Volume 21 No° 3 - Environmental Management in the Service Industries Retailers Restaurants Building maintenance Drycleaning Paint shops Photo Environmental consultancy

Find out more about DTIE's work with Service Industries through the The Production and Consumption Unit

Order Information

Volume 21 No.3
July - September 1998
Pages: 67 pages
Price: USD 15.00

View abstracts of selected articles from this issue
Purchase this issue online through EarthPrint
Purchase this issue by emailing the order form (Word -174KB) to Earthprint
Purchase this issue by mailing or faxing the order form (PDF - 121KB) to
  Earthprint

Table of Contents

Environmental Management in the Service Industries

1. Editorials
2. Facts and Figures
3. Increased eco-effectiveness in the Norwegian service sector - experience from the GRIP programme – by Martin Standley
4. Promoting environmental improvements in manufacturing processes and influencing consumer choices: how much can concerned retailers do? – by René van Berkel
5.  A case study on retailer driven environmental innovation – by Jaap Kortman and René van Berkel
6. Food retailing: good environmental management is good business – by David Rosenberg
7. Environmental management in restaurants – by Grace Favila
8. Green housekeeping: creating a cleaner, safer, healthier indoor environment – by Stephen P. Ashkin
9. Introducing wet cleaning and other non-toxic alternatives in the US dry cleaning industry – by Sylvia Ewing
10. Reducing environmental impacts of car paint repair –  by Hans Peter Heitzinger, Hans Schnitzer and Martin Nussbaumer
11. Kodak's global environmental stewardship –   by Cynthia A. Salsedo
12. Environmental consultancy: a new service industry –  by Malcolm Hutton
13. 3 Suisses et le développement durable : une démarche volontaire –  by Rémy Souchon

Other Topics

14. Energy efficient and environmentally sound industrial technologies in Asia.
    Part II: Industry's organizational structure and the role of external actors
                   –  by B. Mohanty, C. Visvanathan and G. Senanayake
15. Cleaner production - the key to implementing Shanghai's sustainable development strategy
                   –  by Lu Shuping

Newsletters

16. Cleaner Production N°15 (PDF - 134KB)

News

17. World News
18. Industry Updates
19. UNEP focus
20. Books and reports
21. Web site highlight

Sections

22. Feedback

Abstracts

Editorial

The service industries : understanding and reducing their hidden impacts

What is a service industry? Fundamentally, it creates value by performing a service for individuals or businesses rather than by producing material goods. Service industries have grown considerably in recent years, especially in developed countries: they represented approximately $18 trillion in world-wide output in 1996 and 60 per cent of GDP in industrialised countries. They can be expected to continue to grow rapidly, and to assume an ever larger role in the world economy, particularly as a source of new jobs and world trade.

Despite their economic importance, service industries are not well-defined. The term covers a wide range of businesses and other activities, including retailing, transportation, finance, consulting and health care. This tremendous variety can make it difficult to grasp their broad range of potential impacts on the environment. It is essential to evaluate these impacts by looking at the entire life cycle of the materials and products they use. Even services that at first glance seem "clean" may turn out to be less so when this is taken into account.

Some services (cleaning, service stations, vehicle repair, printing) may have direct environmental impacts because they use hazardous products and create waste. Others (banking, finance, consulting, insurance) may have indirect impacts through the effects of their decisions on other businesses. Still others (tourism, education, retailing) may have both direct and indirect impacts. This issue of Industry and Environment Review focuses on several service sectors, discussing the impacts they can have and how these can be ameliorated.

The huge number, and often small size, of service operations that have direct environmental impacts make it difficult for governments to manage them using command and control methods. They have preferred to concentrate first on large, highly visible industrial companies, although guidelines for some service sectors - for example, service stations and dry cleaners - have been published. Because service industries typically serve customers directly, these industries are dispersed throughout the urban fabric. This at once reduces their visibility and diffuses their effects, adding to the problem of controlling their impacts with traditional methods. In addition, because services such as finance and consulting do not have direct impacts, governments have not given them high priority.

