IPP represents a shift in focus to reducing the environmental impacts of products and services, not just processes. Environmental strategies orientated towards processes and cleaner technologies have enabled industries to reduce the impacts of their activities and most environmental regulations still target industrial processes. However as consumers increasingly become contributors to environmental impacts, this effort must be increased and focused directly on the origin of the problem, i.e. the products and services themselves. IPP is an integrated, business orientated approach that combines market and environmental tools. It is flexible, allowing different industrial sectors to use a range of instruments and incentives adapted to the characteristics of their supply chain and consumers. These instruments and incentives can be voluntary or mandatory and work at local, national and EU levels and include, for example, economic instruments, substance bans and eco-labelling schemes. IPP is a complementary strategy for use alongside existing policy instruments to address the policy gap where the environmental impacts linked to product use have not received sufficient attention
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
As environmental awareness increases, SMEs have started to assess how their activities affect the environment. Society has become concerned about issues of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation, and many businesses have responded to this awareness by providing “greener” products and using “greener” processes.
The environmental performance of products and processes has become a key issue, which is why some companies are investigating ways to minimise their impact on the environment. Many companies have found it advantageous to explore ways of moving beyond compliance using pollution prevention strategies and environmental management systems (EMS) to improve their environmental performance.
Another approach is a tool called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which considers the whole life cycle of a product. According to the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), LCA provides a way of assessing the environmental burdens associated with the whole life cycle of a product or service, from its cradle to its grave.
ISO 14040
In 1996, three years after the EMAS Regulation was adopted, the international industry standard for environmental management systems ISO 14 001 was published. Further standards from the ISO series 14 000 provide more detailed instructions regarding single aspects of environmental management. As with EMAS, the application of this standard is voluntary and experts examine whether the environmental management system complies with the given standards. A certificate is issued once the company has successfully passed the examination.
Ecodesign
Ecodesign is the incorporation of environmental considerations into the design and development of products or services. Ecodesign is incorporated in a similar way as other important requirements that are already taken account of in the design process, i.e. quality, legislation, costs, functionality, durability, ergonomics, aesthetics and health and safety considerations.
As a result, the ecodesigned products are innovative, have better environmental performance and are of a quality at least as good as the market standard. This makes the use of ecodesign increasingly important for businesses, and leads to clear advantages for those companies incorporating ecodesign. Ecodesign adopts an integrated approach to the relationship between products and services and the environment on three levels:
-the whole Life Cycle of the product or service is considered. The environmental impacts of a product do not only arise during its manufacturing, use or when it has become waste, but throughout its entire life cycle. It includes the extraction and transport of resources needed to manufacture the product, the manufacturing processes, distribution, use and maintenance, reuse and the treatment of its waste.
-the product is considered as a system. All the elements that a product needs to develop its function (consumables, packaging, energy networks etc) must also be taken into account.
-a multicriteria approach is considered. All different environmental impacts that can be generated by a product system along its life cycle are assessed in order to avoid trade-offs between different impact categories (e.g. resource depletion, greenhouse effect, toxicity etc). This integrated structure facilitates the use of ecodesign in combination with other IPP tools.
Environmental label
The environmental label indicates the environmental preference of the product or service within its product category, based on multiple criteria over the entire life cycle (definition adapted from ISO 14024). The certification usually ensures that the product complies both with environmental criteria and functional characteristics. The use of the label is endorsed by a third party defined in each eco-labelling scheme. Environmental Management System (EMS)
The goal of an Environmental Management System (EMS) is to continuously improve environmental performance within your business using a step by step approach. Within the EMS you set out responsibilities, procedures and methods that bring environmental issues into your operational activities. The full procedure, including the requirements that must be fulfilled, is described comprehensively in the European EMAS Regulation and in the international standard ISO 14 001. Once an external independent expert substantiates your compliance with these schemes you receive the EMAS Label or an ISO 14001 certificate, which can be used for advertising and marketing purposes. In recent years some approaches have been developed specifically for SMEs to facilitate the implementation of EMS.
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