Network for Industrial Environmental Management - A New Approach to Old Challenges in the Asia-Pacific Pulp and Paper Industry, 1999 Environmental Conference Proceedings

Niclas W. Svenningsen

NIEM Coordinator

The pulp and paper industry in the Asia-Pacific is one of the most important potential economic motors for the development of the region. At the same time the industry is one of the major polluters and is facing an increasing pressure to comply with environmental regulations and standards. Two characteristics of the Asian-Pacific pulp and paper industry are very small mills with old and poorly maintained production technologies, and a wide range of differentiated operation conditions, where modern western technologies are difficult to apply. The Network for Industrial Environmental Management (NIEM), coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is promoting an alternative environmental management strategy for these mills; the Cleaner Production approach. In this paper, results from cleaner production programmes initiated by NIEM in 36 mills, are published for the first time. The results suggest that cleaner production yields considerable environmental and economic benefits to the mills regardless of their size, use of raw material and other operating parameters. While modern western pollution control technologies are unsuitable for a majority of these mills, there is a huge potential market for suppliers of cleaner production services, waiting to be developed for the benefit of the industry and the environment.