New approaches are needed to understand and reduce the impacts that services can have on the environment. One key element is raising the awareness of business owners; national governments, local authorities and industry associations all have a crucial role to play here, especially in providing information, education and training to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Guidelines and voluntary agreements to improve environmental performance have been used successfully in a number of countries to address sectors such as cleaning, printing and service stations. In the case of the latter, large oil companies have focused on extraction and refining activities and much less on distribution. They need to make greater efforts to consider their distribution activities and train service station employees to improve environmental performance.

Supply chain management can also be very effective in promoting environmental performance, not only in service industries but also in related manufacturing industries. For example, some retailers already ask manufacturers to provide goods with eco-labelling. Service providers are in direct contact with both their customers and other businesses. They are uniquely placed to influence, as well as respond to, increasing public demand for sustainability initiatives.

Existing environmental management tools can be used in many service industries, but they may need to be adapted. For example, how should the environmental performance of a consulting firm be assessed?

This issue of Industry and Environment Review provides examples of ways environmental impacts are being addressed in a number of service industries. We hope it will provide insights and information of interest to decision-makers in both governments and industry. The first issue of Volume 22 will concentrate on the financial services sector.

Facts and Figures

Introduction
The collective term "service industries" covers a wide variety of sectors with quite different characteristics and potential impacts. Each of the articles in this issue of the Industry and Environment Review treats a specific sector in detail. This "Facts and Figures" section provides an overview of service industries, the importance of their role in the world economy, and their potential impacts on the environment.

Definition of service industries
The first task in discussing service industries is to define them - not a straightforward matter for such a broad and diverse range of activities. Service industries may be defined not only by what they are but by what they are not. A service industry is one in which value is created through performance of a service. While there is no single international standard for defining service industries or subsectors, the definition used in this issue of the Review is derived from the working definitions used by government and international agencies and service industry groups.

The United Nations International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities, Revision 2 (ISIC Rev. 2), divisions 6 through 9, includes the following services:

• wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels (division 6)
• transport, storage, and communication (division 7)
• financing, insurance, real estate, and business services (division 8)
• community, social, and personal services (division 9)

The OECD includes in its definition all the services covered by these divisions. The US Census Bureau defines service businesses as "establishments primarily engaged in rendering a wide variety of services to individuals, business and government establishments and other organisations." When discussing trade in services, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), part of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), lists distribution, education, communication, health care, professional, transportation, and travel and tourism services but does not discuss how these services are defined.

The US Department of Commerce defines service industries negatively, as all those that are not manufacturing, agriculture, fishing, mining, or forestry. But it acknowledges that this definition can result in a large and unwieldy conglomeration of unrelated activities. This type of negative definition is common to other government agencies, reflecting the traditional view of manufacturing and production activities as the engine of economic growth. However, governments have begun to take a different view of the importance of service industries, recognising their importance to the global economy through recent trade agreements including the GATS.

The Service Industries Journal defines service industries as "those organisations and businesses which (regardless of ownership, profit or non-profit orientation) produce, deliver and are inextricably bound up with the consumption process of generally intangible products; where the consumer (whether individual or business) is a central and fundamental part of the whole transfer and exchange process. Service industries can, in this way, be defined both in supply terms and in demand terms." We have used this broadly inclusive definition in choosing service sectors for discussion.

Services and goods
One factor that is common to service industries is that they typically produce non-material products, although they often supply material goods or use them in the course of doing business. Service industries may provide services to individuals or to businesses, including manufacturers; some do both. Although they are regarded here separately from manufacturing or goods-producing activities, services may be performed as support for such industries. The US Department of Commerce has noted that "the boundary between goods and services may also be ambiguous because many sales contracts for goods include an implicit or explicit bundle of services." For example, much of the value of manufactured goods may be added through activities such as research and development, engineering, design, and support. These activities, when performed by a manufacturing company as part of its business, have not traditionally been included in the service sector.
However, when they are contracted out by a manufacturer, they can be classified as services.

The trend toward increased use of contractors in manufacturing has influenced the world-wide growth in service industries. After-sales services by manufacturers and distributors are also economically and environmentally important.

