian side of the program. He, together with colleagues from several Norwegian institutes and Prof. Huisingh have been instrumental in offering several cycles of the school. The school is now in its 5th cycle and is now offered entirely in Polish by Polish teachers. Results of the application of the Cleaner Production concepts in Polish companies are already very encouraging, both environmentally and economically.
58
J. Cleaner
Prod. 1993 Volume
In spite of these few encouraging initiatives, much remains to be done to provide the necessary impetus to influence others to change their attitudes and practices in the direction of Cleaner Production. In Poland there remains a big distance between the wants, ideology and real know-how of managers about the implementation of Cleaner Production, i.e. looking at the minimization of wastes as a continuous process in achieving pollution prevention and sustainability of the enterprise and the economy. For many engineers and firms related with environmental protection, Clean Technologies, just means adding “endof-the-pipe” pollution controls to their processes. Most of the advice and credit aid we receive from western companies
1 Number
1
is also focused upon this and upon waste dumping and incineration; thus further reinforcing the Pollution Control mentality that slows down the attitudinal and technological shift to the preventive approach. The TECHEKO, the new Foundation for the Promotion of Cleaner Technologies, is actively working to reverse this trend and to help transform Polish industrial practices to benefit from application of these proactive and preventive approaches.
Prof.
Dr. Tadeusz Markowski University of Lodz Poland
Activity
Report
nology and Commerce Department are looking at industry demonstration programs in CP across the nation. Close by, New Zealand has formed a national CP Foundation and Singapore and Taiwan are developing similar systems. The whole ‘Down Under’ area is awakening quickly to the CP philosophy
and we are expecting exciting and dramatic changes in the short term.
be consistent with the purposes and principles of Part II of the Resource Management Act 1991 including the promotion of sustainable management of natural and physical resources. In order to assist in the implementation of the Government’s waste policy, the Ministry for the Environment is initiating a series of Cleaner Production Demonstration Projects. The Ministry is providing money to initiate these projects in order for research on cleaner production techniques to be made freely available. Research results from the projects will assist the Ministry in its work on waste reduction and will also be shared among the people and organisations most likely to benefit. The Ministry is in the process of setting up a Cleaner Production Task Force (with representatives from both the public and private sectors) which will oversee the Cleaner Production Demonstration Projects. The Task
Force will finalise the projects to be funded and oversee their progress. The Cleaner Production Demonstration Projects will be chosen for their importance to the New Zealand economy and their likelihood of benefiting greatly from using cleaner production techniques. The Centre for Advanced Engineering’s Waste Management Project is~in its final stage with the publication of the reports arising from the work expected in the near future. The major recommendation related to cleaner production.
particularly from the central governmental level. Consequently, the speculative and rapidly growing private sector, has not been very attentive to the environmental impacts of their activities. Most of the companies’ leaders make their decisions based only upon short term bases. Within this unfavorable politicaleconomic environment, some first steps have been taken to meet future needs of Poland. The Ministry of Environmental Protection included the concept of sustainable development and clean technologies in its official policy documents (November 1990). The concepts of this policy document are, however, very far from being implemented. On the positive side, many non-governmental organizations have been formed to fight for a better environment. Many of these organizations are beginning to promote the concepts of cleaner production. One such non-governmental organization, “The Foundation for Promotion
of Cleaner Technology,” TECHEKO, has been formed as a result of cooperation with Netherlands Universities’ Joint Social Research Centre, Netherlands Organization for Technology Assessment and Erasmus University of the Netherlands. TECHEKO is working to promote Cleaner Production in a number of ways. Among them, it is a partner in a Trans-European Mobility Program for University Students and Staff (TEMPUS) Project in which it is actively working with faculty from the University of Lodz and the Technical University of Crakow from Poland, together with faculty of the Danish Technical University of Lyngby, Denmark and of Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. During the 3 years of the TEMPUS program, approximately 50 Polish students will be educated in the concepts of Cleaner Production, within the two cooperating west European Universities. Beginning in 1990/1991 in Katowice,
Darrell Reeve UNEP Metal Finishing Working Group, Australia
New Zealand The New Zealand Government’s waste policy focuses on reducing resource use and waste generation. This policy is also consistent with the Government’s stated objectives of improving the economic efficiency and, therefore, the competitiveness of New Zealand industry in international markets. In August 1992 the Government stated that New Zealand’s waste management policy should be: (i)
(ii)
to ensure that as far as practicable, New Zealand’s waste generators should meet the costs of the waste that they produce; and to encourage the implementation of the internationally recognised hierarchy of reduction, reuse, recycling, recovery and residual management by all involved in waste generation and management in New Zealand.
The implementation of the policy should
Ministry
Dr Margaret L. Bailey for the Environment New Zealand
Poland In 1989, the concept of Cleaner Production and Cleaner Technologies was first introduced into Poland. In January 1990, when the centrally planned economy, imposed by the state, passed into history, we became hopeful that the integrative and preventive approach for environmental improvement, called Cleaner Production, would help us make the transition to market economies. However, due to high inflation, expensive credit, loss of Soviet Union markets for lower quality goods, many Polish companies have gone or are going bankrupt. Additionally, the economic and legal status of the large state owned companies, which still provide 70% of the GNP, is very uncertain because of the process of privatization. There is much legal instability in regard to the proper behaviour of companies and society in a market economy. These and many other aspects of Polish society have marginalized the environmental policy, .
J. Cleaner
Prod. 1993 Volume
1 Number
1
57
International
Activity
Report
one of the most polluted regions of Poland, led by the efforts of the Norwegian government, a Cleaner Production School was established. Prof. Zygfryd A Nowak, of the Central Mining Institute of Katowice is the Polish coordinator of this school. Dr. Olav Nedenes of the Norwegian Engineers Federation is the coordinator from the Norwegian side of the program. He, together with colleagues from several Norwegian institutes and Prof. Huisingh have been instrumental in offering several cycles of the school. The school is now in its 5th cycle and is now offered entirely in Polish by Polish teachers. Results of the application of the Cleaner Production concepts in Polish companies are already very encouraging, both environmentally and economically.
58
J. Cleaner
Prod. 1993 Volume
In spite of these few encouraging initiatives, much remains to be done to provide the necessary impetus to influence others to change their attitudes and practices in the direction of Cleaner Production. In Poland there remains a big distance between the wants, ideology and real know-how of managers about the implementation of Cleaner Production, i.e. looking at the minimization of wastes as a continuous process in achieving pollution prevention and sustainability of the enterprise and the economy. For many engineers and firms related with environmental protection, Clean Technologies, just means adding “endof-the-pipe” pollution controls to their processes. Most of the advice and credit aid we receive from western companies
1 Number
1
is also focused upon this and upon waste dumping and incineration; thus further reinforcing the Pollution Control mentality that slows down the attitudinal and technological shift to the preventive approach. The TECHEKO, the new Foundation for the Promotion of Cleaner Technologies, is actively working to reverse this trend and to help transform Polish industrial practices to benefit from application of these proactive and preventive approaches.
Prof.
Dr. Tadeusz Markowski University of Lodz Poland