Jaap Kortman

Opportunities and constraints for Product-oriented Environmental Management Systems (P-EMS)

Abstract Product-oriented Environmental Management Systems (P-EMS) are a logical extension of current, often primarily process- of facility-oriented Environmental Management Systems. The Dutch government promotes P-EMS as part of its product-oriented environmental policies. The idea of P-EMS is to enable producers to make environmentally responsible decisions on product development and product strategies, in collaboration with suppliers and customers. This paper summarises example P-EMS projects in The Netherlands for two segments of industry, namely retail and manufacturing industry. Moreover two other initiatives will be covered that deal with the development of tools to facilitate P-EMS in two other industry sectors (food processing and building). Success factors that emerge from these initial experiences are: focus on partners that have a strong incentive to act, application of screening Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) or user-shells for LCA, and focus on improvements that can be implemented on the short term.

Waste prevention in small and medium sized enterprises

Waste prevention assessments aim at the systematic identification, evaluation and implementation of waste prevention opportunities. Furthermore, an assessment should initiate an ongoing waste prevention programme catalysing the corporate effort in achieving environmental improvements in its operations. To achieve success, the assessment procedure should be tailored to company characteristics, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises. This paper describes how we conducted a waste prevention assessment at a foundry. This case study is used to elaborate on the success factors that should be borne in mind if one wishes to initiate a system of continuous environmental improvement. These are: achieving visible waste prevention benefits; organizing a capable and motivated project team; generating new insights; and introducing a preventive environmental care system.

Issues in the development of improvement tools for environmental design of complex products

This paper analyses the development stage of improvement tools for complex products, in particular electronics. It elaborates a few issues facing the further development and application of such tools. Example improvement tools are described along with experiences from their practical application. The comparative analysis of these example tools is than used to illustrate obvious strengths and weaknesses of the present generation of product improvement tools. Experiences with process improvement tools and less complex products are used to discuss directions for the further development of improvement tools which could solve these limitations.