Many service sectors, especially those that provide services to individuals, are unrelated to manufacturing activities. Examples include retail sales, education, automobile fuelling and repair, restaurants, tourism, and health care. All of these sectors and a myriad of others use or provide material goods in the course of delivering their services.

The economic role of service industries
Economic output
The variety of ways in which service industries are defined can complicate international comparisons. By any measure, the proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) produced by service industries has grown steadily in the last two decades (Figure 1). Services now represent the majority of world GDP, with approximately $18 trillion in output in 1996. In industrialised countries, services account for over 60 per cent of national GDP.

Services are an increasing share of GDP not only in the developed countries, but especially in low-income countries (Figure 2). While the service economy world-wide grew by only 2.3 per cent per year from 1990 to 1996, it grew by an average of 6.8 per cent per year in low-income countries during the same period. The major economic role of service industries in several key developing countries is shown in Table 1.

Employment
Service industries now account for the majority of world employment and provide the greatest share of new jobs. The traditional image of service employment has been one of low pay and low productivity - e.g. "burger flippers" replacing well-paid manufacturing jobs in the industrialised countries, menial work and the informal economy in developing countries. This image is becoming outdated with the rise of "knowledge-based" services and those requiring a high degree of education and training in their workers. Financial, legal, computer, and communications services, advertising, engineering, and consulting have all expanded tremendously on a global scale. Deregulation, more open trade, and the rise of multinational corporations have helped to build demand for such services.

The scale of world employment in the service industries is illustrated in Table 2. Although agriculture still employs a slight majority of the world's working population, the proportion employed in services has risen in the past 15 years, especially among women. In all but the poorest countries, service sectors provide half or more of the jobs for women.

Trade
The accelerating process of globalization has seen increases not only in trade in goods but also in trade in services. The increasing preoccupation of the World Trade Organization with trade in services is a measure of its growing importance. By 1996 services accounted for approximately $1.2 trillion in world exports, about 20 per cent of the total. Figure 3 shows the growth in exports of commercial services world-wide since 1985.

Information and other knowledge-based services have accounted for a large share of this tremendous increase. The development of computer and communications technologies, privatisation of state industries such as telecommunications, transportation, and banking, and increased direct foreign investment have both enabled and driven the rise in services trading. They have also helped blur the line between manufactured goods and services. As Figure 4 shows, exports of office machines and telecommunications equipment have grown faster than exports as a whole. These items, while obviously manufactured goods, are instrumental in the provision of many services. Wider distribution of and access to these goods has revolutionized many service sectors and promotes the growth of services and trade in services.

Industries covered in this issue
The service industries covered by the articles that follow represent only a portion of a huge and diverse group of activities, both public and private. The proportion of the service economy occupied by each of these activities varies enormously from country to country. Some services, such as dry cleaning, barely exist in many poorer parts of the world. Others, such as retail sales or vehicle fuelling and repair, are almost universal in some form. Service industries have the greatest breadth and depth in industrialised countries. Representative figures for service industries in the US are shown in Table 3. They give an idea of the role services play in the world's largest national economy.

The articles cover these service industries:

• retail sales and distribution
• food
• consumer goods
• vehicle service and repair
• restaurants and food service
• environmental consulting
• facilities/building services
• dry cleaning u photo processing
• consulting engineering.

Other services include health care, education, entertainment, tourism, transport, financial services, advertising, accounting, computer services, communications, utilities, and a variety of others. These services may also have many and varied impacts.

Covering them all is beyond the scope of any single issue of the Review, and some, such as tourism, education, and financial services, are of sufficient size and importance to warrant separate treatment. Education and tourism have been addressed in past issues; financial services will be the topic of Volume 22, N° 1 (January-March 1999). The articles in this issue represent a range of trends, issues, and impacts associated with service industries.

Urbanisation and the rise of service economies
The growth of service industries is tied to increased urbanisation. Commercial and industrial activities tend to be concentrated in cities because they offer economies of scale, through reduced transportation costs and access to materials and labour. Services in their turn are created in urban centres to support commerce and industry and to serve the growing work force. Urban areas have higher productivity than rural areas; in developing countries they may have only one-third of the population but produce up to 60 per cent of GDP. The attraction of cities and the economies of scale they offer have persisted even as the economic base of cities has shifted from manufacturing to services during the past 50 years. The conjunction of urbanisation and the rise of service industries has a profound effect on the potential for service industries to cause environmental impacts, as discussed below.

Potential environmental impacts of service industries
The common image of service industries is that they are generally "clean" operations with little or no environmental impact. This image is often false. Service industries can have impacts because of the materials used in the performance of a service, especially if they use hazardous or toxic products. They also have impacts through their supply chain and the manner in which they distribute and perform their services. Table 4 shows some potential impacts of the service industries discussed in this issue of the Review.

The dispersion of service providers, often small businesses, throughout urban areas allows their impacts to be spread over a wide area. Service businesses are not generally associated with belching smokestacks or discharge pipes, but they can share many potential impacts with industrial operations. Automobile service stations, for example, may produce emissions of petrol fumes to the air. Spills of oil, cleaning solvents, and other hazardous products commonly used at service stations may flow into sewers and local waterways. The underground tanks in which they store fuel can leak, causing local contamination of soil and ground water. Many relatively small leaks, scattered throughout an urban area, have degraded ground water quality in this manner across wide areas in the US, in Europe, and in other industrialised countries. Collectively these relatively small impacts may be much greater than those of large industrial operations. Concern about these impacts has led the United States to regulate storage tanks, and other nations are following its lead. Industry standards and training programmes are available that can improve environmental practices at the retail distribution level, and many major oil companies are starting to promote the use of environmental management systems throughout their world-wide operations, including service stations.

Other possible impacts common to many service sectors include their use of water and energy, and generation of large quantities of waste from the use of material and supplies. These may have little or no impact on the spot, but can have large impacts far away at the site of power generation, waste disposal, and so on. Seemingly clean service operations may generate or be part of a long chain of impacts, many of them felt far from the site at which the service was performed. A better understanding of the environmental effects of service industries requires evaluation of the entire life cycle of the materials and products they use.

Some services may have impacts far beyond their own direct effects on the environment. Consulting engineering is an example; it is a key service industry because it determines or affects the choice of technology for all economic activities, and therefore can influence them all. The input of consulting engineers on the design, construction, and operation of development projects continues to affect environmental impacts, for better or for worse, throughout the life of the project. Whether it is construction of a new tourism resort, renovation of a university campus, or installation of new processes at a factory, a project can be sited and built in a way that minimises impacts at the time of construction, and can be designed in a way that minimises impacts from its daily operations. The main world-wide representative organisation, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), has members from every part of the world, representing over 20,000 companies and approximately 550,000 engineering professionals. These numbers represent a tremendous potential for influencing the design and operation of future development. The participation of consulting engineers will be critical to sustainable development.

Future trends
Many service industries - suppliers of solid waste disposal and remediation, energy efficiency, renew-able energy, biotechnology, communications, recycling, water and sanitation, and public health services - will be in the forefront in helping to achieve sustainable development. Much of the opportunity to control impacts will be in the areas of hazardous materials management, waste reduction, and minimisation of energy and water use. The burden for these controls falls mainly on the providers of services. Regulation of hazardous materials use, energy saving requirements, and other structural factors have motivated much of the change seen to date in service industries.

In all service sectors, however, customers are uniquely part of the service process - a service rendered is a service received. Their growing awareness of the impacts of service industries, both near and far, has helped drive the changes service providers are beginning to make in their environmental practices. Service providers are in a position to increase the understanding and influence the habits of consumers, and therefore to moderate the increasingly consumerist culture of industrialised societies that has been spreading so rapidly to developing countries. The interaction of service providers and other stakeholders, including labour, financial institutions, and government at all levels, can also influence and be influenced by the way services are performed. Increased environmental awareness and green demand, building on each other all along the supply chain, seem likely to provide more of the impetus for further progress.

Increased eco-effectiveness in the Norwegian service sector - experience from the GRIP programme

Martin Standley, Director, GRIP Centre for Sustainable Production and Consumption, Strmsveien 96, PB 8100 Dep., 0032 Oslo, Norway

Abstract

   In many countries regulatory authorities now have the means to control emissions from industry. Attention is therefore shifting to small enterprises, households and other entities that cannot be regulated in the same way as industrial installations. The Norwegian Green in Practice Programme (GRIP) was established to help businesses adjust to this change and achieve a competitive advantage. GRIP has targeted the service sector.

Résumé

  Dans de nombreux pays les organismes de réglementation ont aujourd'hui les moyens de contrôler les émissions industrielles. L'attention se tourne donc maintenant vers les PME, les ménages et autres entités, auxquels on ne peut appliquer les mêmes réglementations qu'aux installations industrielles. Le programme norvégien d'application des principes écologiques (Norwegian Green in Practice Programme ou GRIP) a pour objet d'aider les entreprises à s'adapter à ces changements et à acquérir ainsi un avantage compétitif. Le GRIP cible le secteur des services.

Resumen

   Las autoridades legislativas de muchos países cuentan ya con medios para controlar las emisiones nocivas de la industria. Y ahora están desviando la atención hacia la pequeña empresa, los hogares y otras entidades que no pueden ser reguladas mediante los procedimientos vigentes para las instalaciones industriales. El programa noruego Green in Practice (GRIP) se creó precisamente para orientar a las empresas en este nuevo giro, de modo que puedan sacar partido de él. El primer sector escogido por el GRIP es el de los servicios.

Promoting environmental improvements in manufacturing processes and influencing consumer choices: how much can concerned retailers do?

René van Berkel, IVAM Environmental Research, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 18180, 1001 ZB Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Abstract

   There is growing interest in whether retailers might be able to use their "steering capacities" to improve the environmental performance of the products they sell (e.g. through their purchasing power, information brokering, implementation of marketing strategies). A life cycle approach to products' environmental impacts would include consideration of manufacturing processes, packaging and distribution.

Résumé

   Dans quelle mesure les détaillants pourraient-ils utiliser leur pourvoir d'action pour améliorer les performances écologiques des produits qu'ils vendent, par exemple à travers leur pouvoir d'achat, le courtage d'informations, des stratégies de marketing ? C'est une question qui revient de plus en plus souvent. Une approche des impacts environnementaux des produits basée sur le cycle de vie supposerait que soient pris en considération les procédés de fabrication, l'emballage et la distribution.

Resumen

   Cada vez cobra más interés la cuestión de si los minoristas tienen capacidad de influencia como para mejorar las propiedades ecológicas de los productos que comercializan, sirviéndose por ejemplo, de su poder adquisitivo, su capacidad de divulgación de información y la aplicación de estrategias de marketing. Para considerar todas las posibles repercusiones ambientales, hay que tener en cuenta la cadena de producción de los artículos, observando los procesos de fabricación, empaquetado y distribución.

A case study on retailer driven environmental innovation

Jaap Kortman and René van Berkel, IVAM Environmental Research, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 18180, 1001 ZB Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Abstract

  The Dutch PRIMA (Project for the Introduction of Ecologically Sound Assortments in Retail Trade) project was carried out to assess the possibilities for multiple-store retailers to influence the products of suppliers. Studies were carried out in cooperation with three such retailers. This article focuses on the encouraging results obtained by Gamma, a leading chain of Dutch do-it-yourself stores. It was found that, within the framework of PRIMA, retailers working with motivated suppliers could indeed initiate environment-related improvements.

Résumé

   Le projet hollandais PRIMA (Project for the Introduction of Ecologically Sound Assortments in Retail Trade) a été lancé pour évaluer l'influence possible des magasins à succursales multiples sur les produits de leurs fournisseurs. Des études ont été menées en coopération avec trois d'entre eux. On trouvera ici un compte rendu des résultats encourageants obtenus par Gamma, une grande chaîne hollandaise de magasins d'articles de bricolage. On a constaté que les détaillants qui travaillent avec des fournisseurs motivés pouvaient effectivement susciter des améliorations écologiques des produits.

Resumen

  El proyecto neerlandés PRIMA, destinado a implantar en el comercio minorista surtidos de productos que respeten el entorno, se diseñó con el fin de evaluar la capacidad de influencia que los minoristas dotados de varios negocios pueden ejercer en los productos de sus proveedores. Se realizaron estudios con tres de esos minoristas. El presente artículo se centra en los resultados positivos que se obtuvieron con Gamma, una cadena de tiendas holandesa de artículos de bricolaje. Quedó de manifiesto que, en el marco de PRIMA, los minoristas que contaban con proveedores motivados, podían conseguir grandes mejoras medioambientales.

Food retailing: good environmental management is good business

David Rosenberg, Director Environmental Affairs, Royal Ahold, Albert Hejnweg 1, 1507 EH Zaandam, the Netherlands

Abstract

   Although food retailing is generally not an environmentally intensive business, supermarkets are addressing environmental issues. These range from impacts associated with food cultivation, upstream in the supply chain, to the direct and indirect impacts of day-to-day operations. In three key areas - products, store operations, and relations with the community - health and environmental concerns are changing the nature of food retailing.

Résumé

  Bien que le commerce de détail des produits alimentaires n'ait généralement pas une grande incidence sur l'environnement, les supermarchés commencent à s'intéresser aux questions d'environnement, qu'il s'agisse des impacts liés à la culture des produits alimentaires, en amont de la chaîne d'approvisionnement, ou des impacts directs et indirects de leurs activités quotidiennes. Dans trois grands domaines (les produits, l'approvisionnement et les relations avec le voisinage), les préoccupations d'ordre sanitaire et écologique modifient la nature du commerce des produits alimentaires.

Resumen

  Aunque el comercio de productos alimentarios al detalle carece de repercusiones medioambientales importantes, los supermercados sacan rendimiento al asunto. Lo abordan desde su origen, indicando los efectos derivados del método de cultivo, ascienden por la cadena de suministro y concluyen con las repercusiones directas e indirectas ligadas a las manipulaciones cotidianas. El interés creciente en materia de salud y medio ambiente está modificando la naturaleza misma del comercio alimentario al detalle en sus tres ámbitos fundamentales: los productos, los procesos de almacenamiento y la relación con los consumidores.

Green housekeeping: creating a cleaner, safer, healthier indoor environment

Stephen P. Ashkin,* Vice President, Rochester Midland Corporation, 333 Hollenbeck Street, Rochester, New York 14621, USA

Abstract

 The appropriate choice of cleaning products and processes is an essential component of sustainable building operations. Such an approach considers impacts on building occupants and cleaning personnel, as well as on the environment. A case study suggests how a Green Housekeeping Programme or similar initiative can be developed and implemented cooperatively by the parties concerned.

Résumé

  Le choix de produits et procédés de nettoyage adéquats est un aspect essentiel de la maintenance des bâtiments. Une démarche écologique prend en compte les impacts sur les occupants du bâtiment et sur le personnel d'entretien, ainsi que sur l'environnement. L'étude de cas ci-dessous montre comment les parties concernées peuvent s'entendre sur la mise au point et l'application d'un programme d'entretien respectueux de l'environnement.

Resumen

   La selección de procedimientos y productos sanitarios adecuados es fundamental para asegurar el mantenimiento correcto de un edificio. Se habrá de tener en cuenta los efectos de la elección en la colectividad que lo ocupa y en el personal de limpieza, así como las posibles repercusiones medioambientales. El estudio que se expone a continuación indica cómo aplicar y desarrollar un Programa Ecológico de Mantenimiento de Locales, o cualquier otra iniciativa similar, contando con la cooperación de todas las partes concernidas.

Introducing wet cleaning and other non-toxic alternatives in the US dry cleaning industry

Sylvia Ewing, Pollution Prevention Manager, Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), 2125 West North Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60647, USA

Abstract

  Dry cleaners have always used water in laundering and as an adjunct to solvent cleaning. Studies (some of which are described here) have been carried out to determine whether it is possible to increase the range of items that can be cleaned with water. Wet cleaning and other non-toxic alternatives appear to offer cleaners the means to avoid health, environmental and liability problems associated with toxic solvent use.

Résumé

  Les teinturiers ont toujours utilisé de l'eau pour le blanchissage et pour le nettoyage à sec (comme adjuvant). Des études, dont certaines sont présentées ici, ont été menées pour déterminer s'il est possible d'allonger la liste des articles qui peuvent être nettoyés à l'eau. Le nettoyage à base d'eau ou d'autres produits ou procédés non toxiques pourraient éviter aux teinturiers les problèmes de santé, d'environnement et de responsabilité civile associés à l'usage de solvants toxiques.

Resumen

   En las tintorerías, siempre se ha utilizado el agua para el lavado y como complemento de los disolventes. Se han realizado numerosos estudios (algunos de los cuales figuran a continuación) para averiguar si puede ampliarse la gama de materiales lavables con agua. El lavado con agua y otras opciones no contaminantes ayudarían a los profesionales de la limpieza a evitar las responsabilidades y los problemas medioambientales y de salud que conlleva el uso de disolventes.

Kodak's global environmental stewardship

Cynthia A. Salsedo, Senior Environmental Specialist, Eastman Kodak Company, 1100 Ridgeway Avenue, Rochester, New York 14652-6262, USA

Abstract

   Kodak's environmental programmes worldwide include technologies and procedures to ensure that its manufacturing plants conform to applicable environmental standards; technical and research support for photoprocessors, photographic industry organizations and academic institutions; assistance to local regulatory agencies; and support for environmental benchmarking and excellence initiatives that extend to other industries. Recycling programmes aimed at both consumers and photoprocessors are of particular importance in this industry.

Résumé

   Les programmes pour l'environnement mis en place par Kodak dans le monde prennent plusieurs formes, notamment : des technologies et procédures permettant à ses usines de production de respecter les normes environnementales en vigueur ; l'assistance technique et scientifique aux laboratoires photographiques et aux organismes et établissements d'enseignement de l'industrie photographique ; l'aide aux agences locales de réglementation ; enfin, le soutien aux programmes de comparaison des performances environnementales et aux initiatives d'excellence écologique s'appliquant à d'autres secteurs. Les programmes de recyclage à l'intention des consommateurs et des laboratoires photographiques jouent un rôle particulièrement important dans ce secteur.

Resumen

   La firma Kodak desarrolla por todo el mundo programas medioambientales, aplicando en todas sus plantas de fabricación procedimientos y tecnologías conformes a los criterios ambientales establecidos. También facilita apoyo técnico y mediante la investigación a centros de revelado, organizaciones de la industria fotográfica e instituciones académicas; colabora con las agencias de regulación locales, y contribuye al desarrollo de parámetros medioambientales de referencia y otras iniciativas que tienden a aplicarse en otros sectores. Los programas de reciclaje, de gran importancia en esta industria, se dirigen tanto a los agentes de revelado como a los consumidores.

Environmental consultancy: a new service industry

Malcolm Hutton, Managing Director, Environmental Resources Management (ERM), 8 Cavendish Square, London W1M 0ER,UK

Abstract

   Environmental consultancy has evolved into a multi-disciplinary service provider. Environmental consultants have been instrumental in developing risk-based approaches to, for example, environmental clean-up and the reuse of contaminated sites. They are in a unique position to assist regulators and others in establishing environmental standards and policies, as well as to work with clients to find apppropriate means of implementing them.

Résumé

   Le conseil en environnement est devenu un service pluridisciplinaire. C'est en partie aux consultants en environnement que l'on doit la prise en compte des risques pour aborder, par exemple, les questions d'assainissement de l'environnement et de réutilisation des sites contaminés. Nul n'est mieux placé que ces consultants pour aider les organismes de réglementation et autres à instituer des normes et politiques environnementales et pour aider leurs clients à trouver les moyens de les appliquer.

Resumen

   La asesoría en materia de medio ambiente ha evolucionado para transformarse en un servicio que abarca múltiples disciplinas. Los consultores han jugado un papel decisivo en el desarrollo de perspectivas centradas en la prevención de riesgos, como la depuración del entorno y el aprovechamiento de zonas contaminadas. Gozan de una posición privilegiada como colaboradores de los responsables de la reglamentación y otras profesionales, en la elaboración de pautas y políticas, al tiempo que trabajan estrechamente con la clientela para determinar la mejor forma de aplicarlas.

3 Suisses et le développement durable : une démarche volontaire

Rémy Souchon, chargé de mission environnement, 3 Suisses, 12 rue de la Centenaire, B.P. 69, 59963 Croix Cédex, France

Abstract

   The French mail order company 3 Suisses is commited to sustainable development. Since 1990 it has pursued a pragmatic, voluntary policy of promoting overall environmental protection. This article describes the main activities carried out in this area.

Résumé

   L'entreprise française de vente par correspondance 3 Suisses s'est engagée sur la voie du développement durable. Depuis 1990, elle mène une politique de protection de l'environnement globale, pragmatique et volontariste. L'article ci-dessous décrit les principales actions menées sur le terrain.

Resumen

   La empresa francesa de venta por correo 3 Suisses se ha comprometido a proceder según las pautas del desarrollo sostenible. Desde 1990, aplica una política basada en el voluntariado, pragmática y global, orientada a la protección del medio ambiente. En este artículo se describen las principales acciones realizadas en este sentido.

Energy efficient and environmentally sound industrial technologies in Asia
Part II: Industry's organizational structure and the role of external actors

B. Mohanty,* C. Visvanathan* and G. Senanayake**
* School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, PO Box 4, Pathumthani, Thailand
** Industrial Services Bureau, North Western Provinces, Kurunegala, Sri Lanka

Abstract

   The first part of this article (which appeared in the previous issue) described some technological changes that could be introduced in energy intensive and polluting industries in China, India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The second part goes on to analyse the effects of the organizational structure and of various external factors on the adoption of these changes in three industrial subsectors.

Résumé

   La première partie de cet article (parue dans notre précédente édition) décrivait quelques-unes des modifications technologiques pouvant être apportées aux activités industrielles polluantes et grosses consommatrices d'énergie de la Chine, de l'Inde, des Philippines et du Sri Lanka. La seconde partie de l'article présentée ci-dessous analyse l'incidence de la structure organisationnelle et de divers facteurs externes sur la mise en úuvre de ces changements dans trois branches industrielles.

Resumen

   La primera parte de este artículo (publicada en el número anterior), describía algunas de las modificaciones que pueden introducirse en las industrias de uso intensivo de energía y más contaminantes de China, India, Filipinas y Sri Lanka. En esta segunda parte, se analizan los efectos de la estructura organizativa y de otros factores externos en la adopción de dichas modificaciones, en tres sectores industriales.

Cleaner production - the key to implementing Shanghai's sustainable development strategy

Lu Shuping,Director, Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection, 193 Hankou Road 200002, Shanghai, People's Republic of China

Abstract

   The Shanghai Municipal Government has adopted a sustainable development approach to meet its long-term development goals. Cleaner production is considered an essential part of the technological modernization of the Shanghai area. The Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection and the Shanghai Economic Commission are currently preparing a "Framework Plan for Promoting Cleaner Production in Shanghai".

Résumé

   Pour atteindre ses objectifs de développement à long terme, la municipalité de Shanghai a adopté une politique de développement durable, dans laquelle la Production plus propre est considérée comme un principe essentiel de la modernisation technologique de la ville. Les services municipaux de protection de l'environnement et la commission économique de la ville travaillent à l'élaboration d'un " Plan cadre pour promouvoir la Production plus propre à Shanghai ".

Resumen

   El Gobierno municipal de Shanghai se ha adherido a las pautas de desarrollo sostenible, con el fin de alcanzar los objetivos que se había fijado a largo plazo. Y, puesto que la producción más limpia se considera uno de los pilares de la modernización tecnológica del área, la Oficina Municipal de Protección Medioambiental, junto con el Comité de Asuntos Económicos de la ciudad, están elaborando en la actualidad un "Plan Marco para la Promoción de una Producción más Limpia en Shanghai".